NEWS AND NOTES
-For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projections and Seed List – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Bucknell and Holy Cross – CLICK HERE
-Baylor got a scare from Oklahoma State, which is the second straight game they’ve had to sweat out at home against a good but unranked team, but managed to pull it out. All other protected seed caliber teams, including Florida State who took on a pretty good Virginia Tech team, pretty much skated to a win.
-Butler picked up a true conference road win, but it wasn’t easy. They needed overtime to beat a Georgetown team that has struggled for much of the year. Butler has been fantastic at home. Butler has some fantastic neutral floor wins as well. In true road games, they struggle. But, they did get the win yesterday.
-Clemson led at Notre Dame for most of the game yesterday. Unfortunately for them they weren’t leading at the end of the game. This is the second loss to a very good team in just a week for the Tigers. The good news is that the losses aren’t at all damaging. They’re still in good shape, but they would have been in infinitely better shape had they picked up one of the wins.
-Syracuse has decided to be good again. They blew out Pittsburgh for their second big win in a row. If they keep playing like that they’ll end up back inside the bubble.
-Dayton picked up a much needed win against Rhode Island in a game that had a hugely pivotal feel to it for both teams. That’s kind of how it is whenever two bubble teams play, and right now that’s what it looks like both Dayton and Rhody are.
-Michigan is in trouble. They had a chance to kind of stabilize things with a win over Maryland yesterday, but ended up falling at home.
-Last, and definitely not least, what the Mountain West has lacked in success in terms of good teams and good OOC wins, they have more than made up for with thrilling conference games. Last night Nevada trailed by as much as 25 in the second half at New Mexico, and was down by as much as 16 with less than three minutes to play. Five made threes later, two of which were banked in in the final minute of play, they had tied it to force overtime. After falling behind in the overtime, back to back threes gave them a lead in the final seconds, and ultimately the win. It is a huge deal because Nevada needed it for their barely flickering at-large hopes. The door is still open to them, but barely.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES (all times Eastern)
-For other games and game times, check out mattsarzsports.com or CLICK HERE.
-NC STATE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC) – ESPN/WatchESPN (1:00 PM). This game is being made up after being postponed. It’s a rivalry game between a UNC team that looks like a solid protected seed, and an NC State team that currently looks like a bubble team at best. If NC State were to win this then their status would take a drastic turn for the better, though.
-NORTHWESTERN AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten) – BTN/BTN2Go (2:15 PM). Right now both teams are solidly inside the bubble, but both also need to continue to build their profiles in order to feel safe. This is a big game for both teams because both teams have a lot of room to improve and winning this game would be a great start.
-MEMPHIS AT TULANE (American) – ASN/WatchESPN (3:00 PM). Memphis has an outside shot at landing inside the bubble if they can finish at or near the top of the conference and avoid bad losses.
-WICHITA STATE AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley) – ESPNU/WatchESPN (4:00 PM). Wichita can pick up another true road win, remain unbeaten in conference, and continue to hold serve and stay safely inside the bubble.
-WISCONSIN AT PURDUE (Big Ten) – CBS (4:30 PM). Both teams are in the rankings and both have a shot at ending up as protected seeds. This is the kind of game that protected seeds are able to win, so it’s a good opportunity for both teams.
-UCF AT UCONN (American) – CBS Sports Network (5:00 PM). With just three losses, UCF is good enough to be in the discussion for a bid if they continue to win.
-OAKLAND AT UIC (Horizon League) – ASN/WatchESPN (5:00 PM). We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Valpo, but we may need to start looking at Oakland. They only have three losses, and they just won convincingly out Valpo, which was likely their toughest remaining game. If they run the table or come close to it they could be challenging for a spot inside the bubble.
-OHIO STATE AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten) – BTN/BTN2Go (7:30 PM). Minnesota is one of the biggest surprises of the year. They look like a solid tournament team and are at home against an Ohio State team that’s in a tailspin and needs a win like this to get their season turned around.
-WAKE FOREST AT VIRGINIA (ACC) – ESPNU/WatchESPN (8:00 PM). Virginia has a great team and I still think they could contend for the ACC title, but right now they’re just 1-2 and need to take advantage of a winnable game at home.
-STANFORD AT UCLA (Pac Twelve) – FS1/FOX Sports GO (8:00 PM). UCLA still looks like a #1 seed to me and they shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight against Stanford.
-CALIFORNIA AT USC (Pac Twelve) – ESPNU/WatchESPN (10:00 PM). USC is having a great season so far and should be able to pick this one up at home. Cal has won a bunch of home buy games, but that’s really all they’ve done so far. They need to win some games like this in order to get the committee to notice them.