NEWS AND NOTES:
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-If you didn’t believe in Marquette before last night, then you should believe in them now. They’ve strung together several impressive wins, and perhaps the most impressive was last night’s road win at Villanova. Marquette’s resume continues to improve and they continue to climb our seedlist. On the flip side, Nova isn’t quite as impressive as we thought they were at the beginning of the season. They are still really good, but it’s just that they are probably more Sweet Sixteen good than they are Final Four good right now.
-Kentucky got a big road win at Texas A&M. The Aggies were 14-2 coming into last night, and were really jacked for the game. They also needed a signature win to help build up their resume, so this was a good team playing at home, and Kentucky beat them 64-58, which really makes UK’s resume look a little bit better.
-Alabama picked up a big 70-67 win against LSU that helps them out. They had hit a bit of a skid and whenever you beat a ranked team in.
-Xavier really had to sweat at DePaul and was behind for most of the game, but a missed shot at the buzzer by DePaul gave X the 68-67 win, which adds another road win to their resume.
-TCU was/is a fringe bubble team that could have really used a road win at Oklahoma State last night, but they came up just short 57-56. In other big news from yesterday, Oklahoma State Assistant Coach Barry Hinson had THIS to say about butter!!!
-Iowa had been on a bit of a roll having won six of their last seven, but couldn’t get it done at Rutgers last night as they fell 48-46. This will DEFINITELY knock the Hawkeyes down my personal seedlist!!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-GEORGETOWN AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Providence is continuing to string together wins and build up their resume (which is already impressive). They have another winnable home game tonight.
-INDIANA AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Indiana finally picked up a true road game in their last game, but tonight is a much taller order. They seem to be squarely on the bubble right now, but a win tonight could catapult them inside of it. Purdue looks to be a solid protected seed that still has an outside shot at the #1 line. Oh yeah, and on top of all of that, this is a really big rivalry game.
-SAINT LOUIS AT UMASS (Atlantic Ten). SLU is outside the bubble, but they may be close enough to it to reach it. It goes without saying that they need this one on the road today.
-SMU AT MEMPHIS (American). SMU is also outside the bubble, and if they want any hopes of reaching it then this is the kind of game that they’re going to have to be able to win.
-BELMONT AT MOREHEAD STATE (Ohio Valley). Belmont is coming off a home loss to Murray State, but they should still be okay for being in a position to get an at-large so long as they don’t lose to anyone else. They may get a bit of a challenge tonight seeing as how Morehead State is unbeaten at home.
-USC AT COLORADO (Pac 12). USC is in a bit of a tailspin, and while they aren’t in any danger of missing the field, they are looking less and less like a protected seed. Winning at Colorado isn’t easy, so this game has a bit of a pivotal feel to it. If the Trojans can pull it off they add a nice win to their resume. If they can’t then their tailspin continues.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT SAM HOUSTON (WAC). We haven’t had New Mexico State on our board all year, but they are 15-2 and it looks like they may be good enough to win out. If they do that, then I can’t imagine that the committee would not give them a serious look.
-EASTERN ILLINOIS AT MURRAY STATE (Ohio Valley). Murray looks to be inside the bubble and will likely stay there so long as they hold serve.
-UCONN AT BUTLER (Big East). This is a winnable road game for a UConn team that already has a really impressive resume.
-BOISE STATE AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West). Boise State is squarely on our bubble, and they’ve got a bit of a road test tonight against a Utah State team that isn’t on our board, but that is still tough to beat at home.
-SAN DIEGO AT BYU (West Coast). BYU shouldn’t have any trouble holding serve in this one. It’s a virtual buy game.
-SANTA CLARA AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). Saint Mary’s is in our field, but they’re in the bottom half and can hardly skate the rest of the way. This is a winnable road game against a decent Santa Clara team, and SMC needs to take care of business.
-SAN FRANCISCO AT GONZAGA (West Coast). San Francisco is having a good year and if they keep going like they have been they should be able to make the field. Winning at Gonzaga is a very tall order, though. But, sometimes when people take a shot at the moon, they hit it!
-ARIZONA AT STANFORD (Pac 12). Stanford has been playing better, but they still have work to do if they want to get to where their resume puts them safely in the field. Having said that, beating Arizona would qualify as “doing a lot of work.” Arizona has a shot at a #1 seed, but they pretty much need to blow through the Pac 12 in order to get it.
-UCLA AT UTAH (Pac 12). Road games are rarely easy, but this one is certainly manageable. The Bruins look to be a solid protect ed seed and Utah has a lot of work to do just to get to the NIT.