NEWS AND NOTES
-Duke overcame a second half deficit and came back to beat a very tough Texas Tech team. Texas Tech plays great defense and is very strong in a half court game. If anything, what I took away from the game is that Texas Tech is not a top 2 team, but they are easily a top 15 team and worthy of their current top 15 ranking.
-Houston came from behind with an incredible defensive effort in the second half to knock off a pretty good Utah State team and remain unbeaten on the year.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-LA SALLE VS ALABAMA A&M (Battle of the Boardwalk). LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, and everyone else who does not fall into that category, GET READY FOR MORE AWESOMENESS THAN MOST PEOPLE HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN A TWO HOUR PERIOD!!!!! One of these teams will win their first game of the year. One will advance to the championship round and be playing for a trophy!! We have dispatched Chad Sherwood to cover all of the action!!!!!
-KENT STATE AT OREGON STATE. Oregon State hasn’t been spectacular by any means, but as weak as the Pac Twelve is they could make quite a bit of noise in conference play. As for Kent State, they have just two losses on the year and are good enough to pick up a rather solid road win in this one today, and considering they’ll have chances against Toledo and Buffalo later on there actually is a path (albeit a narrow one) to landing inside the bubble.
-GEORGIA SOUTHERN AT RADFORD. These are two pretty strong UTR teams that have decent resumes so far. Radford is finally back home for just the second time this year, and for the first time against a div1 team.
-UC IRVINE AT BUTLER. Both teams have good records, but Butler still needs to add some meet to their resume. In fact UC Irvine arguable has the better resume up to this point, and is a perfect 5-0 in true road games this year. If they can get this one then it will make their resume look even better.
-OREGON AT BAYLOR. Simply put, these teams haven’t really done anything up to this point and need to string together a lot of wins just to get themselves into the NCAA Tournament conversation.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT UCF. UCF’s profile still needs some work despite them being 9-2 on the year. They don’t want to overlook this Illinois State team who has perhaps underperformed, but still has a high ceiling.
-FURMAN AT LSU. Furman is unbeaten and has a really nice win at Villanova, but outside of that game they haven’t been tested quite like they will be tonight. LSU has been somewhat underwhelming this year and has no real strong wins on their resume yet, but they’re still good enough to pick up those wins down the road and wind up inside the bubble. A win tonight, although it’s technically a buy game, would be a huge step in the right direction.
-OLE MISS VS MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Kermit Davis returns to face his old school. We haven’t talked all that much about Ole Miss, and they still may not end up being a national player, but a win tonight does get them to 9-2 on the year.
-VERMONT AT LIPSCOMB. (Under the Radar Game of the Day). Vermont is having a very impressive season considering that they’re 9-3, and two of those losses were hard fought games against Kansas and Louisville. What makes it more impressive is how much talent they lost off of last year’s team. Lipscomb also played well against Louisville and was in the game until the final minute, and they also have a couple of impressive road wins on their resume already, so don’t be surprised if we see both these teams in the NCAA Tournament. Neither one of them will be easy outs.
-BUFFALO AT MARQUETTE. I can’t say enough about Buffalo. They are unbeaten, they have three really good wins away from home with true road wins at Syracuse and West Virginia, and another neutral floor win against San Francisco. I do think this is their toughest test of the season, and will likely be their toughest test until perhaps the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament (if they make it that far). Marquette is unbeaten at home, and has already knocked off teams like K State and Marquette. This would be a huge, protected seed caliber win for Buffalo if they can pull this one off, but they’ve had such a good year up to this point that they’re still in good shape even if they don’t.
-PROVIDENCE AT TEXAS. Both of these teams could really use this win. Texas has some nice wins already, but still has some work to do. Providence has even more work to do. A road win like this would really boost the quality of their resume.
-OKLAHOMA AT NORTHWESTERN. Oklahoma continues to improve as the season goes along, and they have another big test tonight against a Northwestern team who’s only home loss was to Michigan by just 2pts. If the Wildcats are able to string together several big wins then we’ll once again be seeing them in the NCAA Tournament.
-PENN STATE AT ALABAMA. Both these teams are on the outside looking in and need to string together several wins just to get caught back up to the pack.
-Alabama State @ Liberty
-Oakland @ Michigan State
-Robert Morris @ Louisville
-Detroit @ Xavier
-Eastern Illinois @ Iowa State
-Coastal Carolina at Charleston – CofC can improve to 11-2 with a win
-Alcorn State @ South Florida – Amazingly, USF can improve to 9-2 with a win
-North Carolina A&T @ Minnesota
-Denver @ Gonzaga
-Sacramento State @ Washington