NEWS AND NOTES
-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a big one between Kent State and Bowling Green – CLICK HERE
-For Jon Teitel’s interview with Stu Jackson where they discuss, among other things, the career of David Stern – CLICK HERE
-Colorado knocked off #4 Oregon last night, and has now won five straight. Oregon is the second ranked team that they’ve beaten in that stretch, so I’d say the Buffs are alive and well! This was one of the tougher games remaining on Oregon’s schedule, and while a loss certainly doesn’t sink them, it does hurt their chances of ending up as a #1 seed. Then again, virtually any loss does that, so…
-In other Pac 12 news, UCLA, after looking like they weren’t good enough to finish in the top half of the Big West for most of the season, went into Washington and picked up a very surprising upset win over the Huskies. Washington started things off with a win against Baylor, who is now ranked in the top ten, but ever since then they haven’t done much of anything other than buy games. They do have a decent win at Hawaii in the Diamondhead Classic, other than that and Baylor they have just one other win against a team with a winning record. I still like this team and think that they’ll get the wins that they need before it’s over, but this was a head-scratcher.
-Stephen F Austin and Liberty both won, and both have clear paths to winning out until the NCAA Tournament.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WISCONSIN AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State is looking to bounce back from a somewhat disappointing loss to West Virginia last week. This is a winnable conference home game against a Wisconsin team that has underachieved for the most part, but that’s also won three straight, and beaten Tennessee in that stretch.
-UCF AT HOUSTON (American). Houston may finally be waking up. They still have a lot of work to do, but the path for them to have a really big season and land in the top half of the NCAA Tournament bracket is still there. This is a decent but not great UCF team, and it’s important that they take care of business at home.
-RUTGERS AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Rutgers has shown us something this year, but in order to be taken seriously as a tournament team they need to win on the road. If they can’t beat Nebraska on the road, then I’m inclined to think of them as nothing more than a home court hero, which I guess is a lot better than what they’ve been in recent years.
-GEORGETOWN AT SETON HALL (Big East). Georgetown really got their noses bloodied in their conference opener against Providence, and the lack of depth after losing so many key players may be catching up to them. Seton Hall got a really nice road win at DePaul and is looking to get to 2-0 in Big East play and keep a lot of their momentum going.
-KENT STATE AT BOWLING GREEN (MAC). These are two of the better teams in the MAC, and if Kent State is going to make any sort of a run at landing inside the bubble, then they need to win this one tonight.
-TEMPLE AT TULSA (American). I still think this Temple team has a ton of potential, and this is a chance for them to pick up a conference road win against a fairly decent Tulsa team (at least profile wise) if they’re able to hold serve.
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