-The Basketball Hall of Fame Classic from Belfast Ireland is already underway! Buffalo had no trouble in their game, and SFA and an undefeated San Francisco team are playing right now. The potential of a San Francisco v Buffalo game is kind of appealing.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Rutgers gets a moment in the sun! They are coming off a huge road win at Miami, and tonight are at home against a top ten team. Hopefully there is some energy that’s starting to build and they can get a great atmosphere tonight.
-RADFORD AT TEXAS. It’s a buy game, but Radford is 5-1 with some decent wins on their resume, so they may not be complete pushovers.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT DAYTON. Dayton may be the last best hope for the Atlantic Ten. They have a semi-decent win against Butler, and although they did pick up two losses in their exempt tournament, neither of them were damaging. If they can take down a ranked team tonight and hold serve against sub-NCAA Tournament caliber teams for the rest of the season (which means pretty much winning all the rest), they should be able to land inside the bubble.
-DUQUESNE VS PITTSBURGH. It’s the City Game!! And this year there, for the first time I can ever remember, there are signs of life on both sides!! Duquesne was blown out at Notre Dame, but that is their only loss. Pitt is off to an amazing start and coming off a very strong effort in a close loss at Iowa. This game is usually fun to watch even when it appears to be a mismatch, and hopefully that is the case tonight.
-CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT TCU. Both teams have bloated records, but both teams lack quality wins.
-WISCONSIN AT IOWA (Big Ten). Both teams have played their way into the rankings with some huge early season wins, and it’s going to be fun watching them go at it in this conference opener.
-OKLAHOMA STATE VS MINNESOTA (Us Bank Stadium). It’s the trial run for the Final Four!! They’re playing at the site of this year’s National Championship, although there will most likely be far fewer people there tonight, and it would also be a shock if either of these teams were back playing in April. Having said that, Oklahoma State has looked better than we thought they would, so we will continue to keep an eye on them.