NEWS, NOTES, AND LINKS:
-For the first HOOPS HD BRACKET RUNDOWN Video Podcast of the season – CLICK HERE
-For our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Miami FL could not miss in the second half of their game against Clemson, who is a pretty good defensive team. They scored 60 second half points and shot a crazy 75%ish percent from the floor to pick up one of their bigger wins of the year 95-82. Clemson still looks incredibly solid and still may be good enough to end up with a protected seed. The loss didn’t hurt them, but had they pulled this out the win would have been very impressive.
-Seton Hall got another big win as they knocked off Providence on the road 61-57. It was the first home loss of the year for the Friars, and chances are they won’t lose that many more, so this is big for Seton Hall. The Pirates have now won four out of their last five and beaten Missouri, UConn, and Providence in that stretch.
-Dayton won on the road at Davidson 72-59 and didn’t even need to break a sweat doing it. This is a really good Dayton team that doesn’t seem to have very many people’s attention. They’re 11-2 on the year, and while Davidson isn’t exactly a tournament caliber team, they’re at least a decent team and they were unbeaten at home. If a team can handily beat a decent team with a good home record, then that’s a sign that team is good.
-Villanova had a lead for most of the game against Xavier, but Xavier battled and kept it close. The Musketeers actually had a chance to win the game at the buzzer after two missed Villanova freethrows, but the last second shot wouldn’t go down and Nova survived 66-65. Believe it or not, this was Nova’s most impressive win on paper in the city of Philadelphia this year!!
-NC State got a win at Notre Dame, but barely. They were behind for the entire game, but somehow escaped with a 54-52 win to get. to 10-3 overall against D1, remain unbeaten in ACC play, and pick up their second true road win.
-Nebraska beat Indiana rather handily 86-70. Indiana is kind of a ‘meh’ team, but Nebraska is still a team we need to start paying attention to. They are 12-2 and are at least handily winning the kinds of games that good teams usually win handily.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-PENN STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State is starting to look a lot better, but they need to continue to string together wins in order to get their resume to look like they want it to. They should be able to hold serve tonight.
-MEMPHIS AT TULSA (American). Memphis has now won six straight and beaten some pretty strong teams in that stretch. They will likely be tested on the road today against a Tulsa team that’s a respectable 9-3 on the year, unbeaten at home, and looking for a signature win themselves.
-OREGON AT WASHINGTON (Pac 12). It’s a rivalry game between two teams that have looked good, but that still need big wins in order to boost their profiles. Washington is coming off two straight tough losses and needs this win not just for what it means on paper, but to build back up some energy and momentum. Oregon has won six of their last seven, but this one will be tougher than any of the games they played during that stretch.
-MINNESOTA AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). The basketball version of the Little Brown Jug, and amazingly enough a win for Minnesota will get them to 11-3 on the year.
-COLORADO AT ARIZONA (Pac 12). Colorado has been fun to watch and is probably one of the 25 best teams in the country, but having said that going on the road to face one of the 10 best teams in the country is a very tall order. Arizona is coming off a somewhat surprising loss to Stanford and a big win at home would be a good way to bounce back.
-UTAH AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac 12). Utah looks to be a solid tournament team, and this is the kind of road game that a solid tournament team should be able to win.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-UNC Wilmington @ Drexel (CAA) – UNCW is potentially dangerous, and perhaps has a narrow path to the bubble if they can blow through the CAA
-James Madison @ Louisiana (Sun Belt) – JMU looks to remain unbeaten and tonight plays one of many remaining conference road games where they have a huge target on their backs
-Grand Canyon @ Southern Utah (WAC) – GCU can get to 13-1 on the year and stay unbeaten in WAC play
-Pepperdine @ Gonzaga (West Coast) – The Zags are now in a position to where they pretty much need to blow through the WCC