NEWS AND NOTES
-Purdue continues to be schizophrenic. Last night they looked like a Final Four team as they completely blew Wisconsin (who’d won six of their last eight) totally out of the arena. Purdue’s next two games are at Rutgers and at Northwestern. It wouldn’t shock me at all if they won at Rutgers by double digits, and then lost by 20 to Northwestern.
-Butler snapped a three game losing streak with an overtime home win over Marquette. Marquette led for most of the game, but kind of came unglued in the final minutes of regulation. They did hit a big three to force overtime, but Butler took control of the overtime period and picked up another nice win.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MISSOURI AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12/SEC Challenge). If the match-ups were being made today and not at the start of the season, these two would not be playing each other. WVU is playing like a protected seed and should hold serve at home.
-IOWA STATE AT AUBURN (Big 12/SEC Challenge). Auburn has a lot of wins against decent to average teams. If they win today, they’ll have yet another win against a decent to average team.
-ILLINOIS AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). These two teams are going in opposite directions. Illinois is on a roll and has improved as the year has gone on, and after one of the greatest Novembers in recent memory Michigan has now lost six out of nine and is trending in the wrong direction. They could really use this win to help get things turned around.
-MIAMI FL AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC). Miami is outside the bubble, but perhaps within reach of it. They need to win this one today.
-PITTSBURGH AT SYRACUSE (ACC). Syracuse has won four in a row and has yet another winnable game today. We have them just outside our bubble, and they will be inside of it if they keep playing like they have been.
-VCU AT LA SALLE (Atlantic Ten). VCU needs to string together some wins. Actually, they need to string together A LOT of wins. Otherwise they’ll need to win the A10 Tournament.
-VILLANOVA AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Providence has been playing like a tournament caliber team for the past several weeks. The problem is that before that they were playing like a CBI team, so they’ve still got a lot of ground to make up. Nova is a top ten team, so beating them at home would certainly help. A road win like this wouldn’t look bad on Nova’s resume either.
-FURMAN AT THE CITADEL (SoCon). If Furman wins out, which won’t be easy but is not entirely impossible, the committee should give them a look.
-CLEMSON AT LOUISVILLE (ACC). Louisville had to sweat out Georgia Tech in their last game, and while Clemson’s record isn’t good they have played well in some of those losses. Nevertheless, Louisville just needs to hold serve and if they do they’ll remain well on pace to getting a protected seed.
-NEBRASKA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). This should be an easy bounce back game for Rutgers after a close loss to Iowa earlier in the week.
-LSU AT TEXAS (Big 12/SEC Challenge). This is one of the more compelling match-ups because it’s kind of a desperation game for Texas, who really needs to start stringing together some wins, and a chance for LSU to add another nice road win to a resume that keeps getting better and better.
-DUQUESNE AT UMASS (Atlantic Ten). Duquesne has a nice record at 15-3, but the wins aren’t anywhere close to good enough to get them selected. They need to keep holding serve and hopefully pick up some big wins in conference between now and the end.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12/SEC Challenge). We have Oklahoma in our field, but barely inside our bubble, so they need to hold serve at home against a Mississippi State team that really isn’t any anyone’s bracket right now.
-VIRGINIA TECH AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). VA Tech is in our field, but their value is slipping. This is the kind of road game that NCAA Tournament teams are expected to be able to win, so they need to get it done.
-DEPAUL AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East). This is a huge desperation game for both teams. Both have good things on their resume, but both have really struggled in conference play. They both need to string together some wins in order to safely place themselves inside the bubble, and a win today would be a nice start.
-RHODE ISLAND AT SAINT BONAVENTURE (Atlantic Ten). This game appears to have more NIT implications than NCAA implications, but both teams are in a position to make a run at making the field if they can finish strong.
-AKRON AT OHIO (MAC). If Akron wins out, I think they will be on the bubble and will get some consideration from the committee, but anything less than that and they’ll probably need to win the MAC Tournament.
-TENNESSEE AT KANSAS (Big 12/SEC Challenge). This would have been a much better match-up a year ago. Kansas should win this one rather easily despite being short handed. We have Tennessee squarely on our bubble, but if they can win this it would shoot them way up the seedlist, even if Kansas isn’t quite at full strength.
