NEWS AND NOTES:
-Purdue had to sweat a little bit at Iowa, but only a little bit. They picked up another solid road win 83-73 and the resume continues to look really impressive.
-Stanford continues to straddle the bubble. They’re just inside, they’re just outside, and now they’ve picked up another big road win against USC 64-61 that’s making us once again sit up and take notice. They haven’t been consistent so far, but they’ve done enough to at least be within reach of the bubble.
-Ohio State picked up another nice road win at Minnesota 75-64, which is something that helps. Their resume is pretty solid, but adding more road wins to it makes it look even better.
-Loyola Chicago once again had to sweat out a win at Southern Illinois. It was an absolute rock fight, but they escaped with a 44-39 win.
-UAB hit a last second three point shot to add another road win to their resume as they knocked off Western Kentucky 68-65. The win doesn’t help as much as the loss would have hurt, but this UAB team continues to build a compelling resume.
-Saint Mary’s trailed 25-6 at the start of game to San Francisco, and the Dons just seemed to be dominating. But some how, on the road, against a good team, SMC just kept chipping away and chipping away, and late in the game they got the lead, and managed to hold on to it for a 72-70 win. It was so strange. It was a two point game that never really felt like a close game. And while that was happening…
-BYU stubbed their toes at Santa Clara and fell 77-76. It’s not easy to win at Santa Clara, but it is the kind of game that you would expect BYU to win. It doesn’t totally sink them, but it does set them back a tad.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-WYOMING AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West) (Front Range). We at Hoops HD LOVE the Front Range!!! Wyoming is hovering right around the bubble, and this is the kind of game they cannot afford to lose.
-OHIO U AT BUFFALO (MAC). Ohio U is probably out of strikes, but if they want any chance at all of winding up on the bubble then they need to win out.
-AKRON AT TOLEDO (MAC). Toledo is on the outside looking in, but they are the first place team in the MAC and will at least have a compelling case if they continue to dominate.
-UNLV AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West). Colorado State is very safely inside the field for now, and will probably cruise to the top half of the bracket so long as they continue to hold serve.
-BOISE STATE AT FRESNO STATE (Mountain West). Boise State keeps looking better and better, and they have a chance to add another road win to an already decent resume.