-TCU had a somewhat impressive win against Oral Roberts last night. At least…I think. ORU is just 4-4, and I kind of thought we would’ve seen more out of them than what we’ve seen, so maybe this will turn out to be just a so-so win after all, but TCU is 6-1 on the year.
-Oakland really had to sweat at UIC, which was a bit of a surprise, but they picked up the 81-77 win.
-Belmont blasted Lipscomb 94-65. Belmont winning wasn’t a surprise, but the margin of victory sure was. Belmont had some missed opportunities in November, but they took advantage of a few opportunities as well. If they can thunder through the rest of the season they should end up at least on the bubble, and perhaps even inside of it.
-The game of the night, both on paper and on the court, was Saint Mary’s getting another really good win on their resume as they held off Utah State 60-58. Utah State won’t lose too many at home this year, so this looks really good on SMC’s profile.
-NOTRE DAME AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). Neither team is off to a great start, but neither team has buried themselves either. It has the feeling of being a ‘momentum’ game more than anything else.
-KANSAS AT SAINT JOHN’S. The Johnnies have shown some promise this year and have just one loss on the season, but they haven’t been tested yet like they will be tonight. Even though it’s a home game, it’s still going to be a very hard game to win. As for Kansas, it’s never easy to win on the road, but protected seeds need to be able to win road games like this. Otherwise…they aren’t really protected seeds.
-CHARLESTON AT FURMAN. Two really good UTR teams, and I still think Furman can finish inside the bubble if they really play well throughout the rest of the year.
-RIDER AT IONA (Metro Atlantic). We have to start thinking of Iona as a tournament caliber team. If they can hold serve throughout conference play, they should be inside the bubble.
-RUTGERS AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Illinois has had some struggles early, but I think they’re good enough to be way up the seedlist by the end of the year. They should be able to hold serve tonight.
-PITTSBURGH AT VIRGINIA (ACC). This is a conference game that may end up looking like a buy game by the time it’s over.
-IOWA AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Purdue will be the top ranked team in the nation next week if they can hold on. Iowa is no slouch. They haven’t had as big of a test as what they’ll face tonight (and may not for the rest of the year. I mean…it just doesn’t get any tougher than playing a team like Purdue on the road), but they do come in at 7-0.
-UTRGV AT TEXAS – buy game
-BRYANT AT HOUSTON – buy game
-BETHESDA (nonD1) AT UC IRVINE – buy game