NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
OBSERVATION: Miami FL and San Diego State were both Final Four teams last year. This year each have only two losses through the first week of January. Currently, neither team is ranked. Has that EVER happened before?? A Final Four team with just two losses not ranked?? Much less to TWO teams??
-Last night UConn had to come from behind in the second half to win at Butler, but did get it done. Illinois had a late surge against Purdue to make the score respectable, but at no point did it feel like the Boilers were not in complete control.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-MARQUETTE AT SETON HALL (Big East). Seton Hall has come to life with some big wins in the last couple of weeks and their resume is starting to look better and better. They can add to it again if they can somehow knock off a really good Marquette team that’s looking like they could get a protected seed and who could pick up a nice road win themselves.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT CLEMSON (ACC). I really like how both of these teams have been playing. I think they’ve looked like the two best teams in the ACC so far, and both have a very good chance of ending up as a protected seed. Since it is a road game this would probably be UNC’s biggest win of the season to date.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). Both teams have looked impressive so far, and while both have a smattering of decent wins both still have a lot of work to do if they really want to build up their resumes. Mississippi State has only played one true road game and it was a loss, and South Carolina’s last four games have been home buy games.
-KENTUCKY AT FLORIDA (SEC). Kentucky seems to keep getting better as the season progresses, but they’ll really be tested on the road today against a Florida team that’s really good and probably not getting the respect they should be. That will almost assuredly change if the Gators can pull this one off at home.
-SAINT JOHN’S AT VILLANOVA (Big East). Both teams have been playing reasonably well, but both also have room to improve. Nova barely survived against Xavier earlier in the week and the Johnnies knocked off a pretty good Butler team. It’s a big road test for Saint John’s, but they have played really well in their last few games.
-TCU AT KANSAS (Big 12). TCU has built up a really good record against a really bad schedule. If they can somehow win at Kansas, then none of us can say that they’ve only beaten weak teams. Kansas looks like a potential #1 seed (again) and should be able to hold serve at home in this one.
-PROVIDENCE AT CREIGHTON (Big East). Providence is coming off a tough home loss to Seton Hall and it won’t be easy on the road against a Creighton team that has been good, but not quite as good as what they may have been expecting. In short, this is a game between two teams that have done well, but can still do better.
-AUBURN AT ARKANSAS (SEC). I like this Auburn team and although they’re in the rankings I think they’re going to end up ranked higher by the end of the year. Arkansas is talented, but has underperformed up to this point. This would be big both on paper and for their overall confidence to knock off Auburn at home.
-VIRGINIA AT NC STATE (ACC). Both teams have good records, but both have shown some serious flaws and both still have a lot of work to do between now and the end. This is a game where both teams should be coming in with a bit of a sense of urgency.
-NEBRASKA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Nebraska has our attention as a potential tournament caliber team. Now, if they can go to Wisconsin and win, we’ll start thinking of them as more than just a potential tournament team, but a LIKELY tournament team. Having said that, it’s much easier said than done. Wisconsin is probably being a little undervalued given how well they’ve played this year, and they are exceptionally tough to beat at home.
-MIAMI FL AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). Miami FL is coming off a very impressive win against Clemson where they played out of their minds in the second half. They were in the Final Four a year ago, they’re 11-2 this year, yet they somehow still seem to be off of everyone’s radar. This is a winnable road game against a Wake team that’s got a pretty good record, but doesn’t have any really big wins yet (other than perhaps Florida).
-OLE MISS AT TENNESSEE (SEC). Ole Miss comes in unbeaten, but this is by far their biggest test of the year. They’ve struggled to win in some of their home buy games. Well, this anything but a home buy game. Tennessee is a likely/nearly assured protected seed. If Ole Miss can win this one then they will be richly deserving of a high ranking and a lot of praise.
-IOWA STATE AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12). We discussed this on the last Hoops HD Report, but while both these teams have good records, neither has looked all that impressive or been all that tested yet. It’s a big opportunity for both teams and it will be interesting to see what they end up doing against each other.
-UCF AT KANSAS STATE (Big 12). Both teams have good records, but both have also had a limited number of tests and both still have a lot of work to do. It will be interesting to see what they can do against each other tonight.
-UTAH AT ARIZONA (Pac 12). Arizona’s last two games have been utterly stunning. They were beaten rather badly by Stanford, and they followed that up with a 47 win against Colorado the other night. Both results were jaw dropping on complete opposite ends. Utah is a good team, but they don’t have anything anywhere close to a win of this caliber on their resume. They’re also coming off a road loss to Arizona State, so chances are Arizona will be able to hold serve.
