NEWS AND NOTES:
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-The surprise of the night was Oakland’s 78-76 win at Xavier. The Grizzlies held a lead for most of the game, but it was close all throughout. Late in the game it looked as though Xavier was getting control, but Oakland made some big plays and foguth them off. X even had a three-quarters court shot at the buzzer that almost went in and won the game, but Oakland managed to pull out the upset. Oakland’s three losses were at Ohio State, at Illinois, and against Drake. Those are all good teams, all away from home, and they were competitive in all of those games, so they are now suddenly a UTR team to keep an eye on.
-Saint Mary’s, a team that I said I thought would be a protected seed prior to the start of the year, fell to 3-4 yesterday and lost their second home game after Utah came in and beat them 78-71. Utah might be good, but I think it’s pretty clear that at least up to this point, SMC is not a tournament caliber team, much less a protected seed. I now need to go back, edit out what I said in those podcasts, and destroy the evidence!!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC/SEC Challenge). Mississippi State has clearly looked like the superior team. It’s early, but so far Mississippi State looks like a team that will land in the top half of the bracket, and Georgia Tech looks like a team that will be nowhere near the NIT, but it is the first true road game for Mississippi State.
-CINCINNATI AT HOWARD. Props to Cincinnati for scheduling this. They haven’t played a road game yet, and they should get this one, and it may help them out in the metrics because Howard will probably win a fair number of games, and a fair number of games at home. It’s actually not such an easy win that the Bearcats can just completely overlook them.
-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT INDIANA STATE (Missouri Valley). Conference play is underway! The MVC has collectively won a lot of games and has collectively played well so far, and it wouldn’t shock me at all to see them get multiple teams into the field. Southern Illinois’s only loss was a close one to James Madison, and to get this win on the road would add a nice early season sparkle to their resume. Indiana State also has just one loss, but like Southern Illinois, doesn’t really have any notable wins yet.
-NOTRE DAME AT SOUTH CAROLINA (ACC/SEC Challenge). The Irish are just 3-2 and face a South Carolina team that’s a perfect 5-0 with some of those wins coming against some pretty decent teams away from home. The Gamecocks should get this one and are actually looking like a bit of a sleeper team in the SEC.
-LSU AT SYRACUSE (ACC/SEC Challenge). I don’t get the sense that either team will really end up all that close to the bubble, but both are coming into this one at 4-2.
-MIAMI FL AT KENTUCKY (ACC/SEC Challenge). I love this game! Both teams are ranked in the top 15, both have the potential to end up as protected seeds, and both have already shown this season that they can play at a high level. Kentucky is 5-1 and perhaps their most impressive showing was the one that they lost, which was a close game against a really strong Kansas team. Miami FL is a perfect 5-0 and has had some decent tests, but none as tough as this one will be today. The Canes do not go to Duke this year, so this is perhaps the single toughest game they will play until March.
-MISSOURI VS PITTSBURGH (ACC/SEC Challenge). I think both of these teams certainly have potential, and both have shown signs of that potential at points during the season, but at the same time neither team has really shown out yet. Missouri’s best win is against Minnesota who isn’t exactly good, and they have a bad loss at home to Jackson State on top of that. Pitt also has just one loss, but they don’t really have any good wins either. So, one of these teams will come out of this with their best win of the season up to this point.
-UTAH STATE AT SAINT LOUIS. Utah State had a lot of question marks coming into the season given how much turnover they had, but I’d say those questions have been answered. Based on their first six games, they look like a tournament team, and have the chance at another tough but winnable road game tonight.
-NC STATE AT OLE MISS (ACC/SEC Challenge). Both teams have good records, but the majority of those wins have been in buy games, and this would be the biggest win of the season so far for whichever team manages to pull it off. Both teams will certainly be tested and have more chances after this, especially once they get into conference play, but tonight is a good early season game that should tell us something about both of them.
-CLEMSON AT ALABAMA (ACC/SEC Challenge). I think both of these teams will end up being solid tournament teams, and think that perhaps they’re both being a little undervalued at the moment. Clemson has a chance at a huge road win that will really boost their resume, and Alabama can hold their spot in top 25 and perhaps even move up. It wouldn’t shock me to see both of these teams not just in the bracket come March, but in the top half of it.
-AKRON AT UNLV. Akron is off to a decent 4-2 start and they were blown out by Drake in their last game, but I still think they could put together a big season and perhaps land somewhere near the bubble. They need to get this win tonight, though.
-PORTLAND AT PORTLAND STATE. Portland State is off to a very impressive (and somewhat surprising) 5-1 start, and this is just their second home game. It should be a fun one tonight.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:
-Georgia Southern @ Michigan State
-Western Carolina @ Tennessee Tech – WCU can get to 6-0 and pick up their third true road win tonight
-Wagner @ Providence
-Rider @ Maryland
-Eastern Illinois @ Kansas
-Nicholls @ Baylor – Nicholls is perhaps a Southland frontrunner, but they are way overmatched tonight
-Oral Roberts @ Kansas State
-McNeese @ UAB – UAB can get to a decent 5-2 overall, but McNeese can play well and they better not overlook them
-Texas Southern @ Purdue
-Southern @ Marquette
-Cal State Bakersfield @ Gonzaga
-UC San Diego @ Washington