NEWS AND NOTES:
-Northern Iowa finally looked like the team we were expecting to see yesterday as they went on the road at Saint Bonaventure and picked up the 90-80 win. UNI has a lot of ground to make up, and while they’re not out of strikes yet, they’re close, but this is the kind of win that can breathe new life into a season. Saint Bonaventure was in the rankings (and will likely finish there), and they were at home (where they may not lose again all season), so this is a super high caliber win for Northern Iowa.
-Cincinnati has got to be the most schizophrenic team in college basketball this year. After struggling early on in the season (but still managing to win), they went into their exempt event and beat Illinois handily, and then nearly beat Arkansas in the next game. They followed up that performance with a home loss to Monmouth in a buy game 61-59. Now to be fair to Monmouth, they are suddenly 5-1 with a really nice win on their resume, so we will start watching them for Under the Radar, but this was a bit of a shocking loss for the Bearcats.
-BYU is 6-0, and has a road win against their heated rival on their resume now as they knocked off previously unbeaten Utah 75-64. BYU is gonna be ranked high next week!
-Louisville won the Bahamas Championship as they knocked off Maryland 63-55 to wrap up a couple of notable wins away from home in the event.
-Mississippi State won the 3rd place game of the Bahamas Championship over Richmond 82-71. Richmond may be in a little trouble. There is still a lot of season left, but at 3-4 the Spiders aren’t looking like the NCAA Tournament caliber team that we were expecting.
-Oklahoma picked up a nice win at UCF, who had been unbeaten before the game. The Sooners are now 6-1 on the year, and this could turn out to be a notable win because UCF has some potential this year.
-Rutgers went into UMass…and lost. That hurts!
-It was a rougher day than expected for a couple of Big East teams. Saint John’s needed overtime to get past NJIT, and Creighton trailed SIUE for most of the game before getting control late.
-Washington State had more than just a rough time against Eastern Washington. The previously unranked Cougars lost at home 76-71 after giving up a 12 pt halftime lead and just getting totally outplayed in the second half.
-LSU beat Wake Forest in the Emerald Coast Classic rather handily. Both teams came into the game unbeaten, so it could turn out to be a semi-decent win for LSU if Wake can keep it up.
-Keep an eye on UC Irvine! They are now 4-1 on the year and handed Santa Clara their first home loss of the season last night 69-64.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-KANSAS VS IONA (ESPN Events Invitational). Kansas was shocked by Dayton in their last game, and Iona fell to Belmont after shocking Alabama. Kansas will almost assuredly end up as a protected seed, and Iona looks like they are good enough to put together the type of profile they need to land inside the bubble. That will be especially true if they can somehow win today.
-DAYTON VS BELMONT (ESPN Events Invitational). This is one of the most improbable championship games in an MTE in the entire history of MTEs. Dayton had three losses in home buy games, and followed that up with a decisive win against Miami FL and a last second win against Kansas. That is arguably the quickest-biggest turnaround in college basketball history. Belmont is an excellent team that is good enough to land inside the bubble, and if they can win today it would help boost their resume. So, this is kind of a fun match-up between two teams that we weren’t expecting to see playing in this game.
-MIAMI FL VS ALABAMA (ESPN Events Invitational). Alabama can pick up a somewhat notable neutral floor win today.
-STANFORD AT COLORADO (Pac 12). A very rare November conference game. Both teams still have a lot of questions about them, but both also have the potential to play their way inside the bubble.
-FRESNO STATE AT CALIFORNIA. Fresno State is 5-0, and although they haven’t had any big tests (and today’s game probably doesn’t qualify as a big test either), we’ve got our eyes on them.
BUY GAMES AND OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:
-North Texas vs Drake (ESPN Events Invitational) – Drake has lost two straight and didn’t pick up any notable wins in this event. They need to at least pick this one up today
-Bethune Cookman @ Seton Hall
-Troy @ Florida
-North Florida @ FIU – FIU can get to 6-1 on the year
-Rider @ South Carolina – a win for SC gets them to 5-1
-Eastern Michigan @ DePaul – DePaul is unbeaten
-UL Monroe @ SMU
-Penn @ Arkansas
-Stephen F Austin @ Northwestern State – first road game for SFA
-North Dakota @ Kansas State
-Villanova @ La Salle (Big Five). Nova should absolutely roll in this one. They have two losses on the season, but aren’t likely to lose too many more