News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Jan 16th

NEWS AND NOTES

For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projections – CLICK HERE

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MARQUETTE AT BUTLER (Big East).  Butler continues to impress and looks like they could end up as a protected seed.  Marquette is squarely on the bubble, and if they were to a win like this would be a season defining win that would probably put them safely inside the bubble.

-VERMONT AT HEW HAMPSHIRE (America East).  The Team of the People are in action for one of their biggest conference games of the year!!  Vermont is a conference frontrunner, and picking up a win against them increases their chances of a first place finish and home court advantage in the conference tournament.

-CREIGHTON AT XAVIER (Big East).  Xavier doesn’t have a win against a highly ranked team, and they’re coming off two straight losses.  A win in this game would be good for their resume and their mental health.  As good as Creighton has been, they don’t have a road win of this caliber yet, so a win would really help their resume as well.

-SETON HALL AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  Nova continues to look like a #1 seed and the chances of Seton Hall beating them is small.  Seton Hall has lost two straight games (both on the road), but I still believe they are good.  This is probably too tall of an order, though.

-SYRACUSE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC).  Syracuse has been schizophrenic this year.  Their good wins indicate they’re a tournament team, and their bad losses indicate they’d be lucky to make the NIT.  They have been playing better, and if by some miracle they were to pick this up it would give their resume a much needed boost.

-KANSAS AT IOWA STATE (Big Twelve).  Kansas has won sixteen straight games since losing the season opener in overtime.  Iowa State has struggled this year, but they still look like a tournament caliber team, and are still very tough to beat at home.