NEWS AND NOTES
-The biggest surprise of the night was Houston falling at Tulsa for their first loss of teh year. Tulsa came into the game at just 4-3 and hadn’t shown any signs of being a top 50 team, let alone a top 5 team. Houston also kind of jumped out to an early lead, but Tulsa battled back and kept battling and kept keeping it close all the way through. Houston, after trailing for most of the final few minutes, got a lead with less than 10 seconds to go, but then committed a foul in the final second. Tulsa sank both freethrows and won the game. Houston is still very good and will still likely end up as a protected seed, but this was a bit of a setback.
-Iowa slowly pulled away from Northwestern as the second half progressed and picked up a big win, which will help wash the taste out of their mouths after losing to Minnesota on Christmas Day.
-Clemson picked up another good win as they knocked off Florida State at home. The Tigers are a fantastic defensive team that has just one loss on the season. They’re not in the top 25, but they have been and likely will be again next week.
-Mercer, who had looked really impressive out of the SoCon, fell at home to Wofford 78-65 in a result that was rather surprising. Like all other UTR teams, Mercer was in a situation to where they needed to pretty much dominate the league in order to land inside the bubble, so any loss at any point would be damaging.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-VCU AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten). VCU has a somewhat impressive 7-2 record but they’ll need to keep winning at that clip in A10 play if they want to end up inside the bubble. Joe’s is still looking for their first win of the season.
-FURMAN AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon). Furman was the team that we all thought we might see inside the bubble prior to the start of the season, but it’s Chattanooga that comes into this game at 9-0. They don’t have much in the way of big wins, though, so their margin for error is still kind of small in regards to not needing to win the conference tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament.
-SMU AT TEMPLE (American). SMU comes in unbeaten on the year and has looked pretty impressive. This should be a winnable conference road game for the Mustangs.
-CAMPBELL AT WINTHROP (Big South). Winthrop is unbeaten with some fairly nice wins, but they’ll still pretty much need to run the table in the Big South in order to be inside the bubble.
-FRESNO STATE AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West). We still think this Colorado State team might have some potential, but due to only playing a handful of OOC games they’ll really need to rack up a bunch of wins in the MWC in order to land inside the bubble.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT RHRODE ISLAND (Atlantic Ten). Rhody has struggled this year and are just 3-5, but they are still capable of making some noise in the A10. Saint Bonaventure is just 2-0, but looked good in the two games they played and appears to have a high ceiling. Their margin for error is very slim, though, due having played so few OOC games up until now.
-VIRGINIA AT NOTRE DAME (ACC). Virginia was blown to pieces by Gonzaga their last time out and this is actually a bit of an important bounce back game for them. You get the sense that if they can pick up a conference road win, then all will be good. If they lose and fall to 4-3 then their resume is going to look and feel a lot more flimsy.
-NEBRASKA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State has played reasonably well against a tough schedule in a tough conference. This should be a game where they are able to hold serve.
-SETON HALL AT XAVIER (Big East). This is Xavier’s first game since their first loss of the season, which was a close one to Creighton. They’re a top 25 caliber team (even though they’re not currently ranked) and a win tonight will help sustain that. Seton Hall could really boost the value of their resume if they’re able to pull this one off.
-TULANE AT UCF (American). I like how UCF has been playing and believe they’ll be able to hold serve tonight and continue to build what looks to be the early makings of a tournament resume.
-DUQUESNE AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). Duquesne looks to be improved this year, but they’ve played so few games that you just don’t know much about them yet. A win tonight would certainly be a huge statement, but that’s far easier said than done. SLU is 7-1 and appears to be the A10 frontrunner this year.
-LA SALLE AT DAYTON (Atlantic Ten). Dayton has played a lot of close games, but they’ve won all but one of them and appear to have a very winnable game tonight.
-RICHMOND AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten). Richmond made a splash early with a win over Kentucky, but right now that is looking less and less impressive and after a somewhat surprising loss to Hofstra they could really use this one tonight. Davidson needs to be taken seriously. They may be the best team in the country that most people are ignoring. At 5-3, they have a 2pt loss to Texas (who’s now ranked #8) and a 1pt loss to Providence. They could end up making quite a bit of noise in the A10 and that may start tonight.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT GEORGIA (SEC). Georgia is unbeaten, but also untested. Mississippi State at home doesn’t qualify as a huge test, but it is a little bit tougher than a lot of what they’ve played so far.
-ARKANSAS AT AUBURN (SEC). Arkansas, like Georgia, is unbeaten but hasn’t been tested all that much. This one will be a little tougher tonight, though.
-MURRAY STATE AT BELMONT (Ohio Valley). These two are once again the likely OVC frontrunners. Belmont comes into this one at 8-1 and could end up on the bubble if they blow through the conference, which they are good enough to do. This is always a fun game to watch because of the contrasting styles.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). North Carolina has looked decent, but they have some work to do in regards to building up their profile. Winning at Georgia Tech isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it’s the kind of game that a top 25 caliber team needs to be able to win.
-PENN STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Both teams have the potential to be tournament teams, but both also have a lot of work to do, so tonight’s game is therefore a nice opportunity for both of them.
-TENNESSEE AT MISSOURI (SEC). Both teams are highly ranked and right now have the kinds of resumes that indicate they are protected seeds. Missouri has been a bit of a surprise and is looking to keep that going. Tennessee was expected to be good and although their season got off to a bit of a late start they are still unbeaten and appear to have the rust worked out. In short, this is an opportunity for a big resume win for both teams.
-DEPAUL AT UCONN (Big East). DePaul lost a thriller to Providence in their last game, which indicates that they may be good this year, but one issue for them is that this will be just their third game of the season. UConn has also looked good, but also hasn’t played many games and needs this one.
-FLORIDA AT VANDERBILT (SEC). Florida is back in action after having several games cancelled and appears to have a winnable conference road game, but while Vandy hasn’t looked great this year they have looked a little better than expected.
BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)
-Alcorn State @ Baylor
-Prairie View A&M @ TCU
-Sacramento State @ Saint Mary’s – Sacramento State actually comes into this 3-0