NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s HOT HOT HOT UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Creighton is normally a pretty good outside shooting team, but they were somewhere around 5% from deep last night in their game at Texas. But somehow, they were still in the game, and in the last couple of minutes had a chance to win it. Texas ended up winning 72-67, and it’s a huge win for 2nd ranked Texas against a top ten team, but as for Creighton, had they shot the ball at a percentage that was even below average, but not so far below average that it actually defied the Law of Averages, they probably win the game. I’m actually MORE impressed with Creighton being on the road and able to stay in the game despite such a poor night shooting than anything else.
-Arizona suffered their first loss of the season as they fell to Utah 81-66, and the game was basically seemingly played with Utah having a double digit lead the entire way. Arizona was fantastic out in Maui, and absolutely earned their #4 ranking, but this was their first true road game of the season and it was a loss.
(as an aside, Sam Houston State DID win at Utah, and has just one loss on the year. Can the voters, who I am sure take all their cues from a puppet, start showing this team some attention?).
-Arizona State looked awful in the first half at Colorado, trailed 38-23 at the half, and the game showed all the earmarks of being a blowout. Arizona State was much better in the second half, picked up the road win, and improved to 7-1 on the season. Their only loss remains to be their game at Texas Southern, which is looking more and more like an anomaly as Arizona State continues to win.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT KENT STATE. South Dakota State has played a tough schedule, so their 3-4 record is more indicative of their schedule than them. They’ve got another really tough road game tonight against a Kent State team that is coming off a loss at Houston where they actually had a lead with less than a minute to go, so the question is is Kent State good enough to put together a long enough string of wins to make a run at the bubble?
-WAKE FOREST AT CLEMSON (ACC). Wake is off to a 7-1 start and is coming off a really nice win at Wisconsin, so a team that was basically an afterthought coming into the season is off to a very good start and has our attention. Clemson is off to a respectable 6-2 start, but the bulk of their wins have been home buy games, so they still need to build up their resume.
-PITTSBURGH AT NC STATE (ACC). NC State is 7-1 and had a couple of decent wins down in Atlantis, but they still have some work to do. This is a winnable conference home game and they need to hold serve tonight.
-UMASS AT HARVARD. Both teams have surprisingly good records, and while UMass probably won’t make it all the way to the NCAA Tournament, they are much improved, are coming in with a 5-1 record, and looking for their second road win of the year against a very respectable Harvard team. We’ll keep watching both of them until they give us a reason not to.
-BAYLOR VS GONZAGA (Sioux Falls SD). A neutral floor match-up between two probable protected seeds who were picked as Final Four contenders coming into the season! What’s not to like about this?? Baylor really got their noses bloodied the other night at Marquette in a very surprising 96-70 blowout loss, so tonight is a chance for a huge bounce back. Gonzaga has not exactly looked like a top five team every time they’ve taken the floor either, and could really use a win like this on their resume if they are thinking to (again) end up with a #1 seed.
-ILLINOIS AT MARYLAND (Big Ten). Both teams have looked really good this season, both have good records, both have good wins, and both are in the rankings. You couldn’t ask for a much better conference opener!!
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Brown @ Bryant – Bryant can get to 7-1 on the season
-Eastern Kentucky @ James Madison – JMU has a good team, but is coming off a damaging loss to Valpraiso and needs to rebound tonight
-Towson @ Long Island – Towson can improve to 8-1 and pick up their fourth road win of the season
-Florida A&M @ Georgia – buy game
-Colgate @ Auburn – Colgate is looking like the top team in the Patriot League, and they do have a nice win at Syracuse, but they’re probably overmatched tonight
-UT Arlington @ LSU – buy game
-Occidental (nonD1) @ San Diego State – buy game