NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a FANTASTIC one out of the Big West tonight – CLICK HERE
Almost nothing went as expected yesterday…
-Kansas State was on the road at Oklahoma, and while road games are tough, K State was a solid protected seed and Oklahoma was, at best, an NIT team. Oklahoma won 79-65. When Oklahoma is playing highly ranked teams at home, they look amazing!! They’ve now managed wins against both Alabama and K State at home. The problem for them is all the other games they’ve played.
-Oklahoma State has been on a rampage, and is good as Kansas is, they had struggled on the road against teams who were playing at a top 25 caliber level (well, who doesn’t?). Last night, in front of a loud and lunatic level crowd, and against a good Oklahoma State team, Kansas controlled the second half and picked up a VERY impressive 87-76 win.
-NC State had been playing extremely well and was even looking like the best team behind Virginia in the ACC, especially in recent weeks. Syracuse looked like a team that should make the NIT, but perhaps still had some work to do just to get that far. NC State lost at Syracuse 75-72 last night.
-Illinois had been on an absolute tear and appeared to be climbing the seedlist, whereas Penn State was in such a freefall that it looked like they’d land somewhere in the middle of the NIT. Penn State knocked off Illinois 93-81 and was in control for pretty much the entire game.
-Missouri was soaring! They just picked up a HUGE road win at Tennessee and appeared to be playing like a top 25 caliber team! Auburn, who had played well against some tough teams recently, but still came up short in all of them, was looking like a bubble team. Auburn absolutely blew Mizzou’s doors off 89-56. By the first media timeout, the game was basically over.
-Rutgers is having to deal with injuries, but is still having a fantastic season and had what appeared to be a night off last night at home against Nebraska. they were behind pretty much the entire way and lost 82-72 to a Nebraska team that basically needs to win out just to get onto the NIT bubble.
-New Mexico, who has some solid wins on their resume that are keeping them inside the bubble, but was also just 6-6 in Mountain West play coming in to last night’s game. The good news (or so we all thought) was that they were at home against a pitiful Wyoming team, and it was essentially a buy game. So of course New Mexico trailed the entire game, and lost handily 70-56. This should have been a predictable way to end the evening considering how the rest of the day had gone. Now you start to wonder if New Mexico even belongs in the field at all.
-Duke won at home against Notre Dame, and keeps their perfect home record in tact, but they BARELY won. It was 68-64 and came down to about the final minute of play.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-ALABAMA AT TENNESSEE (SEC). Tennessee has lost two straight games on buzzer beaters, and had those games gone their way they’d almost assuredly be in the hunt for a #1 seed. Right now it looks like Alabama could end up with the top overall #1 seed, and a win tonight would certainly be a huge step toward earning that. As strong as Alabama’s profile is, a win tonight would probably be one of their single most impressive wins of the season considering that it’s on the road against a Tennessee team that’s likely to end up as a protected seed.
-XAVIER AT MARQUETTE (Big East). These are the top two teams in the Big East, and the first game was a classic. Xavier is now dealing with injuries, and that is a big concern, and Marquette is an extremely impressive 13-1 at home. Xavier has just three conference losses, but two of those are complete headscratchers at DePaul and at Butler, so on top of not being completely healthy Xavier isn’t always the best team away from home.
-KENTUCKY AT MISSISSIPPI STATE (SEC). This is a massively important bubbilicous game for both teams. Mississippi State has suddenly come to life with five straight wins, but they need to keep piling them up in order to finish inside the bubble, and they need this one at home against a Kentucky team that’s also on the bubble, and who hasn’t been overly impressive in true road games. If Kentucky were to win it would actually be one of their more impressive wins on the season, and a huge (and much needed) boost to their profile.
-INDIANA AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Both teams are red hot. Both (at least I believe) are top 25 caliber teams, and Indiana can even make a run at a protected seed if they can continue to rack up wins. A road win today would go a long way for the Hoosiers.
-TCU AT IOWA STATE (Big 12). Since conference play began we’ve said we thought as many as six Big 12 teams could end up as protected seeds. While that could still happen, for the last couple of weeks these two have been slipping. TCU has been dealing with injuries, and Iowa State has just hit a skid. Still, both are solid top 25 teams, and both still have paths to protected seeds if they can get back to winning at a strong clip. Tonight’s game is as important from a momentum perspective as it is from a paper perspective. Both teams could just really use a big win right now.
-ARKANSAS AT TEXAS A&M (SEC). Arkansas has probably moved up the seedlist and is relatively safely inside the bubble, but they could really help themselves out with a win tonight over their old SWC rivals. TAMU got off to a slow start this season, and while they’ve played really well for the last several weeks or so and are definitely headed in the right direction, they still aren’t quite to their destination yet. A win tonight would be yet another big step forward.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Virginia @ Louisville (ACC) – these two have had some classic battles in recent years, but it shouldn’t be that way this year. This is about as close to a buy game as a road game can seem
-Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech (ACC) – if VA Tech is going to reach the bubble they pretty much need to win out. They definitely can’t afford to lose a game like this
-Florida State @ Clemson (ACC) – Clemson is right on the bubble, and like all bubble teams every game is critical. They cannot afford in a game like this at home
-Boise State @ Colorado State (Mountain West) – Boise State is on the bubble and can’t afford to lose games to teams that are nowhere near the bubble, even if it is on the road
-San Diego State @ Fresno State (Mountain West) – San Diego State is starting to separate themselves from the rest of the MWC. They need to hold serve on the road tonight.
-Oregon @ Washington (Pac 12) – this is a rivalry with more heat to it than what most may realize. It’s also a big game for an Oregon team that needs a strong finish the regular season in order to reach the bubble