NEWS AND NOTES
-For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projections – CLICK HERE
-For our UTR Game of the Day, which is a double feature that features THE TEAM OF THE PEOPLE!!! – CLICK HERE
-We will be recording our weekly Hoops HD Report tomorrow night instead of tonight. Be on the lookout for that. I’m also hoping to post my personal bracket a little later on today, which is better than any one else’s bracket anywhere on the planet! Other staff members will comment and criticize, but they will be wrong!
-There were only a handful of games from the major conferences yesterday, but they were almost all laughers. Houston blew out East Carolina on the road, Ohio State continued their hot play with an easy win at Rutgers, and Virginia and USC held serve at home against NC State and Utah, respectively.
-Indiana also had an easy win at home against Northwestern. They are sitting pretty at 4-2 in the Big Ten, but the road becomes more difficult with a road game against an angry Michigan State team and a home game against a Maryland team that is also getting more desperate by the day. Wins in both of these games will vault Indiana into NCAA Tournament discussion.
-UPDATE (12:20 PM EST) – The Big 12 has announced that it issued a public reprimand to West Virginia player Wesley Harris for throwing a punch at a fan following the WVU-Texas Tech game on Saturday. Texas Tech was also fined $25,000 by the conference for the post-game court storming.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-BUTLER AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Both teams have decent resumes by NCAA Tourney standards (moreso for Butler), but both also have a lot of room to improve which makes today’s game big for both of them. Butler has just one true road win so this would look really nice on their resume if they’re able to pull it off.
-MARYLAND AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Michigan is on fire all of a sudden after their big road win against Michigan State. Maryland is bubblish and a win today would really help them, but it’s much easier said than done.
-DUKE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). Miami has lost two of their last three and are rebounding from a tough but not damaging loss to Clemson. Still, they’re in the rankings and they’re hosting a Duke team that’s yet to beat a solid NCAA Tourney team in a true road game. Both teams have quite a bit to gain tonight.
-FLORIDA STATE AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). BC isn’t the easiest place to win on the road, but it’s less difficult than a lot of other ACC teams and getting a third true road win would help out the Noles.
-MINNESOTA AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Both teams desperately need to string together several wins just to get on the right side of the bubble.
-KANSAS AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12). Kansas is looking to solidify themselves as a protected seed and a win today would definitely do that. West Virginia is trying to make a run at the #1 line, and a win today would definitely underline that. We will also monitor any potential suspensions for West Virginia as a result of what happened after the loss at Texas Tech on Saturday – it appeared that at least one WVU player threw a punch at a fan after Tech fans stormed the floor.
-ILLINOIS AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Nebraska remains outside the bubble, but if they can string together several wins they should be able to at least reach it. Illinois is now in the Big Ten cellar after losing against previously winless Iowa.
-DEPAUL AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Marquette is looking to bounce back from a road loss to Butler and as well as they’ve been playing they shouldn’t have too much trouble taking care of DePaul at home.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT BAYLOR (Big 12). Both of these teams are pretty good, but both will also have a very hard time keeping pace with the rest of the Big 12, which is what makes this game so important.