NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a good one out of the Southland between SFA and New Orleans – CLICK HERE
-Purdue managed to pick up a road win at Michigan in one of the many exciting games last night. The Boilers have a really good profile, but any time a team can win on the road against an NCAA Tournament caliber team it makes their resume even better. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Michigan with it being a late freethrow that gave Purdue the win.
-Oklahoma rebounded from their loss at West Virginia with a win over Texas Tech at home last night. Texas Tech actually played well with the exception of one dry spell late in the first half. Losing on the road to a top ten team is hardly damaging, so Texas Tech is still just fine. That being said, who in October thought this game would have featured two top ten teams??
-Kansas really had to sweat out Iowa State at home, but came out with the win. It was surprising to see the Jayhawks struggle as much as they did, and one can’t help but wonder if this is becoming a trend.
-Seton Hall cracked the top fifteen earlier this week!! They then went into Marquette…and got absolutely blown off the floor. It was a great win for the Golden Eagles and a sign that they are a solid tournament team that is continuing to improve. For Seton Hall it’s a sign that, like a lot of teams, they do struggle on the road.
-Kentucky held on (literally) to beat Texas A&M. It came on a controversial no call as time expired where a Kentucky player grabbled and held a TAMU player as he went for the ball on a long pass. Both teams were coming off a loss, and TAMU has now lost four straight. Both teams were also shorthanded for this game.
-About a month ago we thought Penn State was good. We no longer feel Penn State is good. They fell at Indiana last night in a game they really didn’t need to lose.
-Rhode Island had all kinds of trouble at Saint Louis, but held on to win and avoided what would have been a rather disastrous loss.
-Boise State picked up another nice road win at Fresno State. The Broncos have a smattering of decent wins on their resume, but no great ones, so their margin for error isn’t exactly huge, but they’re still in good shape.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-RUTGERS AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State shouldn’t have too much trouble rebounding from the blitzing they received against Ohio State over the weekend. Rutgers is improving, but they still got a long way to go.
-DUKE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Duke has struggled in true road games. They need to win this one because it is the most winnable true road game that they play all year.
-NOTRE DAME AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). Notre Dame is dealing with injuries, but they’re 3-0 in league play, they still have a strong resume, and they have played rather well without Bonzie Colson. However, as Miami will attest, you can’t take the Yellow Jackets for granted, either.
-VIRGINIA TECH AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). VA Tech is on the outside looking in right now and really needs to pick up this win on the road. They’ll be in a huge freefall if they don’t.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT FLORIDA (SEC). The Gators appear to be back on track after hitting the skids for a few games. They’ll be tested tonight, at least to some degree. That being said, it’s probably a bigger game and test for a Mississippi State team with a bloated record, but they’re largely a home court hero. If they can pick up a win like this on the road it will change the complexion of their resume for the better.
-UCF AT UCONN (American). UConn is once again having a disastrous year. UCF is a very respectable 12-4, but they’ll need to win the vast majority of their games between now and the end, and hold serve against all sub-tournament teams. That includes UConn (and one of our favorite rivalries – The Civil Conflict!).
-FORDHAM AT SAINT BONAVENTURE (Atlantic Ten). The Bonnies may be done. If they win out, which they may be able to do given how weak the A10 is, then they’ll be okay, but anything short of that and they’ll most likely need the auto bid.
-XAVIER AT VILLANOVA (Big East – Spotlight Game). We’ve got another top ten match up!!! Xavier is coming off a loss to Providence, and they’ve had almost no luck playing at Nova since joining the conference. This is a #1 seed caliber game. The winner will be on pace to end up with one.
-NEW ORLEANS AT STEPHEN F AUSTIN (Southland). Also highlighted as Chad’s UTR Game of the Day. This is an interesting Southland game between a UNO team that’s unbeaten in league play and an SFA team that could be a dangerous NCAA Tourney opponent if they’re able to get in.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT KANSAS STATE (Big 12). As strong as the Big 12 has been, you get the sense that both these teams are going to have a very hard time keeping up. That makes this a rather important game simply because it’s a more winnable game than most other conference games.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT ILLINOIS STATE (Missouri Valley). Illinois State can get inside the bubble, but they’ll pretty much need to win out to do it, which is much easier said than done. The Ramblers are at .500 in the Valley and a road win puts them closer to contention for the regular season crown.
-MISSOURI STATE AT EVANSVILLE (Missouri Valley). Missouri State is off to a great start in league play. They can improve to 4-1 and pick up another road win tonight.
-DRAKE AT VALPARAISO (Missouri Valley). While Valpo has struggled in their initial season in the Valley, Drake has been a pleasant surprise and is the only unbeaten team remaining in conference play. Nonetheless, this will be a tough chore for the Bulldogs to get win #5 in the Valley tonight.
-TCU AT TEXAS (Big 12). Both teams have looked really good this year. Both have decent wins on their resume. But as of now, neither of them have any great wins on their resume. This is a game between two teams in a conference where wins are very tough to come by who are looking to improve their resumes.
-LOUISVILLE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). I really like this Florida State team and I don’t think they’ll have too much trouble with a Louisville team that has struggled all year and is still looking for their first notable win. Nonetheless, a road win does put the Cards right back into NCAA contention.
-MINNESOTA AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Both these teams look like bubble teams right now, if they even look that good, and could REALLY use this win.
-GEORGIA AT MISSOURI (SEC). Both these teams are hovering around the inside of the bubble and could use some wins to boost their resumes.
-LSU AT ARKANSAS (SEC). LSU is much improved, but they still have some work to do. Arkansas has a strong team, but is on a bit of a downswing and needs to take care of business in this one to avoid dropping to 1-3 in league play.
-TEMPLE AT SMU (American). SMU is falling further and further down the list and needs to string together some wins (and perhaps more than some) to get things turned back around.
-COLORADO AT USC (Pac Twelve). Colorado had a huge week last week where they picked up home wins against Arizona and Arizona State. They’ve done nothing on the road, though, and will need to pick up some road wins if they want to make the NCAAs, so this is a great opportunity for them. USC is having a really rough year so far and probably needs to win both games this week to help change their luck.
-UNLV AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West). UNLV is coming off a really bad loss to Utah State, and is perhaps running out of strikes.