NEWS AND NOTES:
-Baylor got a little bit of a challenge from Oklahoma, but hung on to win. I say this because if the Sooners play like that the rest of the way, they’ll win a lot of games.
-Texas needed a notable road win and got one against Kansas State. Their resume needed some boosting because a lot of it was against low caliber teams, but they are starting to build it up to match their ranking.
-Kentucky had a second half lead over LSU, but went cold down the stretch. They still had a chance to win in the final few seconds, but after an ending that was worthy of the Keystone Cops LSU held on and got a major 65-60 win for them.
-I had been singing the praises of Providence for the past week or so! Yesterday, that had a chance to pick up another big road win at Marquette! And…they lost by 30. They came back down to Earth, and suddenly now some of those wins are lookin questionable because not all of them came against teams at full strength, and Marquette just absolutely blew their doors off.
-Colorado State had to sweat against conference and Front Range rival Air Force (who was actually shorthanded), but held on to get the win and remains unbeaten.
-Ohio U is now 11-2 after picking up a nice road win at Akron. This isn’t the kind of win that screams protected seed, but it may scream bubble. It’s not easy to win at Akron.
-Wake Forest totally blasted Florida State last night, and is once again looking like they are at least a tournament caliber team.
-Michigan continues the tailspin they are in, and is showing little to no signs of every coming out of it. They fell at Rutgers last night 75-67. It’s not easy to win at Rutgers, but Michigan is now in a stretch where they’ve lost three out of four and other than San Diego State has no real notable wins on the year.
-It’s not easy to win at Minnesota either, but Illinois did last night. HOLY CRAP!! It was a 76-53 route in a very impressive showing by the Illini.
-Vanderbilt won at Arkansas 75-74. Arkansas just isn’t as good as we thought they were a few weeks ago. Plain and simple.
-Memphis held on to beat Tulsa at home 67-64. They won, but they showed no signs of actually being any good, which is a recurring problem for them.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-At the time I’m writing this, 17 games have been either cancelled or postponed.
-DEPAUL AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East). This game has a sense of urgency to it for both teams. Neither team needs to panic yet, but both still have work to do and both could really use this one today.
-NEBRASKA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State is one of the hottest teams in the country and shouldn’t have too much trouble holding serve in this one.
-HOUSTON AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American). The loss of two key players to injury has definitely impacted Houston, but this is still a winnable road game for them.
-ALABAMA AT FLORIDA (SEC). Alabama had hit a bit of a skid (at least by to 15 standards), but their last win against Tennessee should get them going back in the right direction. Florida is a team that has underperformed this year, so a win like this could really get them going.
-OLE MISS AT TENNESSEE (SEC). This should be a winnable bounce back game for the Vols after falling at Alabama their last time out.
-TEMPLE AT UCF (American). UCF has put together a pretty decent resume and should be able to hold serve at home in this one.
-PITTSBURGH AT LOUISIVILLE (ACC). Louisville has been playing better, but they need to keep it up. A home loss in a game like this would undo a lot of what they’ve been able to do in the last week or so.
-VCU AT DAYTON (Atlantic Ten). VCU may have a path to landing inside the bubble, but it’s a steep one. Winning tonight won’t be easy as Dayton has proven to be a tough team to beat at home.
-DAVIDSON AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten). This Davidson team looks to be the only A10 team that is solidly inside the bubble right now. They need to be able to hold serve tonight.
-CHATTANOOGA AT WOFFORD (SoCon). Chattanooga could end up on the board, but they will basically need to win out to get there.
-SYRACUSE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). It feels strange to say this about this match-up, but Miami FL is in good shape and needs to hold serve against a Syracuse team that is way outside the bubble right now.
-CREIGHTON AT VILLANOVA (Big East). Nova is starting to look more and more like a solid protected seed. Creighton looks like a solid tournament team, but winning on the road against a protected seed caliber team is a very tall order.
-TEXAS TECH AT IOWA STATE (Big 12). A big match-up between two ranked teams. Iowa State has lifted a little more weight than Texas Tech up to this point, but a road win in a game like this would give Texas Tech’s resume a HUGE boost.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT NOTRE DAME (ACC). This is a winnable, but not necessarily easy, road game for the Tarheels, and it’s one that they kind of need because it’s one that tournament caliber teams are expected to be able to win.
-PENN STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). I believe Northwestern is outside the bubble, but they are close enough to it to reach it. They need to hold serve in this one.