NEWS AND NOTES:
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-Marquette’s win over Kansas, and the second half in particular, has to be in the running for most impressive showing by a team in a single game so far. The other candidate is Arizona’s win at Duke. Marquette just opened it up, took control, and then kept control against the top ranked Jayhawks. If Marquette pulls off the win tonight against Purdue, they should be the #1 ranked team. Speaking of Purdue…
-The score was close, but the game was hard to watch. So many fouls were called that it just didn’t have a whole lot of fluidity to it, but Purdue did hold off Tennessee 71-67 in the other Maui match-up between top ten teams.
-Gonzaga had no trouble with Syracuse, and UCLA didn’t have to sweat out Chaminade, so we get another Gonzaga v UCLA match-up for our fifth place game today!!
-I always like Colorado, and at the beginning of each season I always seem to overvalue them, but not even I thought they were the 18th best team in the country. After yesterday, I don’t think too many other people do either. They fell to Florida State 77-71 in overtime at the Sunshine Slam.
-James Madison keeps winning! They don’t always do it convincingly, and they’re not always playing top 40 caliber teams, but they do keep winning. They came from behind to beat Southern Illinois 82-76 yesterday.
-Drake blew out Akron 79*59 in the Cayman Islands 3rd place game. Akron was the UTR team I was the biggest on coming into the season. After they dropped two straight in this event I’m starting to rethink that. The teams they lost to were good, but that’s just it. You have to beat good teams to demonstrate that you yourself are good.
-Utah State, who looked like they had a complete rebuild ahead of them, is now 5-1 on the season after blowing out Stephen F Austin to win the Cayman Islands Classic. It’s time to start paying attention to them.
-If you were big on UNLV coming into the season, are you still? They were beaten rather handily by a Richmond that almost no one was big on coming into the season down in the Sunshine Slam yesterday.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
NORTHERN IOWA VS NORTH CAROLINA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Northern Iowa is off to just a 1-2 start, but we still think they can have a big year and this event is a chance for them to really build up their resume. North Carolina comes in at 3-0, but has only played three home buy games, so we’ll learn something about them throughout the week.
BOSTON COLLEGE VS COLORADO STATE (Hall of Fame Classic). I’m not entirely sold on BC yet, but I do like their coach and I do think their program is getting better. They’ve managed to win their first four games this year and it’ll be interesting to see what they can do against a Colorado State team that’s also unbeaten and who we think can make some noise in the Mountain West this year.
HARVARD AT COLGATE. Both teams are off to really good starts, both could make a lot of noise in their conferences, both look like they’re capable of posting really big records this year, and depending on how it goes, both may have a chance at making a run at the bubble. In order for that to even be a possibility they could both really use this win today. If anything, this is just a really good Under the Radar match-up.
-TENNESSEE VS KANSAS (Maui Invitational). The fact that this is a third place game doesn’t matter. It’s a neutral floor match-up between two top ten teams who are good enough to end up as #1 seeds. Both are coming off losses and looking to rebound. Tennessee fell against Purdue in a game that was a foul parade, and Kansas was knocked off by a really strong Marquette team.
-TEXAS TECH VS VILLANOVA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Texas Tech comes in unbeaten, but they also haven’t been tested like they will be in this event. Nova has a loss to rival Penn and the fans are understandably starting to grumble a little bit. If they can pick up some wins in this event, Nova can start to build up their resume, which is something they really need to do if they want to land on the right side of the bubble.
-OLE MISS AT TEMPLE. Chris Beard’s Ole Miss team is 4-0, but this is their first true road game and biggest test so far. Temple looks to be better this year, but they are coming off a rather damaging loss to Columbia and needs to rebound today if they want to get back on track.
-CREIGHTON VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Hall of Fame Classic). Creighton comes in unbeaten and looks to be a really strong team. They should be able to pick up a neutral floor win in this one.
-PURDUE VS MARQUETTE (Maui Invitational). The winner of this game has a good chance of ending up with the #1 overall ranking in the polls next week. Both won big games to get here with Marquette handling top-ranked Kansas in one of the most impressive single game performances of the year so far for any team, and Purdue got it done against Tennessee. Both teams already have the kind of win on their resume that indicate that they can be a protected seed and certainly have the chance to pick up another one today.
