NEWS AND NOTES
CLICK HERE for this week’s Hoops HD Report
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Buffalo and Kent State – CLICK HERE
-Kansas picked up a very impressive win against a very good K State team that was at home and jacked up, Michigan beat Northwestern, and Duke blew Notre Dame off the court in the second half. That’s really it as far as tournament caliber teams. But, when you look at all the games from UTR teams yesterday, it may have been the single most exciting day in college basketball history!!
-We had five overtime games, of those five, two were double OT games, and a third was a triple OT game. Siena knocked off Saint Peter’s in a low scoring 3OT affair, Chattanooga upset UNCG in a double overtime thriller, Fairield pulled off a home upset over Iona in double overtime, Lipscomb avoided a loss to SC Upstate in double overtime, and grambling knocked off Mississippi Valley State in a Centenary stakes game in overtime. Other action included a missed three point shot at the buzzer by The Citadel that would have knocked off East Tennessee State, Jacksonville hitting two freethrows with less than a second to play to beat Stetson, NJIT almost blowing a 20pt lead but holding on to beat Kennesaw State by 3, and a shot in the final second by Pine Bluff to beat Jackson State by just 2. Much of this was all happening at the same time. We recorded the Hoops HD Report (linked above) last night, and it was great fun having all of us online together while all this was going on! Very little of it really meant anything at all as far as the NCAA Tournament goes, but it was still great!!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-RHODE ISLAND AT UMASS (Atlantic Ten). Rhody had a close call against Duquesne and now goes on the road to face their (sort of) rivals. They shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up another road win, but UMass has played well at home at times.
-INDIANA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State is looking to rebound from a loss at the buzzer to Penn State that will make it a lot more difficult (but certainly not impossible) to end up as a protected seed. They’re facing an Indiana team that’s having a rough year.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT CLEMSON (ACC). North Carolina is coming off a somewhat surprising home loss to NC State, but is still in really good shape overall and should still be able to end up as a protected seed. Clemson has struggled since losing one of their best players to an injury and barely held on to beat Georgia Tech over the weekend. They’re at home, but this is still a very tall order.
-FLORIDA AT GEORGIA (SEC). Florida is finally looking like a protected seed on a close to consistent basis, but they still have some work to do in order to end up with a seed that good. Winning on the road against a Georgia team that’s on the bubble (and could really use a win like this for that reason) would go a long way.
-TCU AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). After losing at Vanderbilt and being just 3-5 in the conference, this game suddenly has a very pivotal feel for TCU. They face an Okie State team who also needs to string together some wins, and who has to look at games like this where they’re at home against non-protected seeds as winnable games that they need on their resume. There is quite a bit at stake for both these teams tonight.
-XAVIER AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East) Xavier continues to climb the rankings and right now looks like a solid #2 seed who still has an outside shot of ending up on the #1 line. Saint John’s continues to play like crap in the conference, but they did give the Muskies a bit of a scare when they met earlier this year.
-AUBURN AT OLE MISS (SEC). We at Hoops HD now think of Auburn as a solid protected seed, and if that’s true then this is the kind of game they should be expected to win. Not just able to win, but expected to win. It’s a road game against an NIT caliber team (if that). Ole Miss has played well at home at times, but it’s still a game that a protected seeded caliber team should win.
-VANDERBILT AT KENTUCKY (SEC). Kentucky is coming off their biggest regular season win in several years and has perhaps turned the corner. They shouldn’t have too much trouble at home against a Vandy team that currently sits at the bottom of the league.
-ARKANSAS AT TEXAS A&M (SEC). It’s certainly not too late for TAMU, but they now have to string together a rather long string of wins in order to end up inside the bubble and in the field. Arkansas is a pretty strong team, but they’re not exactly at a point to where they can just put it on cruise control either. This is one of many games that has a pivotal feel to it for both teams.
-NORTHERN NEW MEXICO (nondiv1) AT NEW MEXICO STATE. Buy game. And….why????