NEWS AND NOTES:
-Texas Tech is proving to be among the toughest places to win on the road in the entire country. They’re 16-0 at home, and their wins include Kansas, Baylor, and Texas in games where they pretty much had a lead all throughout. They knocked off Baylor last night 83-73.
-Rutgers is suddenly one of the hottest teams in the nation. That is not hyperbole. They’ve won five of their last six, and in that stretch beat Michigan State, Ohio State, went on the road and won at Wisconsin, and then last night beat Illinois 70-59 after leading by as much as 20. They got to Purdue this weekend. If they win that one, they’d probably be projected in the top half of the bracket despite a very slow start to the season.
-Xavier lost at home to Saint John’s, and this one is going to leave a mark. Xavier still has a pretty good resume overall, and still does not seem to be in any danger of missing the field, but with home losses to DePaul and Saint John’s, and last night’s being by double digits, and tough schedule to remaining to close out the season, the fans are starting to get restless.
-Miami FL is now 11-4 in ACC play after winning at Louisville 70-63 last night. Louisville, on the other hand, has fallen to 11-14 and has now lost seven straight and ten of their last eleven. That is a historically bad run for Louisville.
-Notre Dame needed overtime to beat Boston College. At home. They ended up with a 99-95 win, but that was not exactly what you would call impressive.
-North Carolina lost at home to Pittsburgh 76-67 after trailing for double digits for pretty much the entire game. I’ve been saying all season that North Carolina does not belong in the field, and they don’t, but getting beaten handily at home by Pitt surprised even me.
-Loyola Chicago won at Valpo. By 2. Their resume is still good enough for them to be inside the bubble, but they’ve suffered a handful of losses to teams that don’t appear to be anywhere close to the NIT, and another one last night would have not been good.
-SMU had a solid record, and after their win against Houston it was looking like they could make a run at getting inside the bubble. They followed that up last night with a 64-57 loss to Temple. Well…so much for that!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-AUSTIN PEAY AT MURRAY STATE (Ohio Valley). Murray State is on cruise control right now. So long as they don’t unexpectedly crash they’ll be okay.
-MICHIGAN AT IOWA (Big Ten). Very bubblicious game out of the Big Ten tonight. A lot of people like Iowa, but their profile looks pretty flimsy to me. Michigan still has a ton of work to do, but based on their recent blowout win against Purdue it looks as though they are starting to get better and if they can string together some wins down the stretch they could end up in the field.
-OREGON STATE AT ARIZONA (Pac 12). Arizona has a path to a #1 seed if they can win out, or at least finish very strong. They shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight.
-EASTERN ILLINOIS AT BELMONT (Ohio Valley). If Belmont wins out, which would include a win at Murray State, they’ve got a shot to at least be on the bubble, and perhaps make the field.
-UCF AT HOUSTON (American). Houston has dropped two straight, both of which were surprises, and is looking to bounce back tonight. It’s a game they should be able to win.
-COLORADO STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West). Colorado State is coming off a huge win at Boise State and their resume looks to be solid (for now). They should cruise in this one despite being on the road, but New Mexico just took down Wyoming so Colorado State won’t want to completely overlook them.
-OREGON AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac 12). Oregon is squarely on the bubble. I still think they are inside of it, but barely. They cannot afford a loss tonight.
-SAN FRANCISCO AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). This is a rivalry game between two teams that appear to be inside the bubble. Saint Mary’s is in a little bit better shape, but both could really use this one to add some sparkle to their resumes and move them up the seedlist a little bit.
-CREIGHTON AT DEPAUL (Big East). I think Creighton is in relatively decent shape, but only relatively. It would help them out a ton if they could string together some wins between now and the end, and even though this is a road game it’s one they should win.
-WASHINGTON STATE AT UCLA (Pac 12). UCLA is a protected seed and Wazzu looks to be an NIT team minus some incredible and unexpected finish to the season.
-UTAH AT STANFORD (Pac 12). I’ve given up on Stanford, but in case you haven’t, you should if they don’t win tonight.
-WASHINGTON AT USC (Pac 12). Washington has played much better these past few weeks, and while USC is coming off a nice win against UCLA, their resume is still a little hollow. All that being said, while it’s possible they won’t hold serve tonight, it is expected that they will.