CLICK HERE for Jon Teitel’s Interview with Phil Martelli in regards to Jameer Nelson
NEWS AND NOTES:
-Auburn’s winning streak is finally over. It took an awful night from the freethrow line, an Arkansas team that was red hot, a crowd that was absolutely bonkers, and overtime, but someone finally knocked off Auburn. Despite the loss, I thought the Tigers played a lot better in this game than they did in their near upset loss at Georgia. I actually don’t even think this knocks them off the #1 line. It was more of a really good win for Arkansas (even though they were at home) than it was a damaging loss for Auburn.
-It was a big night in the big ten with the top four teams all squaring off against each other. All four are in position to earn protected seeds. Purdue ran away from Illinois at home 84-68, which really won’t set the Illini back too much. Winning at Purdue is a Herculean task. Wisconsin got a really big win at Michigan State. The Spartans are backpedalling a little bit while Wisky is looking at potentially landing on the top two lines.
-Villanova had to sweat a little bit, but got the 75-69 win at Saint John’s. Nova has looked great at times this season, but not all of the time.
-Saint Mary’s had a tough game last night at Santa Clara and ended up coming up short. SMC had really been on a tear, and while Santa Clara is outside the bubble (for now) they’ve been tough to beat this year, especially at home, and are playing really well now. They can still make a run at the bubble.
-I’ve been beating up on North Carolina all season long, but I’ll give credit where credit is due. They had a decent win at Clemson last night. Clemson is not a tournament team by any stretch of the imagination, and they need to do a little more than just win at Clemson, but Clemson was 8-2 at home coming into this one, and UNC picked up a decent win, which is something they haven’t done very often this year.
-West Virginia snapped their seven game losing streak in dramatic fashion as they blew Iowa State’s doors off 79-63. Iowa State is now starting to drown a little bit as they are now 3-8 in conference. If WVU can string together a few more wins they should get back inside the bubble.
-Toledo will be a dangerous team in the Round of 64 if they can get there. They’ll probably need the automatic bid to do it, but I get the sense they are an example of an Under the Radar team that’s better than their paper. They beat a pretty good Ohio U team rather handily yesterday 77-62.
-Wyoming’s winning streak continues as they held off Utah State in overtime at home last night 78-76. Had Utah State pulled off this win we’d be seriously talking about them for an at-large bid.
-Indiana lost on the road. Again. This time to Northwestern 59-51. They are still inside the bubble, but their resume is rather flimsy, and the lack of road wins isn’t helping them.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-GEORGIA AT FLORIDA (SEC). Florida is straddling the bubble and can’t afford to lose at home to a team that’s as bad as Georgia.
-HOUSTON AT SMU (American). Houston is in my opinion one of the ten best teams in the country even if the top of their resume is a little light. This won’t be an easy road game to win, and SMU still has an outside shot at making a run at the bubble, but Houston is good enough to win games like this.
-OHIO STATE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). This would be a good road win for Ohio State. They have a pretty good resume, and Rutgers is nowhere near the field, but Rutgers has proven to be very tough to beat at home this year.
-XAVIER AT SETON HALL (Big East). You get the sense that both of these teams are in a bit of a tailspin. I don’t think it’s quite to the point of either of them needing to panic, but it is to a point to where both teams need to have a sense of urgency coming into this one.
-WAKE FOREST AT NC STATE (ACC). Wake Forest is right on our bubble, and it’s kind of hard to ignore a team that’s cracked the top 25. NC State isn’t that good, so this is a road game that Wake should be expected to win.
-GEORGIA TECH AT MIAMI FL (ACC). We have Miami FL inside our bubble, and they will stay there so long as they can continue to hold serve and avoid losses in games like this one.
-LOUISVILLE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC). Notre Dame needs to finish strong, but they are in a stretch where they have been playing really well and where their resume is steadily improving. They’ve got a winnable game at home tonight and need to hold serve.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten). Davidson is well inside the bubble and should stay there so long as they hold serve the rest of the way.
-BAYLOR AT KANSAS STATE (Big 12). Baylor has fallen down to our #2 line, but their ceiling is just as high now as it has ever been even if they haven’t always played up to it, and this should be a winnable road game for them.
-ALABAMA AT OLE MISS (SEC). Most of Alabama’s resume is solid, but there is one area where it is severely lacking, and that is when it comes to true road wins. This is a winnable road game. They need to win it. It’s as simple as that.
-TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12). Oklahoma’s tournament chances appear to be on life support, but they can bounce back really quickly if they’re able to pick up this win. Texas Tech has been playing really well, but could use a few more road wins on their resume to really round it out and make it look like a 100% solid protected seed resume.
-TENNESSEE AT MISSISSIPPI STATE (SEC). Tennessee is in good shape. This is a tough but winnable road game for them.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley). Loyola has looked really good in their last couple of games and will want to keep that because any loss against non-tournament caliber teams, which is pretty much the whole league, will poke holes in their resume.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT SAN JOSE STATE (Mountain West). San Diego State is squarely on the bubble and needs to avoid a loss tonight.