NEWS AND NOTES
-Kansas pulled away from West Virginia late in the second half for one of the more impressive wins of the year. Gonzaga pulled away from Kansas. Gonzaga beat beat West Virginia, but did not pull away from them. Kansas pulled away from West Virginia. Yesterday’s win on the court was up there with the most impressive single game performances we’ve seen from any team this season.
-Missouri, on the other hand, played in a game against Bradley that made peoples’ eyes bleed. The effort was there, but it was a poor shooting performance by both teams and just rather sloppy play. the exciting ending made up for it as Missouri converted an and-1 in the final seconds to get the 54-53 win and remain unbeaten on the season.
-Richmond fell at home to Hofstra in a game that was a bit of a shock. We like this Hofstra team by Colonial standards, but didn’t expect them to go on the road and beat a team like Richmond. It remains to be seen just how damaging this loss will be for the Spiders. They had what looked to be a big win at Kentucky to start things off, but that isn’t looking so big right now and their resume is starting to look a little flimsy.
-Texas Tech had to really sweat out Oklahoma, but held on for the win after Oklahoma had multiple chances to tie in in the final possession, and even got an offensive rebound after an intentionally missed basket, but couldn’t get the put back.
-NC State knocked off rival North Carolina to improve to 5-1, put a quality win on their resume, and earn some of bragging rights as well. NC State actually had a much bigger lead in the game. The Tarheels came back, but couldn’t quite get all the way back and fell 79-76.
-Ohio U was a team that we were really big on after the first few weeks, but they got absolutely smoked by Akron yesterday. Akron is now 3-1 on the year and while they haven’t been on the court all that much, they definitely have our attention now.
-Colorado State handed Santa Clara their first loss of the year with an impressive (mostly) road win. The Rams, along with Boise State and San Diego State, are a team to watch in the Mountain West.
-UCF followed up their big win against Florida State with a conference home win against Cincinnati last night. They are now 3-1 on the year and while they haven’t played much, their resume is off to a good start.
-San Diego State blasted Saint Mary’s. Whatever problems they had in their previous game against BYU had been worked out before last night’s game.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-XAVIER AT CREIGHTON. Xavier has looked really good this year and has played their way into the top 25. They’ve been tested, but this will be their biggest test of the year up to this point. Creighton is high in the rankings and has some pretty good wins on their resume, but given that Xavier is unbeaten and in the rankings this would arguably be their best win of the season so far as well.
-UCLA AT OREGON (Pac 12). This is a big game for both teams who could really use a win like this on their resumes. Oregon is 6-1 with their best win being against Seton Hall, and UCLA is 5-2 with their best win being against Marquette. Both teams are decent, but both are also fighting for more respect.
-RUTGERS AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Another top 25 match-up between two teams that could end up as protected seeds. Rutgers struggled on the road last year, and while it isn’t quite the same this year with no fans, this would still be a big statement win for Rutgers that they can beat good teams on the road.
-GEORGETOWN AT SETON HALL (Big East). Georgetown wasn’t expected to be all that strong this year, but they have shown signs of life. Seton Hall has been a little slow out of the game and won’t want to drop what appears to be a winnable home conference game.
-PROVIDENCE AT BUTLER (Big East). Providence has really been on a roll in the last couple weeks, whereas Butler continues to struggle. They have just one win on the season and are in danger of having the hill they need to climb get steeper and steeper.
-VILLANOVA AT MARQUETTE. Marquette is just 5-4 on the season, but two of their wins have come against highly ranked teams, so Nova can’t just come in as the road team and think this will be an easy win.
-NORTHWESTERN AT INDIANA (Big Ten). We had written Northwestern off before the season even started, but with a 4-1 record and a win over Michigan State they certainly have our attention now. If they can pull off a win against Indiana tonight (who has been up and down this year, but mostly good), then they will REALLY have our attention!
-NEW MEXICO AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West). This is a very good Boise State team. They won handily the other night and it wouldn’t shock me if they did the same tonight.
BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)
-SC Upstate @ Tennessee
-Northwestern State @ Washington State
-Weber State @ BYU
-Kansas City @ Saint Louis
-Bethesda (nondiv1) @ Santa Clara
-Western Illinois @ DePaul