NEWS AND NOTES
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-Alabama bounced back from their blowout loss at Oklahoma by doing things to Vanderbilt that I am pretty sure are against the law. The final score was 101-44. After barely beating Mississippi State and then losing badly to Oklahoma, whatever nap Bama decided to take…well…they’ve woken up from it.
-Kansas got revenge on rival Kansas State at home last night with a 90-78 win. The Jayhawks have bounced back from a three game losing streak by beating Kentucky on the road, and a highly rated K State team at home. Not a bad way to respond!
-West Virginia, who needs road wins and who needs conference wins, came close (again) at TCU last night, but couldn’t quite get the win as they fell 76-72. The 2-7 conference record is an issue. I think they need to be within 4 games of 500 with their final conference record (this includes conference tournament games) to be seriously considered.
-Clemson fell on the road to Boston College 62-54. Every time we want to say something nice about Clemson they seemingly go out and do something like this. I still think they’re inside the bubble (for now), but it goes without saying…losing games to teams that are nowhere near the NIT is NOT GOOD!
-Maryland picked up a nice win at home against Indiana 66-55. It’s not THAT much of a setback for the Hoosiers, but it may also not be THAT much of a step forward for the Terps. The resume still looks a little flimsy. Indiana is just 3-5 in road games, and most of Maryland’s “good” wins have come at home against teams that aren’t exactly road warriors. They need to do a little more in order to be safely inside the bubble.
-Nevada got a win they really needed at home against San Diego State 75-66. This win alone won’t get them safely inside the bubble. They still have some work to do. But, it DEFINITELY helps.
-Duke got a scare from a Wake Forest team late in the game that REALLY could have used the win, but held them off 75-73 and is still perfect at home. They’re far from perfect away from home, but they are perfect at home.
-Arkansas got an 81-70 win against a Texas A&M team that had been playing really well. TAMU still has a lot of work to do because of a slow start to the season, and a win last night would have been huge for them. Arkansas just needs some wins to strengthen their resume and get them up in the range of being a first ballot team.
-Iowa pulled away from Northwestern late for an 86-70 win and added what should be a decent win to their resume.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-PENN STATE AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Penn State is squarely on the bubble and Purdue is the top ranked team in the nation and probably on top of nearly every s curve out there. Geez…what is something Penn State could do to help get them inside the bubble?? The thing is, it’s FAR easier said than done, but if Penn State CAN do it, they’ll shoot up everyone’s seedlists, including ours.
-PROVIDENCE AT XAVIER (Big East). Both teams are easily in on the first ballot and Xavier is fighting for a protected seed. If Providence can pick up a road win like this they’ll also be in the hunt for a protected seed, so it’s a big opportunity for both. (Note from Stalica – Zach Freemantle is expected to be out approximately 4 weeks with a foot injury, so it becomes critical for Xavier to show they can still get quality wins in Freemantle’s absence, especially if for whatever reason he is unable to come back this season.)
-CREIGHTON AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Creighton is starting to pick up some momentum and play their way inside the bubble. This should be a very winnable road game for them tonight.
-TENNESSEE AT FLORIDA (SEC). Florida has been playing a little better, but it would still be surprising if they’re able to knock off this Tennessee team that is coming off a huge win against Texas and well within reach of a #1 seed.
-GEORGIA AT AUBURN (SEC). Auburn is sinking further and further down the seedlist, and while they don’t have that many bad losses, they’re just one or two losses to teams outside the bubble away from being knocked outside of it themselves. They need to hold serve tonight.
-PITTSBURGH AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC). I think both of these teams, yes BOTH of them!, have a lot of work to do and could REALLY use this win tonight. Both can make the field, but neither are safely inside the bubble yet.
-VILLANOVA AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Marquette is perhaps playing better than anyone else in the Big East right now, and should be able to hold serve tonight. It wouldn’t shock me if they ended up finishing atop the conference. However, with Villanova getting closer to full health, they can’t look at tonight as a gimme, either.
-SETON HALL AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East). Seton Hall is trying to make run at the bubble, but they need to keep stringing together wins in order to do it.
-MINNESOTA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Rutgers has lost two of their last three, but is still in very good shape. They’ll remain that way so long as they hold serve tonight.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12). BEDLAM!!!!!! Both teams are trying to reach the bubble, and both are perhaps good enough to do it. Oklahoma took a HUGE step toward it when they blew out Alabama over the weekend. But, both still have work to do, and both could really use this win tonight. Oh yeah, and it’s a rivalry game!!
-FLORIDA STATE AT NC STATE (ACC). NC State is in relatively good shape, but they still are far from completely safe and a loss like this could knock them all the way outside the bubble.
-LSU AT MISSOURI (SEC). After playing at a C- level by NCAA Tournament standards, meaning they were passing, but barely, Mizzou is suddenly on fire. They’ve won three of their last four, the only loss was to Alabama, and they blew Iowa State into orbit in their last game. They need to hold serve tonight in order to keep moving further and further inside the bubble.
-NEW MEXICO AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West). New Mexico is solidly in our field, but hovering around the middle of the bracket in that 8-10 range, and Utah State has a bloated record and a high net, but nothing much at all in the way of good wins and still has some work to do.