News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 29th

NEWS AND NOTES

-Louisville v Purdue was a rock fight last night without a lot of offensive flow, but it was an exciting rock fight that seesawed back and forth and saw Purdue picking up the win at home.  Louisville was in the game, and has to be encouraged to a degree that they didn’t play well but still had a chance to win it, but to date all they’ve done is win home buy games.

-Xavier got a nice win against a pretty good Baylor team in the night’s only top 25 match up.

-South Dakota State had a 20 point second half lead against Ole Miss that they blew, but they still held on to pick up a huge win in overtime and improve to 7-2 on the year with one of the losses being at Kansas.  They should finish with a very bloated record, and who knows?  Maybe they’ll land on (or even inside) the bubble.

-Iowa stinks.

-Will the real Saint Louis team please show up? We’re not sure if it is the team that defeated Virginia Tech at Madison Square Garden or the team with back-to-back home losses to Detroit and Western Michigan.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-PENN AT VILLANOVA (Big Five).  Nova is unbeaten on the year and playing like they could be a #1 seed.  Penn, while more impressive than we thought they’d be so far, is way overmatched in this one.

-MERCER AT TENNESSEE.  It’s a buy game, but Mercer is off to an impressive 5-2 start and could be one of the better teams in the SoCon this year.  Tennessee already has some good wins on their resume.

-AUBURN AT DAYTON.  Despite a tumultuous offseason, Auburn has just one loss, but really needs some notable wins.  Dayton is rebuilding, but it’s still a tough place to win on the road at.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SIENA.  You get the sense that the Bonnies need to start winning games and that their margin for error is becoming more and more narrow.  This would be somewhat damaging if they’re not able to pull it off.

-BUCKNELL AT SAINT JOSEPH’S.  We expected a big year from Bucknell, which could still happen.  They’ve won three in a row since starting off 0-4, but anything short of winning out may not be enough to get them into the NCAAs without the auto bid.  This is the kind of game they would certainly need to be able to win.

-VERMONT AT RICHMOND.  We really like this Vermont team.  They’ve won five in a row since narrowly losing the opener at Kentucky and have another winnable road game tonight.

-COLGATE AT ALBANY.  Albany is coming off their first loss of the season, but they still appear to be a strong team and could possibly play their way into the conversation if they keep winning at the clip they have been.

-NC STATE AT PENN STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  We like both these teams and have been impressed with what each of them has done so far.  This game is two teams coming in with some decent wins already and a lot of momentum who are looking to build on that momentum.

-CLEMSON AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Both of these teams come in with good records, but they need good wins on their resume as well.  Ohio State let one slip away against Butler in their last game and are looking to rebound.

-MICHIGAN AT NORTH CAROLINA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  This appears to be a huge mismatch, although Michigan does have just one loss it’s their first true road game and by far their toughest opponent so far.  UNC, with the exception of their last game, played well in the PK-80 and is looking to build on that.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT ALABAMA.  Alabama is coming off of a loss, but it was a valiant effort considering that they had to finish the game with just three players.  LA Tech has looked good this year and comes in unbeaten.  This is a chance for them to pick up a signature win and make a case to the selection committee that they belong in the discussion.

-UNLV AT NORTHERN IOWA (Mtn West/MVC Challenge).  This could be the game of the day, as UNI has a pair of good wins and their only losses were to North Carolina and a competitive showing against Villanova.  UNLV comes in unbeaten.  These are two good teams (at least so far) who are looking for the kind of win that would impress the selection committee.

-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT WESTERN KENTUCKY.  Western Kentucky picked up some good wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis and if they keep playing at that level they could find themselves inside the bubble.

-BELMONT AT TCU.  Belmont is coming off a disappointing and damaging loss to Lipscomb, and that followed a loss at the buzzer at Providence.  If they want to prove their relevance to the committee they need to pick up a win like this and avoid bad losses the rest of the way.  TCU is unbeaten and has cracked the rankings.  They’ve undergone a drastic improvement since Jamie Dixon took over.

-WYOMING AT DENVER (Front Range).  Wyoming has just one loss on the year, and that came against Cincinnati.  They can pick up their second true road win of the season tonight, and do it against a Front Range rival.

-MIAMI FL AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Everyone is dogging Minney because of how their game ended against Alabama.  They were outplayed by just three players.  What people are forgetting is that they’ve won at Providence, they had a double digit lead against Alabama when Bama was playing with five players, and they’re unbeaten on the year.  This is a VERY good Minney team, and while Miami is good as well, this is their first opponent that’s not a cupcake.  Both teams are ranked and it’s a chance at an early season quality win.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Both teams come in 5-2, and a much improved BC team could add a nice road win to their profile if they can pull this off.

-DUKE AT INDIANA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Despite this being a true road game for Duke, I don’t foresee it as being much of a challenge.  They’ve knocked off two top ten teams on neutral floors already, so they’ve certainly put together the best resume in the country so far.

-ILLINOIS STATE AT NEVADA (Mtn West/MVC Challenge).  Nevada is a perfect 6-0 with two really good wins on their resume already.  It’s ridiculous that they’re not in the top 25, and they shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight against a solid Illinois State team.

BUY GAMES

-Columbia @ UConn
-Rider @ Providence – could be a potential upset special here
-UT Martin @ LSU
-New Orleans @ Houston
-Alcorn State @ Tulane – Tulane can improve to 6-1
-Long Beach @ Arizona
-Oral Roberts @ Kansas State
-Austin Peay @ Oklahoma State
-Florida A&M @ Texas
-Rice @ UT Arlington – not a buy game, but UTA has just one loss, and it was at the buzzer to Alabama
-Incarnate Word @ Gonzaga
-Chicago State @ Marquette
-Cal State Bakersfield @ UCLA