NEWS AND NOTES:
-Purdue, Kansas, and Tennessee are all top ten teams that held serve last night!! Given the way the season has been going, it’s as if it’s noteworthy whenever a highly ranked team takes care of business.
-Baylor lost in overtime at Kansas State in a game that was a bit of a rock fight. K State came in unranked, but is a lot better than what most are probably giving them credit for and it’s certainly not an easy place to go and win. A slight issue for Baylor is that they still have just one true road win on the season, and all their remaining road games are going to be tough in this conference.
-Wisconsin went on the road to Penn State and lost 87-83, and this may have been the one that finally did it! College basketball is officially drunk!!!! I know it’s not easy to go on the road and win, and while we may not often see as many as 8 top 10 teams lose on the road to unranked opponents in a span of three days, we do see top ten teams lose on the road all the time. But this one was crazy. Wisconsin was looking insanely good, and Penn State…well…wasn’t. Of all the big upsets we’ve seen over the last week, this is probably the most surprising.
-New Mexico has played two outstanding back to back games and picked up two really nice wins. They beat a really strong Utah State team 99-86 to improve to 15-3 on the year. Their OOC schedule wasn’t the toughest, and they still haven’t done much on the road, but they should have everyone’s attention now.
-Cincinnati held on to beat 19th ranked TCU in overtime 81-77! And they stormed the court!! Has anyone ever stormed the court after beating TCU before?? That in and of itself should be a sense of pride for the Horned Frogs! All kidding aside, Cincinnati has beaten BYU, nearly beaten Texas, nearly won at Baylor, and beaten TCU. That’s a pretty respectable stretch. They’re playing some pretty good ball right now.
-BYU ended up blowing it open against Iowa State and holding on for an 87-72 win. It is not easy to win on the road at BYU.
-Dayton had to sweat a little bit, and even trailed at the half, but they did win the Arch Baron Cup against Saint Louis 70-65!!! It is the greatest rivalry in all of sports!!
-Samford lost their opener to Purdue, lost their next game at VCU, and then hasn’t lost since. They’ve now won 15 straight and last night picked up a really nice win against a Western Carolina team that was also 14-2 on the year. I don’t know if Samford can play their way all the way inside the bubble, but if they win out I would hope that they would be there! We love Bucky Ball!!!
-Seton Hall keeps rolling along. They added another nice win to their resume that keeps getting better and better and better after knocking off Saint John’s 80-65.
-Clemson is now in a complete tailspin. After being 11-1 and high in the rankings, the Tigers have now lost four of their last five, and the most recent was at home to Georgia Tech 93-90. GA Tech has had some good moments this season, but they’re still not a tournament team, and this is not a good loss for the Tigers.
-The Georgia Bulldogs are trending up. They may not have reached the bubble yet, but at 13-4, 3 true road wins, and a 74-69 win at South Carolina last night, they are positioning themselves to make the field.
-Texas A&M followed up their big win against Kentucky with a 78-77 road loss at Arkansas. Not the best way to celebrate.
-Boise State, who had been on an absolute rampage, last at home to UNLV last night 68-64. Not the best way to celebrate.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-CREIGHTON AT UCONN (Big East). UConn is the new #1 team in the nation, and with all the upsets at the top of the poll they have been the team that has looked the most consistent. Creighton has won four straight and has been playing well, but they’re probably overmatched in this one.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT KENTUCKY (SEC). Kentucky is looking to bounce back from their overtime loss to Texas A&M over the weekend, and they should be able to against a Mississippi State team that is solid, but that still doesn’t have a road win. Winning on the road tonight may be too tall of an order, but they’re going to have to pick up a few before the end of the season if they want to make the field.
-OLE MISS AT LSU (SEC). People questioned Ole Miss’s schedule, but they’ve continued to win even now that conference play has started and this should be another winnable game for them tonight.
-VIRGINIA TECH AT VIRGINIA (ACC). It’s a rivalry game, but this particular edition of it is a little substandard from what we’re used to seeing. Both teams are outside the bubble and need to string together some wins to just to get within reach of it.
-FLORIDA STATE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). Miami FL has driven over some major pot holes, but I still think they have a ton of potential to be a dangerous team. They just need to start stringing together wins, and this should be one they can get tonight against a Florida State team that’s had issues of their own, but that is 4-1 in ACC play.
-NEBRASKA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Nebraska is flirting with the bubble and every game has a bit of a pitoval feel to it. They are just 1-3 in true road games, so this would help their resume even though Rutgers is not in the picture right now.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12). Oklahoma has lost two straight, but shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight against a West Virginia team that’s been anemic all year long.
-UCF AT TEXAS (Big 12). Both teams have some decent stuff on their resume, and both picked up nice wins last week with UCF knocking off Kansas and Texas getting the win at Cincinnati, but both still have work to do and both should have a bit of a sense of urgency coming into this one tonight.
-DRAKE AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Missouri Valley). Drake is 14-3 overall and can pick up their third true road win tonight. They’re trying to amass a fortune by collecting change, but their resume is building.
-LOUISVILLE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC). This is more or less just a buy game.
-TEXAS TECH AT HOUSTON (Big 12). Houston is coming off of two straight road losses, but they should be able to bounce back tonight against a Texas Tech team that’s having a great year, but probably not so great that they’re able to win at Houston.
-AUBURN AT VANDERBILT (SEC). It’s a winnable road game, and it would be Auburn’s second true road win of the year. They are looking like a potential protected seed, but they can’t afford to dump games like this on the road if that’s where they want to end up.
-MARYLAND AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Northwestern is currently inside our bubble and will remain there so long as they can hold serve at home tonight, which they should be able to do.
-PROVIDENCE AT DEPAUL (Big East). Injuries are catching up to Providence, but this should still be a winnable conference road game for the Friars.
-USC AT ARIZONA (Pac 12). Arizona is coming off a somewhat surprising loss to Washington State on the road, but are back at home tonight and should be able to bounce back and pick up a win against a USC team that’s been kind of disappointing this year.
-NEVADA AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West). Big match-up between two of the better teams in the Mountain West. Both are solidly inside the bubble, and both are perhaps in the top half of the bracket, so this is a big resume boosting opportunity for both of these teams.