NEWS AND NOTES
-Jon Teitel’s midseason All Conference Awards have been posted!! CLICK HERE to check them out
-USC is no longer unbeaten, and they got beat so badly by Oregon that perhaps it should count as two losses. The 84-61 score isn’t even indicative as to how badly Oregon outplayed them. I’d say the Ducks are back. Well, at least when they’re at home.
-Michigan State is looking better. We all became discouraged when they lost to Northeastern, but now they’ve won six of their last seven, which includes their two biggest wins of the year at Minnesota and at home against Northwestern, and both their team and their profile have been revived somewhat.
-Arizona State, who isn’t good, picked up a win at Stanford. I believe this will knock Stanford off of our radar for the time being.
SPOTLIGHT GAME
-NEW HAMPSHIRE AT DARTMOUTH. CLICK HERE for Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day!!!!!
-VILLANOVA AT CREIGHTON. Both teams are unbeaten and both are ranked in the top ten. What else do you need to say?? Nova’s profile is the more impressive one, but they’re coming off a game where they had to sweat out DePaul, which is almost unbelievable given how well they had been playing prior to that game. Creighton is very tough to beat at home, and the fans will be rocking for this one.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-XAVIER AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Xavier has a good profile, but they’ve yet to win a true road game. Georgetown has been streaky this season, and will be trying to rebound after losing their conference opener to Marquette.
-DUKE AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). Duke continues to look like a #1 seed, but they’ll face a VA Tech team who has played really well this season and has more momentum built up than they have at any time in recent memory. This should be a fun one.
-CLEMSON AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). I’ve been very impressed with Clemson’s play lately. They’ve looked like a tournament team, and although Wake is unbeaten at home this is definitely a game that Clemson is able to win.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). UNC is looking to pick up a road win in their conference opener, which would be their third of the season. They have a very solid profile and it would be a surprise if they didn’t end up with a protected seed.
-SMU AT EAST CAROLINA (American). SMU looks to be one of the better teams in the AAC, and they’re going after their second true road win today against an ECU team that has just one home loss so far. Even though ECU isn’t a tournament team, SMU should get some credit for this win if they’re able to pull it off.
-HOUSTON AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American). Houston has a bloated record and will need a very strong showing in conference just to get into the tournament picture, but it isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility.
-UNC WILMINGTON AT TOWSON (Colonial). UNCW fell at Clemson earlier in the week, but they have just two losses, appear to be good enough to dominate the league, and if they do their profile will likely be strong enough to land them inside the bubble.
-LOUISVILLE VS INDIANA (Game in Indianapolis IN). These two teams are very close geographically, and although they do play on occasion it is not a fixture game. Both teams are highly ranked, both already have big wins, and both have a good chance to end up with protected seeds. Strangely enough, both are also coming off losses. Indiana’s was particularly surprising seeing as how they lost at home to Nebraska. A win in this game for either team would be a great way to bounce back.
-RIDER AT MONMOUTH (Metro Atlantic). Monmouth pretty much needs to run the table or come close to it in order to end up inside the bubble. They should be good enough to do that if they truly are a tournament team.
-NOTRE DAME AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Notre Dame has been better than expected, but the most impressive games that they’ve played were probably the two that they lost. Considering how good Pitt’s home record is, this would arguably be the biggest win for the Irish up to this point if they’re able to pull it off.
-FLORIDA STATE AT VIRGINIA (ACC). Both teams are ranked, and both have just one loss. Virginia is coming off a very impressive road win against Louisville, and if this UVA team is like the teams of the past, they seem to get better and better throughout conference play. Not many are talking about them as being the best team in the ACC, but they do have the best singular win out of any team so far, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them handle a good Florida State team at home today.
-CHATTANOOGA AT WESTERN CAROLINA (Southern). If Chattanooga wins out they’ll be in the discussion. Anything short of that and they’ll need the auto bid.
-RICHMOND AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten). Davidson needs to have a very strong showing in the A10, which means either finishing first or coming close to it, in order to end up safely inside the bubble, but they’ve shown signs of being able to do it despite their four losses.
-BYU AT LMU (West Coast). BYU’s margin for error is small. They really can’t afford to lose any games like this one.
-TEMPLE AT UCF (American). Both teams have shown some promise, but both have also shown some red flags. They both have work to do, which makes this an important game for both teams.
-WYOMING AT UNLV (Mountain West). I believe Wyoming and Nevada are the only two teams who have any sort of shot at landing inside the bubble, and to be honest I don’t think either of them will do it. I just think it’s possible. One or both of them will have to run roughshod over this pathetically weak league.
-NC STATE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). Both teams have bloated record, but both need some more meat on their profiles.
-COASTAL CAROLINA AT UT ARLINGTON (Sun Belt). I really like this UTA team, and I think they’re good enough to land inside the bubble. They pretty much need to run all over the Sun Belt in order to do it, but I think they’re good enough.
-SAN FRANCISCO AT SANTA CLARA (West Coast). With USF being at an impressive 11-3, we are going to keep our eyes on them. They’ll need some quality wins in order to land inside the bubble, and they’ll also need to avoid losing games like this one.
-NEVADA AT FRESNO STATE (Mountain West). Nevada needs to win this game, and the next game, and pretty much all the rest of their games, in order to feel safe on Selection Sunday.
-GONZAGA AT PACIFIC (West Coast). Pacific has an impressive home record, but it’s still unlikely that Gonzaga will be challenged.
-SAN DIEGO AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). Like many conference home games that aren’t against Gonzaga or BYU, this should resemble a buy game for SMC.