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-The biggest news in college basketball yesterday is the situation at New Mexico State and the details that are coming out in regards to a shooting that a current player was involved in. We don’t really know anymore than what most other people know, and actually may know less than what other people know. When things like this happen it always comes with a lot of speculation and rumors. Two things – I feel this site is more about analysis than it is reporting, so off the court issues like this are outside of our scope anyway, but even if it wasn’t outside our scope, we don’t know enough at present to have what would be considered a fair and solid take on things. We know what’s going on, we are sorry that it is happening, we may have more to say about it in the future depending how it effects what happens on the court, but for now that is all we will say.
On the court, Kent State battled Gonzaga just as they did Houston. Kent State had a lead late in the second half at Gonzaga just as they did Houston. Kent State ended up losing a close game just as they did against Houston. But, there is something to be said about a team that goes on the road against two highly ranked teams, which are places that most other highly ranked teams aren’t able to win at, and takes both of those teams to the wall. Kent State is 5-3, but two of those losses were close games at Houston and at Gonzaga. When you look at the rest of their schedule, it looks as though they’re good enough to rampage through it, and if they do the committee needs to seriously consider selecting this team. One thing that may be missing is that ‘Wow!’ win that teams typically need, but hopefully holding serve the rest of the way combined with two battles against very highly ranked teams on the road will be enough “Wow!” for the committee.
-YALE AT BUTLER. Yale has been a bit of a surprise this year. They come in at 8-1 and their only loss was at Colorado in a game where they played really well. Butler is off to a respectable 6-3 start and are unbeaten at home, so if Yale is able to get this one it will spice up their resume even more.
-ILLINOIS VS TEXAS (Jimmy V Classic, New York NY). Both teams are in the rankings and both have picked up some pretty big wins already. As for Texas this is their first really big test away from home so it will be interesting to see how they do. Illinois has a nice win against UCLA, but this would probably be their biggest win of the year to date if they pull it off.
-SAINT LOUIS AT IONA. SLU has a decent resume, but they still don’t have a true road win, and this won’t be the easiest game in the world to win on the road. It’ll actually be tough. Iona isn’t likely to lose too many at home, so the committee will probably give them a little more credit for this than what most might think if the Billikens.
-HIGH POINT AT FURMAN. I know this is a bit of a strange game to highlight. Neither team has done anything that qualifies as “WOW!” but both have still been very solid. High Point is 7-1 on the year, and Furman is unbeaten at home and will likely make quite a bit of noise in the SoCon, so…it’s worth keeping an eye on this one.
-GEORGIA AT GEORGIA TECH. Both teams have respectable records, but neither really has a good win yet and could really use a win tonight in a rivalry game to get their season jumpstarted.
-JAMES MADISON AT VIRGINIA. This is perhaps a bit of a mismatch, but James Madison is a pretty good team and should be one of the front runners in the Sun Belt. They’re kind of shooting at the moon tonight, but if they win this they’ll absolutely explode onto the national scene. The chances of UVA overlooking them are quite small, since they’re coming off a really poor performance and since JMU beat them last year.
-MARYLAND AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). I really like how both of these teams have been playing, and am particularly impressed with Wisconsin’s win at Marquette in their last game. I don’t know why there hasn’t been more love for the Badgers. Maryland is unbeaten with some nice wins of their own and is climbing the rankings, but this will be a HUGE test for them tonight on the road at Wisky.
-SAM HOUSTON AT OKLAHOMA STATE. Sam Houston has wins at Oklahoma and at Utah, and entered the NET yesterday ranked #7, so of course none of the national media or AP voters are paying any attention to them at all. Oklahoma State has been a bit of a disappointment so far this year, but I still think we’ll see quite a bit of improvement as the year goes on. It’s still a tough place to win at, and if Sam Houston does it, then will people FINALLY start to give them some national love??
-IOWA VS DUKE (Jimmy V Classic). This is a resume building opportunity for both teams. Iowa has a solid record, but they don’t have anything that’s anywhere close to a win of this caliber yet. Duke has some decent wins over Xavier and Ohio State, but this would be one of their better wins to date as well.
-NEVADA AT PEPPERDINE. An interesting game between two teams that have shown sparks of being good early on, and who might be good enough to make a run at the bubble, but will have to string together a lot of wins to do it.
-Oakland @ Syracuse
-UNC Greensboro @ Arkansas
-Charleston @ Presbyterian – Charleston can get to 9-1 on the year and pick up their second road win
-Wagner @ Fordham – a win for Fordham gets them to 9-1
-Coppin State @ NC State
-North Florida @ Houston
-Tarleton @ Baylor
-Jackson State @ TCU
-Little Rock @ Memphis
-Kansas City @ Oklahoma
-Abilene Christian @ Kansas State
-NC Central @ Marquette
-Eastern Oregon (nonD1) @ Boise State
-Western New Mexico (nonD1) @ New Mexico