-TEXAS TECH AT TEXAS (Big 12). Both teams have good records, but I feel that neither has been all that impressive this season and that both still have a lot of work to do. This is a good opportunity for both of them to get what would probably be the best win of the season up to this point.
-OHIO STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten). I believe Ohio State has looked like a solid NCAA Tournament team and Indiana has looked like an NIT team (if that). It’s never easy to win on the road, but it’s still the kind of road game the Buckeyes should be able to win.
-COLORADO STATE AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West). This one should be an absolute battle. Colorado State has some big wins already and is pretty high in the rankings. Utah State has a very impressive 13-1 record and has a handful of decent wins of their own, but this would by far be their biggest of the season. It would also get them onto the national stage, so it’s as much of a spotlight opportunity as it is a resume-building opportunity.
-CINCINNATI AT BYU (Big 12). Cincinnati comes in at 11-2, but they amassed that record against a pretty weak schedule. They have nothing close to a quality win yet, and need to win some games like this in order to actually put themselves onto the radar. BYU is up to 12th in the rankings, and while I don’t think they’re quite THAT good, they are still VERY good.
-OREGON AT WASHINGTON STATE (Pac 12). Oregon picked up a big win against their rivals Washington earlier in the week, and while they’ll be tested again tonight it’s the kind of road game they Ducks are capable of winning. Their resume is starting to look better and better.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Pittsburgh @ Louisville (ACC) – Pitt has an outside shot at landing inside the bubble, but they need to start stringing together wins
-Rutgers @ Iowa (Big Ten) – both teams have work to do
-Georgia @ Missouri (SEC) – Georgia has a pretty good record, but hasn’t really been tested yet. Missouri has been a little disappointing and it would really be a setback if they lost this one today
-Samford @ The Citadel (SoCon) – Samford can get to 13-2 with a win
-Wright State @ Purdue Fort Wayne (Horizon League) – PFW can get to 14-2 with a win
-West Virginia @ Houston (Big 12) – Houston should roll and remain unbeaten
-Tulane @ North Texas (American) – they’ve got a ton of work to do, but this is a winnable road game for Tulane which would get them to 11-3 on the year
-Saint Louis @ George Mason (Atlantic 10) – a win for George Mason gets them to an impressive 13-2, but the margin for error is still small
-Harvard @ Princeton (Ivy League) – Princeton is good enough to dominate this league and land inside the bubble
-McNeese @ TAMU Commerce (Southland) – McNeese will likely win out. In fact they will likely completely blow out every team they play all throughout Southland play
-Baylor @ Oklahoma State (Big 12) – it’s never easy to win games like this on the road, but teams as good as Baylor should be able to win games that aren’t easy to win
-James Madison @ Southern Miss (Sun Belt) – this is another potentially tough road test for JMU, but they are certainly good enough to win it and to remain unbeaten
-Alabama @ Vanderbilt (SEC) – Alabama has fallen off a lot of people’s radars, but they’re still a good team that’s played a really tough schedule. They should be able to get this one on the road today
-Florida Atlantic @ Charlotte (American) – This should be a very manageable road game for FAU
-Boston College @ Georgia Tech (ACC) – both teams have work to do, but both have done enough to where they have a path (albeit a steep one) to land inside the bubble
-UNLV @ San Diego State (Mountain West) – San Diego State should hold serve at home and improve to 13-2
-Virginia Tech @ Florida State (ACC) – VA Tech has a lot of work to do, and these are the kinds of games they simply cannot lose if they want to reach the bubble
-Wofford @ Western Carolina (SoCon) – a win for WCU gets them to an amazing 13-2
-Duke @ Notre Dame (ACC) – Duke should win this one, but Notre Dame has suddenly become tough to beat at home
-Oregon State @ Washington (Pac 12) – after three straight tough losses, Washington needs to start stringing together wins to have any sort of a chance
-Liberty @ Western Kentucky (Conference USA) – both teams have good records and have shown to be fairly decent UTR teams. It should be an entertaining match-up
-Nevada @ Fresno State (Mountain West) – this is a seriously good Nevada team, and a road win today gets them to 14-1 on the year
-Colorado @ Arizona State (Pac 12) – the Buffs need to bounce back from their blowout loss at Arizona earlier this week
-LSU @ Texas A&M (SEC) – TAMU should be able to hold serve at home
-San Diego @ Gonzaga (West Coast) – the Zags pretty much need to win out to land inside the bubble
-Grand Canyon @ Utah Tech (WAC) – a win for GCU gets them to an amazing 14-1 on the year
-Wyoming @ New Mexico (Mountain West) – New Mexico should be able to hold serve and get to 13-2 on the year