NEWS AND NOTES
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-WE HAVE HAD OUR SECOND QUADRUPLER OF THE SEASON!!! George Washington and Davidson went into quadruple overtime before GW finally picked up the 107-104 win! The game had BIG TIME Atlantic Ten Tournament Opening Round Implications!! What a game!!!
-There were four top ten teams in action last night in Baylor, Louisville, Dayton, and Seton Hall, and all of them won! Given how this season has been going, that was kind of unusual.
-Texas Tech got a huge home win against West Virginia that they desperately needed. It gives their resume a really nice boost and should land them further inside the bubble. The Red Raiders looked really good in this game. They can’t exactly go into cruise control just yet, but they are in much better shape than they were 24 hours ago.
-Memphis won, which is good, but it was hardly inspiring. The game at UCF came down to the final possession and the Tigers barely avoided losing their third straight game to a non-tournament caliber team.
-East Tennessee State, who we were saying thought belonged inside the bubble, lost to a really weak Mercer team at home last night. This was under the radar, but it was probably the biggest and most important upset of the evening. I don’t know if this entirely kills off their chances, but home losses to sub-200 teams certainly do not help. At the very least I think ETSU is out of strikes and needs to win out until the conference tournament if they want any chance of being inside the bubble.
-Texas picked up a nice win at TCU in a 62-61 thriller. They are still hovering around the bubble, so any road win like that will help.
-Saint Louis BARELY avoided a damaging loss at La Salle. They needed overtime to get past the Explorers 77-76.
-Oklahoma, who is solidly on the bubble, which means they need to avoid losses to non-tournament teams and win the kinds of road games that tournament teams are expected to win, did NOT avoid a loss to a non-tournament team yesterday. Kansas State pretty much led for the entire game and beat the Sooners 61-53.
-Marquette won a double overtime thriller at Xavier despite being without Markus Howard for most of the second half and for both overtime periods. Xavier is getting further and further out of reach of the bubble, and Marquette is looking more and more like a first ballot team.
-Arkansas lost at home to South Carolina 79-77, who is a non-tournament team. As I said earlier, it’s not good for bubble teams to lose at home to non-tournament teams.
-Arizona State went into Washington State needing a road win! It was a winnable road game! And…Arizona State failed to win it. NCAA Tournament teams are expected to be able to beat sub-NIT caliber teams on the road, so it was a bit of a setback to a team that was probably already on the outside looking in.
-Last but not least, Colorado State hit a shot at the buzzer to knock off Nevada, and the fans stormed the court!!! Even our host Chad Sherwood, who normally hates court stormings, loved it!! Nevada is 13-9 on the year. It was an exciting finish in a game that saw multiple lead changes in the final seconds, but that may be the first time I’ve seen a team storm the court against a 13-9 NIT-ish caliber team.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MINNESOTA AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Illinois is red hot right now and may actually have a path to a protected seed if they can keep winning like they have been. Minnesota is right on the bubble, so any game they play in is going to have a pivotal feel to it. A road win like this would obviously really help them out.
-IOWA AT MARYLAND (Big Ten). Both teams are ranked in the top 20 and both have very solid resumes. This is another resume-building opportunity and is the kind of win that could help them end up as a protected seed.
-PEPPERDINE AT BYU (West Coast). BYU shouldn’t have too much trouble holding serve in this one. They are coming off a rather heartbreaking loss, so it should be a good bounce back game for them.
-OREGON AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12). This should be a winnable road game for an Oregon team that looks to be the best team in the Pac 12 and who will likely end up as a protected seed.
-ARIZONA AT WASHINGTON (Pac 12). Arizona is still looking for their first true road win, and really needs to pick this one up against a Washington team that is in a complete tailspin right now. If not, then you really have to start to question their resume.
-UTAH AT USC (Pac 12). I think this is a USC team that can end up inside the bubble. They should be able to hold serve tonight against a Utah team that’s been good at times, but mediocre at other times.
-PORTLAND AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). SMC should end up in The Dance so long as they don’t stub their toes several times in games like this.
-GONZAGA AT SANTA CLARA (West Coast). Santa Clara has a good home record and a good overall record. They should be jacked up for this one, and it should be fun at the start of the game! But…Gonzaga has been blowing past everyone and it isn’t likely to be any different tonight.
-OREGON STATE AT STANFORD (Pac 12). This is a bubblicous game. Stanford looks to be just inside the bubble and every game has a pivotal feel to it. Oregon State now looks to be pretty far outside the bubble and would need a Herculean finish to the season just to get into the conversation.
-COLORADO AT UCLA (Pac 12). This is a game that the Buffs should win, but UCLA has been able to step up and beat some teams this year, especially at home.