News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Feb 27th

NEWS AND NOTES

-Conference Tournaments begin tonight!!  HAPPY MARCH MADNESS EVERYBODY!!  In…well…late February.  That means the first of our nightly Championship Week Video Notebooks has been posted.  CLICK HERE to check it out.

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, which has first place (and therefore potential NIT) implications in the SoCon – CLICK HERE

-Syracuse lost bad at Louisville on the road.  Now, the committee slightly changes every year with two members leaving and two new members joining, but in the past they have not been kind to teams that look like protected seeds at home, but look like NIT teams (or worse) on the road.  That is Syracuse.  Everyone (including us) is projecting them in, but I wouldn’t say they’re a lock yet.

-Cincinnati went down on the road at UCF.  This should end any talk of them getting a protected seed, which I don’t think they were lined up for anyway due to their schedule strength (or lack thereof).  But, to be fair, it’s not easy to win at UCF.  They’re an impressive 13-3 at home and one of those losses was a close game to SMU.

-Wisconsin is in a bit of a tailspin. They fell at Michigan State yesterday, and that is now their fourth loss in give games.  They went on this skid almost immediately after I said I thought they could end up as a #3 seed.  My apologies to the Badgers.

-I think Butler is cruising toward the #3 line.  They won another big road game at Xavier yesterday.  Xavier is heading in the opposite direction.  This is their fifth straight loss, and they’ve got another tough game coming up against Marquette.

-Middle Tennessee got a huge scare from UAB, but a missed last second shot at the buzzer allowed Middle to come out with the win and keep their at-large hopes a reality.  It’s likely the two will meet again in the CUSA quarterfinals, which are being played in Birmingham.

-Last, and least, USC went into Arizona State, and lost.  I was actually trying to make an argument that USC belonged in the top half of the bracket, so I take full responsibility for them dumping a game to an Arizona State team that’s lightyears away from even making the NIT.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA (ACC).  We’ve been putting North Carolina up on the #1 line, but if you look at the quality of their road wins they don’t quite match the other #1 seeds.  That can change if they can win tonight.  Virginia had been in a tailspin, but they picked up a win over the weekend and can pretty much completely pull themselves out of it if they’re able to pick this one up.  In short, Virginia is trying to cement themselves in as a protected seed, and North Carolina is trying to cement themselves in as a #1 seed.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT BAYLOR (Big Twelve).  Kansas is running away from the conference, and short of winning out through the conference tournament I can’t see Baylor ending up as a #1 seed.  But both are still solid protected seeds with a chance to add another big win to their resume.

-TROY AT UT ARLINGTON (Sun Belt).  If UT Arlington can win out, which they are certainly good enough to do, then the committee should take them regardless of what happens in the conference tournament.  That doesn’t mean they will, but they should.

-MIAMI FL AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Both teams are rather safely inside the bubble and this game is mostly just a potential resume padder.

-OKLAHOMA AT KANSAS (Big Twelve).  Kansas has managed to run away from a very strong conference and can improve to 15-2 with a win tonight, which keeps them in contention for the overall #1 seed.