NEWS AND NOTES
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-After nearly knocking off Kansas over the weekend, Texas Tech did knock off Baylor last night, which gives their NCAA Tournament resume a much needed boost. The one thing Texas Tech still needs is road wins, but if they can pick up just one or two the rest of the way they’ll probably make the field.
-Louisville needed overtime to take down Syracuse, and Kansas needed overtime to outlast West Virginia. Kansas actually trailed by double digits with just over three minutes to play and it looked as though West Virginia was on cruise control. But, the Jayhawks held on and are now once again in the driver’s seat for first place in the Big Twelve.
-As an under the radar note, Monmouth is the best team in the Metro Atlantic, but the tournament will be on Siena’s court. Last night Monmouth played Siena on Siena’s court, and absolutely ran Siena off of Siena’s court. Despite an unfair disadvantage based on how the MAAC structures their tournament, Monmouth should still be the favorite.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT VCU (Atlantic Ten). VCU would be safely inside the bubble if the season ended today, but they aren’t safe enough to where they can just skate down the stretch. They need to hold serve against non-tournament teams, especially when they’re at home.
-FLORIDA AT AUBURN (SEC). Auburn doesn’t have any of the earmarks for being a tournament team right now, but the bubble is weak and I actually put them in my last field. They do have a pathway to get inside the bubble, but it will require a strong finish and wins in games like this. Florida should end up with a protected seed if they hold serve the rest of the way.
-TENNESSEE AT KENTUCKY (SEC). Tennessee is another team that’s right outside the bubble, but they’re just 2-2 in their last four games, and all of those were winnable. They beat Kentucky earlier in the year, but beating them on the road is a much taller order.
-RUTGERS AT PURDUE (Big ten). Purdue appears to be improving as the season goes along, and has a very winnable home game tonight.
-NOTRE DAME AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). Notre Dame is coming off of a big home win against Florida State, and has one of their more winnable conference road games tonight. They need to take advantage of it and add another road win to their resume.
-WAKE FOREST AT CLEMSON (ACC). Both of these teams are right on the bubble, and whenever two bubble teams play each other it has a pivotal feel for both teams.
-VIRGINIA TECH AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). VA Tech is coming off a huge emotional home win against rival Virginia, but they will be without Chris Clarke for the rest of the season, which is a huge setback. They haven’t been that good on the road and this is a winnable road game that their profile could really use.
-DAYTON AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). Dayton is inside the bubble for now, but because the majority of their games are against sub NCAA Tournament teams they really don’t have a huge margin for error and need to avoid bad losses in games like this.
-OHIO STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). The bubble is a long reach for Ohio State, but not so long to where it’s impossible. They’ll need a very strong finish, though. Michigan State is fairly close to the bubble and really needs to hold serve in home games against teams that are outside the bubble.