NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, which highlights one of the best UTR rivalries – CLICK HERE
-Michigan State might be back, but they look nothing like an NCAA Tournament team. Its’ not that losing to Ohio State is bad in and of itself because Ohio State is a likely protected seed, but the Spartans were never really in the game.
-Loyola Chicago should be getting the selection committee’s attention. I don’t know if they are or not, but they should be. Missouri State has been a solid team this year, especially at home, and Loyola just blew them out of the building. They’ve looked the part all year, both at home and on the road, and deserve to at least be in the discussion.
-Drake, the other Missouri Valley team that’s gotten noticed, remains undefeated, but barely. They needed overtime yesterday to get by Illinois State.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-GEORGIA TECH AT LOUISVILLE (ACC). Georgia Tech can play their way inside the bubble if they can string together a few wins. Louisville is inside the bubble, but they seem to have hit a bit of a skid and just haven’t looked as good on the court in recent games. The sooner they snap out of it, the better.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT DRAKE (Missouri Valley). Drake had to sweat out the win in overtime yesterday, but they remain unbeaten and I believe they remain inside the bubble.
-DUKE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). Duke looked really good against Georgia Tech, and they may finally be starting to gel and starting to play like a solid tournament team. They need to keep that momentum going with a win tonight.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT MISSOURI STATE (Missouri Valley). This will be a tough road test for Loyola Chicago, but if they can pull off the win they’ll be in good shape for being in a position to get an at-large bid. Or…they should be, at least.
-OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12). Oklahoma has been playing incredibly well over the past two weeks and is starting to look like a protected seed. Texas Tech also looks like a strong protected seed, so this is a big time match-up between two teams with good profiles that are looking to make them even better.