NEWS AND NOTES:
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-Iowa State survived an absolute rock fight against Texas Tech. It was a defensive battle where the Cyclones jumped out to an early lead, but Texas Tech fought back and had a chance to win in the final minutes, but just couldn’t hold on. Iowa State picks up another big win on paper to improve to 13-1 on the year. It’s crazy how good they are this year.
-Alabama got a solid road win at Florida 83-70. It’s not an easy place to go and win, and the fact that the Tide did it shows (again) that they can beat tournament caliber teams on the road.
-Tennessee needed overtime at home to get by Ole Miss, but did manage to hold on and win.
-Villanova blew Creighton into the sun. It was 75-41. Whatever issues we thought Villanova was having, they’re not having anymore. They look like a team that’s good enough to win it all, which is what we expected at the beginning of the year.
-UCF had been looking really strong recently, but not last night. They lost at home to Temple 66-62, and to call that a damaging loss is an understatement.
-North Carolina could not get the road win at Notre Dame. Notre Dame probably isn’t a tournament team, but they are good enough to where they are really tough to beat at home. It would have been a nice win for the Tarheels, and they’re in a position to where they could have really used a nice win, but the loss isn’t going to hurt them too much.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-At the time I’m writing this, 15 games have been either cancelled or postponed
-SAN FRANCISCO VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Game in Salt Lake City, UT). I’m looking forward to this one! Both teams are inside the bubble, and both were able to work this out after having games cancelled. It’s a resume building opportunity for both teams, and it wouldn’t shock me if we saw both of them in the top half of the bracket.
-OHIO STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Ohio State is continuing to look like a solid protected seed caliber team. This should be a winnable road game for them. It won’t be a cakewalk, but it should be winnable.
-MARYLAND AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Illinois has really kicked it into gear and is looking like the team we thought they’d be prior to the start of the season. They should be able to hold serve at home in this one.
-LONG BEACH STATE AT UCLA. Buy game.
-SEMO AT BELMONT (Ohio Valley). Belmont should land inside the bubble so long as they don’t lose to anyone other than Murray State the rest of the way.
-UAB AT NORTH TEXAS (Conference USA). These are two of the better teams in CUSA, and both are good enough to end up on the bubble. A win tonight would be huge for whoever can pull it off.
-IOWA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Wisconsin is coming off one of the biggest wins of the year at Purdue. They should be tested a little bit tonight by an Iowa team that’s pretty good and it will be interesting to see how they respond after such a big wins. But, they’re at home and they look to be the better team, so they should be able to hold serve.
-WASHINGTON STATE AT COLORADO (Pac 12). Colorado is on the outside looking in and needs to string some wins together.
-PACIFIC AT BYU (West Coast). BYU shouldn’t have too much trouble holding serve in this one.
-SMU AT CINCINNATI (American). Cincinnati has had their ups and downs this year, but right now it doesn’t look like they’ve had enough ups to be considered a tournament caliber team. SMU has some work to do, but they can get there. A road win tonight would certainly help them.
-USC AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12). USC is finally back on the court. Cal is better this year than what they have been, but I don’t think they’ve got it in them to really step up on a top ten caliber team, even if they are at home. But, with all the pauses and shutdowns and everything else, who knows??