NEWS AND NOTES
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-NC State won at Duke last night, and I think I would have been less surprised if I had woken up this morning duck-taped to the ceiling. My biggest criticism of NC State was that they hadn’t done anything. That is no longer valid. They’ve certainly done something now. It was a huge win for them and could make the difference of whether or not they make the field just so long as they hold serve from this point on.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-AUBURN AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). This is one of those winnable home games where South Carolina needs to hold serve.
-RUTGERS AT MARYLAND (Big Ten). Last year at this time Maryland had a very similar record, and got as high as #2 in the rankings. This year, they’re ranked #22nd. I don’t know if that means anything or not, but I did think it was interesting because I felt they weren’t as good as their ranking last year, but also feel they’re a little bit better than their ranking this year. Anyway, this is a winnable conference home game and I don’t expect them to have too much trouble.
-PURDUE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). This is a big road game for Purdue that would look very good on their resume, and a somewhat pivotal home game for Michigan State who’s trying to fight their way into the top half of the bracket.
-LOUISVILLE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Pitt is just 1-5 in the ACC and one gets the feeling that they’re starting to lose their grip and slip out of the tournament picture. They need a conference win, so they need to come into this with a huge sense of urgency. Louisville is coming off a loss at Florida State, but they played very well in that game after falling behind early so they should come into this feeling encouraged despite the loss.
-KANSAS AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve). This starts a rather rough stretch for Kansas where they play West Virginia, Kentucky, and Baylor. Even if they just win one out of the three, you still have to like their chances of ending up on the #1 line, especially since two of those three games are on the road.
-AKRON AT WEST VIRGINIA (MAC). I like this Akron team, and I feel they’ll be right on the bubble if they run away from the rest of the MAC. They may be good enough to win out through the regular season.
-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley). Wichita State is 17-4 on the year, and you have to assume they’ll at least be on the bubble if they win out, but the quality of their wins is pretty thin, so their margin for error is very small.
-VIRGINIA AT NOTRE DAME (ACC). This is another ACC match-up between two likely protected seeds. My pick to win the league was Virginia and I’m not swaying from that. That being said, this will not be an easy game for them to win.
-WAKE FOREST AT SYRACUSE (ACC). An extremely bubblicious game between two teams who really need this win.
-VILLANOVA AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Nova has looked like a #1 seed all season long, and although it’s not easy to win at Marquette it’s the kind of game a #1 seed can certainly win. Marquette just picked up a big win at Creighton so they should come into this with some momentum. it would be a huge win on their resume and have them breathing a lot easier.
-ARKANSAS AT VANDERBILT (SEC). Arkansas seems to be everyone’s favorite team here at Hoops HD. They’re quite impressed with how they won all those buy games and beat Houston. No one likes Vandy, but if the Commodores can somehow pull this one off they’ll be tied with Arkansas in the SEC standings!!
-KENTUCKY AT TENNESSEE (SEC). No one in the SEC has really made Kentucky sweat yet and that probably won’t happen tonight either.
-PENN STATE AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). I still like this Wisconsin team more than anyone else in the Big Ten, but Penn State has made a lot more noise than what we were expecting. If they can somehow pull this off, and that’s a VERY big if, they will likely be within reach of the bubble.
-KANSAS STATE AT IOWA STATE (Big Twelve). I get the sense that if the season ended today both teams would be inside the bubble, but on the bottom half of the bracket. That makes this a big game for both teams because both have a lot of room for improvement.