NEWS AND NOTES
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Colgate and Lafayette – CLICK HERE
-Clemson followed up their first ever win at North Carolina with a much more surprising upset home win against Duke. It was just the second loss of the year for the Blue Devils, and while Clemson still has a lot of work to do their prospects are looking a lot better.
-Louisville needed overtime and a somewhat controversial call late in the game to get by Pittsburgh. Actually, the call was so bad that perhaps it wasn’t even controversial. It was just bad. But, Louisville hangs on for the road win nevertheless.
-Villanova also needed overtime to get past DePaul. Nova appeared to have the game in hand with a double digit lead in the final minutes, but DePaul fought back to get it to overtime. DePaul has now lost four straight conference games, which is rough because they played well in all the games but failed to get the wins. Their resume is still good enough to give them a path to the NCAA Tournament, but they have to start stringing together some wins.
-Wisconsin held on to beat Maryland in another Big Ten thriller. Wisky has been playing very well lately and the value of their resume continues to improve. Maryland is still in decent shape, but they are also still looking for their first true road win. Until they get it their resume will be lacking something.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SETON HALL AT BUTLER (Big East). Seton Hall has won six straight, and is unbeaten in Big East play. This is perhaps one of the toughest, if not THE toughest, road games of the season so far. Butler is also unbeaten in conference play, and their only loss on the season was by one point at Baylor. If Seton Hall wins, they’re suddenly looking like a solid protected seed. If Butler wins, then they continue to stay on pace for a #1 seed.
-KENTUCKY AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). Kentucky continues to play well, and this appears to be another winnable road game for them tonight.
-VIRGINIA AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). Virginia is now to a point of needing a big win like this just to help shore up their resume and get them back on pace to land inside the bubble. They’ve lost two straight, and it’s about to get harder, not easier. Florida State has looked like one of the better teams in the conference and appears to be rolling toward a protected seed.
-CREIGHTON AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Creighton is coming off a nice road win at Xavier, which was nice after two straight losses, and has actually cracked the rankings. They’ve got another tough but winnable game tonight against a Georgetown team that has played well, but has been hit so hard with guys leaving the team that you wonder if they’ll be able to stay on a pace that could get them to the tournament.
-TENNESSEE AT GEORGIA (SEC). This Tennessee team had gone through a huge setback, but after two straight wins they may be back on the right track. A win tonight would be huge for them. Georgia is good, but they’ve had two rough games in a row and could use a win to bounce back from that.
-FORDHAM AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten). Another winnable game for Duquesne, which will get them to 15-2 on the year.
-MIAMI FL AT NC STATE (ACC). Both teams have done a few good things, but neither are on cruise control just yet. This is a game where both teams could really use a win to help boost their resumes.
-INDIANA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Both teams have decent resumes with some good wins, but the biggest thing missing from Indiana’s resume is a really strong road win. A win tonight would certainly check that box. It is far easier said than done, though. Rutgers has also struggled on the road, but they’ve been fantastic at home.
-SAMFORD AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE (SoCon). A win for East Tennessee State gets them to 15-3, and keeps their at-large hopes flickering.
-WESTERN CAROLINA AT FURMAN (SoCon). This should be a good game. We expected Furman to be good, and they will be a tough match-up in the Round of 64 if they can get there, but we didn’t expect much from Western Carolina. Nevertheless, the Catamounts are 12-3 on the year and have the chance to pick up a really nice road win tonight.
-IOWA STATE AT BAYLOR (Big 12). Baylor is ranked #2, and should probably be ranked #1. Iowa State is decent at best, and to pick up a win like this on the road is a very tall order. It’s Baylor’s first home game since winning at both Texas Tech and Kansas. Hopefully the fans show up in full force.
-VALPARAISO AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley). Northern Iowa has a path to landing inside the bubble, but they pretty much need to win out in order to do it.
-XAVIER AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Marquette is inside our bubble for now, but they can’t just hit the snooze button just yet. They need to hold serve in games like this. Xavier has struggled ever since conference play began and they need a win in a game like this to get things turned around.
-TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). We’ve currently got both teams on the outside looking in, and if they want to get back in then a win tonight would be a nice start.
-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT CENTRAL ARKANSAS (Southland). There is a decent chance that the committee will select SFA if they win out through the regular season, but lose in the conference tournament. Anything short of that won’t be enough, though.
-VANDERBILT AT ARKANSAS (SEC). Arkansas has improved as the season has gone on and is now playing like an NCAA Tournament caliber team. This one of those games where they need to hold serve.
-AUBURN AT ALABAMA (SEC). This is arguably (and maybe not even arguably) Auburn’s biggest test of the year so far. Alabama has dropped two of their last three, but one was an overtime loss to Florida, and the other was at Kentucky. They have been playing well lately, and they should be way up for this one.
-WICHITA STATE AT TEMPLE (American). Wichita State has jumped up to #16 in the rankings, which is probably about where they belong. They are good enough to earn a protected seed and should get it if they can run away from the rest of the conference. Temple got off to a good start, but has struggled lately, and will once again have their hands full tonight.
-PENN STATE AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Both teams are in our field, and both are having good years, but both could also really use this win on their resume tonight. Especially Minnesota who has some good wins, but hasn’t been quite as consistently good as Penn State has.
-SMU AT HOUSTON (American). Houston is coming off a rather inexplicable loss to Tulsa and needs to bounce back. This Cougar team has looked good at times, but they haven’t always played up to their ceiling and have used up several strikes already. SMU has a good record, but it came against a weak schedule, so they’ll need some wins in games like this if they want to get the attention of the committee.
-NEW MEXICO AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West). If any MWC team other than San Diego State has any chance at all of landing inside the bubble, it’s this New Mexico team. But, they pretty much can’t lose to anyone other than San Diego State the rest of the way, and they’ll probably need to beat San Diego State at least once.
-STANFORD AT UCLA (Pac 12). Stanford is off to a great start this season, and this should be a winnable road game for them tonight, which would be their second of the year.