NEWS AND NOTES
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-The biggest surprise, and probably the most cataclysmic result from last night was a game that probably almost no one saw, and that was TAMUCC’s 73-72 win at Stephen F Austin. SFA has the road win against Duke, and seemed positioned to run the table in the Southland and land inside the bubble. Last night’s lost to a TAMUCC team that is outside the top 300 in nearly every metric was something they could have absolutely done without. The win at Duke is still massive, but if they had one strike then they used it last night.
-Georgetown flipped some sort of switch after really struggling in their last two games, and blew Saint John’s off the court in an 87-66 route.
-Alabama bounced back from their overtime loss at Florida and blew Mississippi State off the court. I say this at least twice a week, but Alabama is playing really well right now.
-North Carolina lost again. This time it was at home to Pittsburgh. I’m now questioning whether or not the Tarheels will even make the NIT.
-East Tennessee State picked up a really nice road win at UNCG in a game that was close all throughout. If they want to land inside the bubble, then that is the kind of game that they’ll need on their resume.
-Seton Hall picked up a big road win at Xavier in a game that they basically led from tip to buzzer. Every time Xavier threw a punch or made a run at them, Seton Hall absorbed it and made big plays to get back control of the game. The Hall stumbled a little bit early in the season, but they are playing really well right now.
-Illinois got a big win at Wisconsin in a game that went back and forth. It is a huge road win for the Illini, and really boosts the quality of their resume.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-PURDUE AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Purdue is in a tailspin and based on how they played in their last game they are showing no signs of coming out of it. Michigan continues to look good and should be able to hold serve in this one.
-MEMPHIS AT WICHITA STATE (American). These are perhaps the two best teams in the American. Both are on pace to land in the top half of the bracket and could even end up as a protected seed if one of them is able to run away from the rest of the conference. Today would be a really big resume building win for whoever pulls it off.
-MINNESOTA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Minney got off to a really rough start and although they’ve been playing well lately, they still have some ground to make up before you can start classifying them as a solid tournament team. Michigan State got off to a somewhat slow start as well, although they got off to a slow start by top five standards, not by mere NCAA Tournament standards. They have really been playing well in the last few weeks and should be able keep that streak going tonight.
-ARIZONA AT OREGON (Pac 12). Arizona’s resume could still use a lot of work. A win tonight would basically solve all of their problems and completely boost the value of their tournament profile through the roof. Having said that, it will be much easier said than done. Oregon is a legitimate top ten team and they are not easy to beat at home.
-WASHINGTON AT STANFORD (Pac 12). Both teams are having solid seasons, and this is a resume building opportunity for both of them tonight that both of them could really use.
-GONZAGA AT SAN DIEGO (West Coast). The Zags are the top ranked team, they’re good enough to win out, and if they do they should get a #1 seed. Having said that, they have struggled in their first few conference games, so they need to come out of that funk.
-ARIZONA STATE AT OREGON STATE (Pac 12). This is a very bubblicious game with Oregon State coming off a huge win at Colorado but still having work to do and Arizona State who…well…still has work to do.
-SANTA CLARA AT SAN FRANCISCO (West Coast). Santa Clara has a bloated record, but has obtained it against a weak schedule. If they want to show that they are a tournament caliber team then this is the kind of road game that they should be expected to win.
-BYU AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). Both of these teams have solid resumes and have looked like tournament caliber teams, but both have room to improve, which makes this a really big game.