NEWS AND NOTES
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Stony Brook and Vermont – CLICK HERE
-Baylor just keeps winning. They’ve won 11 straight, and last night’s win at Texas Tech was a huge one. It was a rock fight, but an impressive win nonetheless. They travel to Kansas this weekend and if they win that one then we are talking about a #1 seed caliber team and resume.
-Ohio State has now dropped three straight as they fell last night against Maryland. Not a single loss in that three game stretch would be considered a bad loss (although losing at home to Wisconsin is a bit of a head-scratcher), but they still need a win for the simple sake of getting their momentum back even if their resume is still really healthy.
-Kentucky is now consistently looking like a top ten team. It seems like we go through some version of this every year. They start off very highly ranked, but they don’t play as well as their early season ranking and either struggle to win games or just flat out lose them. Then Christmas rolls around, they start to get better, and by the time conference play starts they’re consistently playing like a highly ranked team. Georgia is not ranked, but they are very good, and they played well last night. Kentucky had to play a good game in order to beat them, and they did. By the end of the year, no one will remember how they said Kentucky was down early on in the year.
-Villanova came from behind late to pick up a really nice road win at Creighton. Considering that it was a true road win against a very good Creighton team that had been unbeaten at home, it was arguably Nova’s biggest win of the season so far.
-Rutgers continues to roll!! They knocked off a really good Penn State team last night to improve to 12-3 on the year. The one thing that they still need to do is pick up a few more road wins, but for the first time since the internet became a thing, Rutgers is on an NCAA Tournament pace!
-Providence won at Marquette last night, and has looked like world-beaters in their four games, and is now 3-0 in the Big East with two of those wins coming on the road. I don’t know what the hell they did over Christmas, but it must have worked.
-Houston, despite not being high on anyone’s radar, is now a very quiet 12-3 after picking up a nice road win at Temple last night. I don’t know how a Sweet Sixteen team can start off 12-3 and be making so little noise, but the Cougars have managed to do it.
-Iowa, who had been on a rampage, lost at Nebraska, which is a really bad game to lose even if it was a road game. That should set them back some.
-Utah State was blown off the court by Air Force last night. Utah State started off in the rankings, but at the rate their going they’ll need to win that last conference tournament game in order to make it to the NCAA Tournament.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SAINT JOHN’S AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Both teams lifted some heavy weight out of conference, but both are off to 0-2 starts in conference, so this game does have a bit of a pivotal feel to it.
-NORTHWESTERN AT INDIANA (Big Ten). It’s early, but Indiana still looks to have a very bubblicious profile, which means that they have to hold serve in games like this.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT ALABAMA (SEC). Both teams’ resumes need some work. Mississippi State has struggled a little bit this season, but still has ample opportunities to impress the committee if they can turn it around. Alabama just dropped an overtime loss at Florida in a game that they appeared to be in control of, but they had won five of six before that and have been playing much better lately.
-PITTSBURGH AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC). Both teams are on the outside looking in and need to start stringing together some wins.
-DUQUESNE AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten). Duquesne has a bloated record that is largely due to playing such a weak schedule, but nevertheless they can improve to 13-2 and pick up yet another road win tonight.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT GEORGE MASON (Atlantic Ten). George Mason has lost two straight after an 11-1 start, and didn’t really look all that good in either game. They seem to be running out of strikes, and have kind of hit a wall of reality now that the schedule has gotten tougher.
-FURMAN AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon). If Furman is going to land inside the bubble, they need to come close to winning out.
-NOTRE DAME AT NC STATE (ACC). NC State still has work to do, and Notre Dame probably has even more work to do. This isn’t so much a game that both teams need to win as it is a game that they need to avoid losing.
-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT UNC GREENSBORO (SoCon). There are three really good teams in the SoCon and these are two of them. Having said that, they both have almost a zero margin for error if they want to be inside the bubble come March. They need to come close to winning out, and they need this win tonight.
-FLORIDA STATE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). Florida State just got a huge road win at Louisville and has another winnable conference road game tonight. They are looking more and more like a protected seed.
-TAMUCC AT STEPHEN F AUSTIN (Southland). SFA is good enough to run the table in the regular season, and if they do they should be in the NCAA Tournament whether they win the Southland Tourney or not.
-KANSAS AT IOWA STATE (Big 12). Kansas is looking more and more like a #1 seed, and Iowa State is looking more and more like an NIT team. They could use a huge win like this to get things turned around.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). SLU has a bloated record, but is still somewhat lacking in terms of quality wins, so they don’t really have much of a safety net right now and need to hold serve in games like this.
-UCF AT SMU (American). SMU is 11-2, but it’s largely due to a weak schedule so they need to hold serve in games like this, as well as pick up some big wins in conference play, in order to have a chance at landing inside the bubble.
-SETON HALL AT XAVIER (Big East). Seton Hall had their struggles before conference play started, but has looked really good in their first two conference games and has another big test tonight. Xavier’s two best games have probably been their last two games despite the fact that they lost one of them. This is a really big game for them as well.
-DUKE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). Duke looks like a solid #1 seed caliber team that could end up as the overall #1 seed. This is a very winnable road game for the Blue Devils, which would be their fourth true road win of the season.
-VANDERBILT AT AUBURN (SEC). Auburn is one of just two unbeaten teams, and will likely stay that way after tonight.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT WYOMING (Mountain West). San Diego State is one of just two unbeaten teams, and will likely stay that way after tonight.
-ILLINOIS AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Both of these teams could be tournament teams, but both still have to do more than what they’ve done in order to get there. Wisky has been playing much better these last couple weeks, and is coming off what is easily their biggest win of the year against Ohio State. They appear to be on track after a rocky start.
-ARKANSAS AT LSU (SEC). Arkansas is trying to improve to 13-1, and already has a big win against Indiana. LSU has been decent, but not good, and they need to string together some wins in order to shore up their resume.
-OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS (Big 12). Both teams have shown promise at times, but both teams still have work to do and could really use this win tonight. Especially Texas who has lost two straight and who needs more wins of note on their resume.