-MICHIGAN VS MEMPHIS (Battle 4 Atlantis). These are two teams that we think are good, but haven’t quite started to build up their resumes yet. Today’s game, and this whole event, is a chance for them to do that.
-WEST VIRGINIA VS VIRGINIA (Fort Myers Tip-Off). Virginia is coming off a decisive loss to Wisconsin and is looking to rebound. Seeing as how WVU has gone through hell this offseason they look to be very beatable.
-BAYLOR VS OREGON STATE (NIT Season Tip-Off). Oregon State comes in with just one loss, but they clearly look to be overmatched by a Baylor team that, once again, looks good enough to earn a protected seed.
-STANFORD VS ARKANSAS (Battle 4 Atlantis). This appears to be a mismatch, but Stanford has just one loss and Arkansas has already fallen in a surprising upset loss earlier this season, so the Razorbacks don’t want to just overlook the Cardinal.
-DUQUESNE AT NEBRASKA. This is a really interesting game. It’s between a Duquesne team that we think is the best in the Atlantic Ten and who has a respectable 4-1 record, but still has a lot to prove, and a Nebraska team that comes in at 5-0, but who also really hasn’t been tested yet. This is one we will be paying attention to tonight.
-SMU VS WISCONSIN (Fort Myers Tip-Off). Wisconsin just had a really impressive win over Virginia and looks to be on their way to a big season. SMU has just one loss and beat West Virginia without having to sweat too much the other night, but this is a much bigger and tougher test.
-JAMES MADISON VS FRESNO STATE (Cancun Challenge). James Madison always makes it exciting, but they continue to rack up wins and remain undefeated. Fresno State enters this game at 3-1, but they really had to sweat out a New Mexico State team that is going through all kinds of rebuilding the other night, so this should be another winnable game away from home for the Dukes.
-FLORIDA VS PITTSBURGH (NIT Season Tip-Off). We like both these teams this year, and the reason we like this game (and the whole event) is because it is a big early season test for both of them. Pitt comes in with four home buy wins, and Florida did clobber Florida State in their last game and now has the chance to score some more big early season resume wins.
-BRADLEY VS UTEP (SoCal Challenge). This is a great game to watch. Both teams come in unbeaten, and Bradley has already racked up some notable wins on their resume. Tonight is a chance for another one against a UTEP team that’s also unbeaten and has wins over UC Santa Barbara and Cal. This is a resume-building opportunity for both teams.
-TOLEDO VS UC IRVINE (Ball Dawgs Classic). Another really solid match-up between two UTR teams that are off to very good starts. Each has just one loss, and UC Irvine has the surprising win at Oregon. This one is worth staying up for!
-GONZAGA VS UCLA (Maui Invitational). Whenever these two square off, it’s just awesome, and it doesn’t matter at all that this is the 5th place game. It’s a neutral floor game between two tournament teams that have chances to end up as at-larges. UCLA really did stay with Marquette the other day and showed they are capable of playing at a high level. A win today would help them establish their resume.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:
-Long Beach State vs Louisiana (Gulf Coast Showcase) – Beach has been inconsistent througout the season and could use this win today
-Tennessee Tech @ Presbyterian – I don’t think Presby will be in the picture come March, but to date they’re an impressive 5-1 with a win at Vanderbilt
-Princeton @ Old Dominion – Princeton is 4-0 with three of those wins coming on the road. They’re off to a fantastic start
-McNeese @ Louisiana Tech – both teams have just one loss and look to be solid UTR teams
-Southern Illinois vs New Mexico State (Cancun Challenge) – Southern Illinois hung tough with James Madison yesterday and should be able to get this win today
-Georgia Tech @ Cincinnati – Cincinnati can get to 5-0 with a win
-Indiana State @ Pepperdine (Ball Dawg Classic) – Indiana State has just one loss and can pick up a nice neutral floor win
-South Dakota State @ Southern Miss – we think both will be really good UTR teams, but neither team has really shown it yet
-Central Arkansas @ Kansas State
-Purdue Fort Wayne @ San Francisco – PFW IS 5-0, and while we don’t think they’ll keep that up we’ll continue to keep an eye on them so long as they do
-Syracuse vs Chaminade (nonD1) – one of the more exciting 7th place games you’ll ever see
-New Mexico vs Rice (Ball Dawg Classic) – New Mexico can get to 4-1 on the year
-Tulane vs California (SoCal Challenge) – Tulane can improve to 4-1