-SMU AT MEMPHIS (American). Memphis is coming off a blowout loss to Tulsa, and is slipping further and further down our seedlist. They need a win today to sort of pull themselves out of the tailspin. SMU has a lot of wins, but not a lot of wins against good teams. If they can pull off this road win then the committee may start looking at them a little more closely.
-NC STATE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). I like how this NC State has been playing, and we put them in our Hoops HD Staff bracket on Thursday night. This is a chance for them to pick up another road win.
-TCU AT ARKANSAS (Big 12/SEC Challenge). It may not be entirely fair to call this a bubblicous game because Arkansas probably is a couple of line inside it right now, but they aren’t so far inside it that I would call them safe. TCU needs a big road win to help their profile, and this is certainly a chance for them to get it.
-CHATTANOOGA AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE (SoCon). ETSU is inside our bubble, and I think they will remain there if they can dominate SoCon play the rest of the way.
-BYU AT SAN FRANCISCO (West Coast). BYU is inside our bubble, and while winning at San Francisco wouldn’t be a great win, they should get some credit for it since the Dons have a fairly decent 9-3 record at home.
-USC AT OREGON STATE (Pac 12). USC came up just short of a huge win the other night at Oregon, but a road win tonight would still help raise the level of their tournament resume. Oregon State has shown some flashes at time, but only flashes. They lost to a rather weak UCLA team the other night.
-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT LAMAR (Southland). Same story as always with SFA. If they win out, they should be strongly in the discussion. If not, then they’ll need to win the Southland Tournament.
-DAYTON AT RICHMOND (Atlantic Ten). This is a really good match-up between a Dayton team that’s trying to stay on pace to earn a protected seed, and a Richmond team that has some good stuff on their resume and that could really catapult themselves into the discussion, and maybe even into the field, if they can pick up a win in a game like this.
-KENTUCKY AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12/SEC Challenge). As per usual, Kentucky has been playing better as the season has progressed and they have the chance to pick up another really nice road win tonight. Texas Tech really needs this one because the win against Louisville looks great, but they need more than just that on their resume if they want to be positioned a little better.
-KANSAS STATE AT ALABAMA (Big 12/SEC Challenge). Alabama is nowhere near the field yet, but they have won seven of their last ten and are playing like an NCAA Tournament caliber team. If they keep winning at that clip, they will be inside the bubble come March.
-BAYLOR AT FLORIDA (Big 12/SEC Challenge). This should actually be a tough road test for Baylor. Florida’s resume still needs work, but they have been playing better and they still have an extremely high ceiling if they can start playing up to it. That being said, Baylor has already shown they can win tough road games, which is why they’re ranked #1.
-NOTRE DAME AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). Florida State actually has a path to a #1 seed if they can keep winning like they have been. They should be able to hold serve against a Notre Dame team that’s far from an NCAA caliber team.
-UCF AT WICHITA STATE (American). Wichita State has dropped two straight games, but is still very safely inside the bubble and should be able to bounce back with a win tonight.
-WASHINGTON AT COLORADO (Pac 12). Washington just continues to fall into a tailspin, and they’ve got another really tough game tonight that they pretty much have to win if they want to get their season turned back around. Colorado is very safely inside the bubble and will likely be a first ballot team.
-SAINT MARY’S AT LMU (West Coast). SMC came from behind to win the other night against San Francisco and shouldn’t have too much trouble adding another road win to their resume tonight at LMU.
-ARIZONA AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac 12). I really like how this Arizona team has been playing lately, but the biggest hole by far on their resume is that they have no true road wins. They have a chance to change that tonight, and beat their rivals, so this is a big game for the Wildcats.
-PACIFIC AT GONZAGA (West Coast). Gonzaga will stay on pace for a #1 seed if they can hold serve tonight.
UNDER THE RADAR
-COLGATE AT AMERICAN (Patriot League). Just one game separates these two teams at the top of the standings, and that’s a big deal because the conference tournament is at campus sites. Colgate got a big win at Cincinnati earlier this season, and is a potentially dangerous match-up in the Round of 64 if they can get there.