NEWS AND NOTES:
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-South Carolina at Auburn looked to be the game of the night. And…well…one of the teams played absolutely fantastic!! Auburn absolutely blew South Carolina into the sun 101-61. It’s not surprising Auburn won. They were at home and expected to win. It is surprising that they absolutely atom-bombed a South Carolina team that had been looking as good as anyone in the SEC prior to last night.
-Michigan State picked up an 80-72 road win at Penn State, which may not seem like that big of a deal on the surface, but it was just the second true road win for the Spartans and one they really needed.
-Xavier, for the second game in a row, fell behind big early and just wasn’t able to catch up. Seton Hall picked up an impressive 88-70 win at home, which really helps their resume out. Xavier, on the other hand, is falling further and further outside the bubble.
-I had been praising Richmond for the past several weeks and was saying the committee should be paying attention to them. So, of course, they lost at home to UMass 69-59 last night, which may all but end any hopes they have of getting an at-large. This is one of the reasons I never bet on basketball.
-Utah State had a solid second half at Wyoming to pick up an 84-76 win, which adds another conference road win to an already impressive resume.
-Samford ran over a fairly decent Western Carolina team last night 88-62. They’re not just beating everyone in the SoCon, they’ve suddenly started to beat some pretty good teams within that league rather badly. If they win out, they belong in. Period. Regardless of what happens in the SoCon Tournament.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-NORTHWESTERN AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). The one thing that could help Northwestern out right now more than anything else is road wins. They are solidly in our field, but a few more road wins will make their profile so much stronger. Rutgers isn’t good, but they are tough to beat at home, and they’re coming off a blowout win against Wisconsin
-TEMPLE AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC (American). FAU is clearly the better team. This is a virtual buy game and they should hold serve at home. The problem is that a lot of games that should be easy for FAU end up being struggles.
-SMU AT TULANE (American). SMU may still have a path to the bubble, but they basically need to win out. They can’t afford to drop this one on the road.
-MEMPHIS AT NORTH TEXAS (American). This is not an easy road test for Memphis. They have fallen outside the bubble and need road wins like this to help them get back on the right side of it. In fact, every remaining game has a pivotal feel to it for the Tigers.
-MINNESOTA AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Every time I get on Minnesota’s bandwagon, they lose a game they should win. Every time I give up on them, they start stringing together wins. A win at Purdue is not very likely. Purdue looks to be on their way to a #1 seed. But, if they were to somehow do it, they’d most likely end up in our next bracket.
-COLORADO AT UCLA (Pac 12). This is simply a game that Colorado has to win. They are outside the bubble and they need wins away from home. UCLA is nowhere near the bubble, but they’ve been playing really well. They’re 7-1 in their last eight games and appear to be good enough to keep that streak going. It took them a little too long to start playing at this level, but they are there! They can beat most of the teams in this conference! And the auto-bid doesn’t seem like a complete impossibility. Although Arizona being there does make it seem like kind of a rather remote possibility…but not a complete impossiblity!
-GONZAGA AT LMU (West Coast). This is Gonzaga’s first game after their big win against Kentucky, and they need to win out.
-UTAH TECH AT GRAND CANYON (WAC). The Lopes should land inside the bubble if they win out, which they are definitely good enough to do. They should roll tonight.
-CALIFORNIA AT WASHINGTON STATE (Pac 12). Wazzu is looking more and more like a team that’s going to make the NCAA Tournament. Tonight’s game is a home game against a team that’s nowhere near the NCAA Tournament, so they need to hold serve.
-PEPPERDINE AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). Saint Mary’s continues to look like the best team in the WCC and they should cruise to a tournament bid so long as they can hold serve in games like this.
-UTAH AT USC (Pac 12). Utah is one of those teams that is straddling the bubble, and that could really use some road wins on their resume to strengthen their case. Tonight’s game against USC and this weekend’s game against UCLA are huge games for this Utes team.