NEWS AND NOTES
-For Day 6 of our Championship Week Video Notebook – CLICK HERE
-For Jon Teitel’s latest seed list and Bracket – CLICK HERE
-The team that helped themselves out the most was Wake Forest. They were on the fringe of the bubble before this week, and then after picking up a home win against Louisville and a road win against Virginia Tech I can’t help but think they’ve played their way onto the good side of it.
-Vanderbilt also helped themselves out a ton by getting a win that they absolutely needed against Florida. They’re close. I think if they play their way into the SEC semis they’ll make it, and if they play their way into the finals they’ll definitely make it.
-Kansas picked up yet another impressive road win to add to their already amazingly unbelievably impressive resume with their win against Oklahoma State. At this point they can miss the bus to the conference tournament and still end up as a #1 seed.
-North Carolina got it done against Duke, and many are saying they’re in line for a #1 seed. They’re probably right, but the argument that can be made against them is they don’t (and won’t) have a true road win against a protected seed, or at least a ranked team, the way #1 seeds typically do.
-Seton Hall picked up a huge road win against Butler and probably locked themselves in in the process.
-Illinois fell at Rutgers. That’s not good. Just ask Rutgers, who loses at Rutgers all the time and as a result is nowhere near the NCAA Tournament. Anything short of winning the Big Ten Tournament will probably land Illinois in the NIT.
-Texas Arlington fell on the road to Louisiana Lafayette, which basically extinguishes any slim hopes of an at-large bid they may have had. It would be unfortunate if they didn’t win the Sun Belt because I do think they’re good enough to get past the Round of 64 if they do end up making the field.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-CINCINNATI AT UCONN (American). Cincinnati can pick up their eighth road win today, and is assured to land in the top half of the bracket if they win this game and then hold serve in the conference tournament.
-PENN STATE AT IOWA (Big Ten). It won’t be easy for Iowa to land inside the bubble, but it won’t be impossible either. They need to avoid losing at home to a Penn State team that’s nowhere near the NIT, and then pick up at least one notable win in the conference tournament.
-PURDUE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Purdue is flirting with a protected seed and this is the kind of game they need to be able to win in order to get it. Northwestern is having their best season in school history and should make their first NCAA Tournament in school history. Closing the season at home against a ranked team should make for an incredible atmosphere. A win will help their seeding, but more importantly it will give them a huge amount of momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament, as well as the best curtain call the program has ever experienced.
-MINNESOTA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Wisconsin has lost five of their last six, and although they’re in no danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, the quality of their resume is dropping. Minnesota is completely going in the other direction with eight straight wins. They’re playing for seeding and adding yet another quality road win to their resume will help.
-MICHIGAN AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). The one thing Michigan could use on their resume is another road win. They only have two on the year, and if they were to lose this and lose their first conference tournament game a case could be made that they don’t belong in the field.