NEWS AND NOTES:
For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
For the first half of Jon Teitel’s Mid-Season Conference Awards – CLICK HERE
-Florida Atlantic is a really good team….but only when they’re really good. I can’t recall an incident where a team was ranked in the top ten and coming off a win against a top five opponent, and then followed it up with a loss to a UTR team that’s just 3-9 against div1 opponents. But, that’s just what they did. They went on the road to FGCU and were pretty much behind for the entire game before losing 72-68. FAU’s wins now include Arizona in one of the most exciting games of the year, and their losses now include Bryant and Florida Gulf Coast. The two teams were close to 250 spots apart in the NET, which will easily put it in the running for the biggest upset of the year in terms of how far apart the two teams are.
-Marquette got a huge battle from Creighton as you would expect, but held on to win 72-67. I said before the season that I thought Creighton was good enough to make it to the Final Four, and have said during the season that I thought Marquette was that good as well well. Creighton has fallen to 9-4 on the year, and 0-2 in Big East play, but I still don’t think there is a reason to panic. They’ll win a lot of games if they keep playing the way they did yesterday.
-Florida State fell at home to Lipscomb 78-75, and what once looked like an NCAA Tournament team has now lost four of their last six and looks nothing like it now. The football team also had a rough day. Florida State has seen better days.
-Michigan State got a battle from Indiana State, and it was tied with under 10 minutes to go, but they were able to pull away down the stretch and get the 87-75 win. Indiana State isn’t a protected seed caliber team, but I definitely think they’re an NCAA Tournament caliber team and that Sparty deserves some credit for beating them.
-Princeton got a huge scare on the road at Delaware as they were outscored 55-41 in the second half, but held on to win 84-82, which gives them yet another win away from home and will help keep them inside the bubble (for now).
-It was a bit of a rock fight, but Saint Bonaventure survived against Akron 62-61 in the Legends of Basketball Showcase, which is at least a semi-decent win away from home and improves the Bonnies to a respectable 9-3 on the year. They still have some work to do, and have a very small margin for error, but they’re at least a team to keep an eye on as we head into the new year.
-UCLA continues to play competitively, but not win. After yesterday’s 64-59 loss at Oregon the Bruins are now just 6-7 overall on the season.
-Ohio State got a big scare from a pretty weak West Virginia team, but survived in overtime 78-75 to improve to 11-2 on the year.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES (Sunday, Dec 31st):
-WASHINGTON STATE AT COLORADO (Pac 12). Wazzu had a decent start to the season, but had a really rough night against Utah the other night and may be in for an even tougher time tonight. The Buffs are a top 25 caliber team despite not being currently ranked, and are exceptionally tough to beat at home.
-WASHINGTON AT UTAH (Pac 12). It was a tall order for Washington to open league play with the Colorado/Utah road trip. They battled the other night and came up short, and even if they come up short again tonight I still think they’re good enough to end up inside the bubble. Utah is another Pac 12 team that isn’t in the top 25, but probably should be. They’ve now won seven in a row and are unbeaten at home this year.
-Monmouth @ Oklahoma
-Bethune Cookman @ Mississippi State
-Arizona @ Stanford (Pac 12) – it’s a conference road game, but Arizona is battle tested and should be able to get this one without too much trouble
-Bryant @ Ole Miss – Bryant isn’t bad, so Ole Miss better not overlook them
(Sort of) HIGHLIGHTED GAMES (Monday, Jan 1st):
-UT Arlington @ Texas
-North Alabama @ Texas Tech
-TAMU Commerse @ TCU