NEWS AND NOTES:
-For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket Projections – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Illinois just isn’t the same team. They fell at home 76-67 to a Maryland team that’s NIT-ish at best. Top 15 caliber teams should absolutely flatten NIT teams at home.
-Florida Atlantic did something yesterday that they seemingly haven’t done in months. They handily beat a team that they should handily beat!! They knocked off UAB 86-73, and basically put them away in the first half.
-Utah DID NOT handily beat a team they should have handily beat. They went on the road and lost to Stanford 79-73. Stanford is currently nowhere near the bubble, but they are proving to be a very tough team to beat on the road.
HIGHLIGTHED GAMES:
-OHIO STATE AT MICHGAN (Big Ten). It’s been a somewhat tumultuous season for Michigan and this should be the kind of road game that Ohio State can easily get. It would help out OSU’s resume some because as of now they don’t have any true road wins.
-GEORGE MASON AT GEORGE WASHINGTON (Atlantic 10). Both teams have bloated records, and while both are good, neither really looks like a tournament caliber team. Still, both have a path to get there, but they pretty much need to blow through the A10 to have any sort of a chance.
-VILLANOVA AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Both teams look like tournament teams, and Marquette still looks like they could end up with a protected seed. This would be a really nice win, especially for Villanova, for whichever team ends up pulling this out.
-IOWA AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Right now we’ve got both these teams on the outside looking in, but feel both have a path to making the NCAA Tournament if they can start stringing together wins. It’s also a rivalry game, so it should be a fun one.
–Dartmouth @ Princeton – Princeton shouldn’t have any trouble improving to 14-1 on the season
–La Salle @ Saint Joseph’s (Big Five) (Atlantic 10). I get the sense that Joe’s may be out of strikes. They need to pretty much run the table, or come very close to it, to end up on the right side of the bubble