NEWS AND NOTES
-They say there is no dominant team in college basketball this year. I think there is, but if it’s not a blue blood we just don’t notice it. Baylor won by double digits at Florida last night after falling behind kind of big early on in an atmosphere that was going crazy. Baylor is 17-1, 5-0 on the road, 5-0 on the road with wins at Kansas and Texas Tech (who are both ranked and who up until yesterday had lost to no one else at home (more on that later), and has an additional neutral floor win over Villanova who is in the top 10. If you go back to last year, or the year before, or any recent year where we had “dominant teams” you’ll see that they weren’t any more dominant than what Baylor has been this year, and in many cases they were actually less dominant.
-Kansas had to sweat against Tennessee, and Florida State REALLY had to sweat in the final minute against Notre Dame, but both held serve and got the wins.
-Kentucky picked up another big road win. They appeared to be in control of the game late in the second half, but Texas Tech came back to force overtime. Kentucky still held on for what is probably one of their two biggest wins of the year on paper. The only other team to beat Texas Tech at home this year so far is the previously mentioned Baylor.
-Yesterday I would have described Memphis as a team that was falling backward toward the bubble and SMU as a team that was outside the bubble but who was climbing. SMU got a big road win at Memphis yesterday, and now you can’t say that SMU’s bloated record all came against fluff. You have to start looking at the Mustangs as a potential tournament team.
-Michigan continues to tailspin. They dropped a thriller at home yesterday to an Illinois team that just keeps getting better and better as the season goes along.
-Arizona was up by 22 against their rival Arizona State yesterday and appeared to be skating to an easy win. But they let the lead start to slip away, and then they let it entirely slip away. Arizona State grabbed a lead late and it seesawed back and forth and it ended with Arizona State getting the win. Arizona is still looking for their first true road win. Not having any is a serious problem.
-Syracuse has now won five in a row after beating Pittsburgh yesterday. I know they are not on a lot of peoples’ radars but they have been playing like a tournament caliber team in the last two weeks.
-LSU picked up another pretty nice road win at Texas. The Tigers have been playing really well this past month. That’s eight in a row for them now.
-Virginia Tech lost at Boston College yesterday, which is something that any team aspiring to make the tournament should never do. The Hokies got off to an impressive start this season, but they’ve now lost two out of three (albeit both were close games) and appear to be slipping a little bit.
-DePaul really needed to beat Saint John’s at home yesterday….and didn’t. The Johnnies were good, but it was probably DePaul’s most winnable remaining game given that Saint John’s had been struggling and the game was at home. DePaul is now just 1-6 in Big East play, and I think they need to find a way to get to eight conference wins in order to feel safe.
-NC State, who we praised a week ago, went on the road and lost to Georgia Tech. They could have done without that.
-BYU lost yet another close heartbreaker yesterday, this time it was to San Francisco. BYU appeared to be in complete control of the game, but a 21-0 run for San Francisco in the second half gave the Dons the lead and eventually got them the win. Also read our colleague Rocco Miller’s recap of the BYU-USF game (CLICK HERE for the recap at Bracketeer.org) – USF was actually up 2 and intentionally fouled BYU’s Yoeli Childs in the closing seconds before Childs missed the front end of a 1-and-1 en route to USF’s win over BYU – that is their third win in a row against the Cougars.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-TULSA AT UCONN (American). Tulsa still has a long way to go, but they are the first place team in the American after winning four in a row and they have played really well in that stretch. If they can keep stringing together wins they may have a shot at making the field.
-VIRGINIA AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). Virginia continues to be in a tailspin. This is perhaps their most winnable remaining road game, and they need to take advantage of it.
-MARYLAND AT INDIANA (Big Ten). The Hoosiers have won four of their last five and have a chance to extend that out today. Maryland is a solid team, but they still only have one true road win. A win today against an Indiana team that looks like it’s a tournament team would really boost the quality of their resume.
-SOUTH FLORIDA AT HOUSTON (American). Houston seems to have ironed out some of the issues they had early in the season and are now consistently playing like a tournament caliber team. They need to hold serve in this one today.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Minnesota just picked up a big win at Ohio State, and definitely has a path to the NCAA Tournament. Michigan State is coming off a stretch where they’ve lost two out of three. They’re still in good shape and on pace to get a protected seed, but this is the kind of game that protected seeds are able to win.
-FORDHAM AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). Fordham isn’t as bad as they usually are, but this still shouldn’t be all that much more difficult than a buy game for a SLU team that’s hovering around the bubble and needs to string together some wins.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT UNLV (Mountain West). San Diego State looks to remain unbeaten and make a strong case for a #1 seed.
-XAVIER AT CREIGHTON (Big East). This is a bit of a desperation game for Xavier. They are coming off a nice home win against Georgetown, but they are still outside the bubble and need a big road game like this in order to help get things turned around. It would be the best win on their resume by far if they’re able to pull it off. Creighton is looking more and more like a first ballot team and a potential protected seed after winning three of their last four. This looks to be another winnable game for the Bluejays today.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley). Our UTR Game of the Day – Northern Iowa is coming off a loss to Southern Illinois, and I think that was their last strike. If they win out through the regular season they will likely be inside the bubble. If they don’t, then they’ll need to win the conference tournament.
-UCLA AT OREGON (Pac 12). Oregon won a thriller against USC the other night and shouldn’t have too much trouble beating a UCLA team that’s continuing to struggle as they rebuild.
-STANFORD AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12). It’s a rivalry game, but this year it looks rather lopsided. Stanford’s resume is lacking Quad-1 wins, and that certainly won’t be rectified today, but they have positioned themselves to make the NCAA Tournament if they can continue to hold serve in games like this and pick up a few wins when they get the chance later on.
-OHIO STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Ohio State is in a major tailspin, and if they lose to Northwestern tonight the plane will have crashed. By the same token, ask Rutgers and Maryland how easy games against the bottom two teams in the Big Ten are this year. They aren’t.