Under the Radar Game of the Day: Texas-Arlington at Georgia Southern (and Other Highlighted Games)

Texas-Arlington at Georgia Southern, 7:00 PM Eastern, ASN/espn3

If you decided to go looking for the wildest standings among any conference this season, you do not have to go further than the Sun Belt.  Entering play tonight, the Texas-Arlington Mavericks (10-3 in conference) hold a half game lead over Arkansas State and Georgia Southern (both 10-4), a game and a half lead over Georgia State (9-5) and a two game lead over Texas State (8-5).  With every team having at least four more games left this season, it is still anybody’s conference to win.  Unfortunately all that winning the league will do is give the winner the top seed in the conference tournament and a guaranteed spot in the NIT should they fail to win it (though in Arlington’s case, an at-large bid to the NCAAs is not yet completely out of the picture).  The tournament will be played at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and will use a standard format instead of the ladder that had been used the past few years.  Of course, with at least half a dozen teams capable of winning the event, being able to get the 8 or 9 seed in the quarterfinals may be worth winning the title in and of itself.

Tonight’s Under the Radar Game of the Day comes from Statesboro, Georgia as the Georgia Southern Eagles (17-10 overall) will be hosting the first place UTA Mavericks (20-6 overall).  The Eagles jumped out to a great start in conference play, winning their first 7 Sun Belt games and building a nice lead over their conference rivals.  The past few weeks have been less kind, however, as GSU has lost 4 of their last 7 to drop half a game behind Arlington.  They did pick up a three point home win over Texas State on Saturday led by 21 points from one of the Sun Belt’s most exciting and fun players to watch, Tookie Brown.  Brown has twice scored over 30 points this season and, in what can only be bad news for the rest of the Sun Belt, is only a sophomore.  As he gets better and better, Georgia Southern should improve as well.  Even if they do not win the conference this season, the Eagles have no seniors in the rotation and should be a top contender for the next several years.

Texas-Arlington enters play tonight not only in first place in the Sun Belt but also with an RPI in the Top 40 nationally.  Historically, finishing in the Top 40 in the RPI and winning your conference regular season outright is a recipe for an at-large bid.  The Mavs also have a very good road win, winning at Saint Mary’s by 14 points back in early December.  Despite three sub-150 losses (at Texas State, at Troy and at Coastal Carolina), Arlington should definitely merit some discussion in the Selection Committee room if they win their last five regular season games and advance to the Sun Belt championship game, though with that game scheduled for a 2:00 PM Eastern start on Selection Sunday, they could also force the committee to create extra contingency brackets.  The Mavs picked up a huge 68-67 win at Georgia State on Saturday in a game they trailed almost the entire way.  In fact, it was a 35-footer with 1 second left from Erick Neal that let them steal the win and remain on top of the league standings.  With four much more winnable games ahead over the next two weeks, tonight’s game could serve to not only keep the Mavs in the hunt for an at-large bid, but could also be the win that locks up the regular season Sun Belt title.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-News and Notes from yesterday, and from the rest of the week, will be covered in tonight’s Hoops HD Report.  Be sure and check it out!

-MIAMI FL AT VIRGINIA (ACC).  This is a big game for Virginia not in the sense that they need it to safely make the tournament, but that they need it to pull themselves out of the 2-5 tailspin they’ve been in for seven games.  They still have a good shot at ending up as a protected seed, but they need to hold serve in games like this.  Miami is playing better now than they have all season, and has a chance to build on their profile between now and the end, especially in games like this.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC).  The most winnable game in the ACC is playing Boston College at home.

-TEXAS AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve).  Texas just doesn’t have it this year, but they still fight tooth and nail in every game.  It’s a very winnable game for West Virginia, but the can’t approach it as if it were a buy game either.

-IOWA STATE AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve).  Texas Tech is not entirely out of the picture, but they need a strong finish if they want to make the NCAA Tournament.  They also need road wins, which they can’t pick up today, but a win today certainly wouldn’t hurt.  Iowa State has improved as the season has gone along as well and can pick up another nice road win for their resume today.