NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Let’s start off with some news mixed in with a rant….
Kansas and K State lived up to the hype with the game going into overtime and K State holding on to win 83-82. Kansas had a disallowed 3 pointer in the final minute that would have counted had a timeout not been called from the Kansas bench. They also had a chance to win it on their last possession with a HUGE mismatch in the post, but then yet another timeout was called from the Kansas bench. Out of the timeouts K State was able to regroup defensively and come up with two big stops. Now, is there a lesson here?? I hope so. As a fan, no one likes watching multiple committee meetings in the final minute of a game, which is what timeouts ultimately are. As a player, no one likes having the flow of the game disrupted over and over and over again in the final 60 seconds of play, and it seems like it’s very rare when a team comes out of a timeout in a better position to convert on offense than they were in before the timeout was called. I hate that this is now how games typically end. And…this is NOTHING!! The final minute of Michigan State vs Purdue the other day took about TWENTY minutes!!! You know who was a really good coach who almost NEVER called timeout?? JOHN WOODEN!!!
But a HUGE win for a Kansas State team that is having a very special year! Congrats to the Wildcats.
-Other than that it was a fairly chalky night. Iowa State got a big win against Texas at home 78-67, Tennessee was sleepwalking in the first half against Mississippi State but picked up the 70-59 road win, Wake Forest got a nice 87-77 win over Clemson which is the first ACC lost for the Tigers, Baylor got an 81-74 road win at Texas Tech, Wisconsin really had to sweat at home but held off Penn State 63-60, and Kentucky got control of the game late in the second half to hold off Georgia 85-71.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-TCU AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12). West Virginia is still looking for their first conference win, and despite the fact that they are a good team they won’t make the field if they keep losing games, even if they are to high caliber teams like TCU, who looks to be on pace to get a protected seed.
-AUBURN AT LSU (SEC). Auburn has a solid resume, but it still has room to improve and picking up road wins in conference is one way to do that. LSU has been strong at home, but they still need some notable wins to get them on the right side of the bubble.
-PROVIDENCE AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Both teams are in the rankings. Both are playing well. Both are within reach of a protected seed. And both are looking to bounce back from a loss in their last game. Providence can really boost their resume if they can pick up some high caliber road wins.
-ARKANSAS AT MISSOURI (SEC). Both these teams are heading in the wrong direction and could really use this game to get things turned back around. This game actually has a pivotal feel to it because you get the sense that whoever wins it will have gotten a much needed notable win, and whoever loses it will continue to be on the decline.
-OKLAHOMA AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). BEDLAM!!!!!!! God, I love this rivalry!!! I hope they keep it going after conference realignment even though it doesn’t look like they will. Oklahoma can use a big road win to move them further inside the bubble, and Oklahoma State needs some big wins just to reach the bubble, so this game means quite a bit both on and off paper.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-UConn @ Seton Hall (Big East) – UConn has lost four out of five and needs to pull themselves out of the tailspin they’re in. This SHOULD be a winnable conference road game
-Virginia Tech @ Virgniia (ACC) – this is a rivalry game, but it’s also a big mismatch in favor of the home team. UVA is a protected seed and VA Tech will have to do better just to make the NIT
-Xavier @ DePaul (Big East) – Should be a winnable road game for a Xavier team that is absolutely on fire right now
-Pittsburgh @ Louisville (ACC) – this is almost a buy game on the road
-Ohio State @ Nebraska (Big Ten) – this isn’t quite a buy game on the road, but it’s a game that Ohio State should absolutely be expected to win
-Florida @ Texas A&M (SEC) – TAMU has strung together quite a few wins, and if they keep it up Uncle Buzz can get his team back on the right side of the bubble!!
-San Diego State @ Colorado State (Mountain West) – it’s almost always tough to win on the road, but this should be a winnable road game for a San Diego State team that just fell back out of the top 25, but who we still believe is a top 25 caliber team