Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Sunday, Feb 25th

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We had a few more eliminations yesterday. Keep checking the SURVIVAL BOARD every day with Dartmouth and Penn becoming ineligible for the Ivy League Tournament, and UTRGV being eliminated in the WAC.

-Wake Forest needed a big win yesterday, and got it. They had been outside of our bubble before, and despite being a home win, it came against a very good Duke team that’s played well on the road, so it should move them up. But, I guess what most people are talking about is what happened after the game. The students rushed the floor, and did so with a purpose!! This was a high energy game with an electric crowd all the way throughout. The problem was Kyle Flipowski of Duke got caught up in the rush and ended up spraining his ankle. There are a million videos and about a hundred million takes of this on Twitter/X right now, so no need to add to that here. I’m sorry it happened. I hope he is back soon. It was a good win for Wake. And, more discussions and planning probably needs to take place to ensure not just player safety, but the safety of the coaches, the referees, and the fans.

-Houston showed yesterday why they should be a #1 seed (not that we hadn’t seen it already, but we absolutely saw it again yesterday). They went into Baylor and got a road win against a team that is likely a protected seed. They actually jumped out to a big lead in the first half, and the Bears came back to force overtime after a crazy 3pt shot at the end of regulation appeared to win it for Houston, but was waived off for not beating the buzzer. Houston gets what may be their biggest road win of the season 82-76.

-Texas A&M lost at Tennessee, which in and of itself really isn’t all that bad, but losing 86-51 and making the game look like it were a buy game, and having said loss be your 4th straight…that’s kind of bad. TAMU is playing their way outside the bubble.

-North Carolina got a nice road win (at least on paper) at Virginia 54-44. Virginia’s offense continues to be so bad that it will make your eyes bleed if you stare at it for too long.

-Kentucky, after losing at LSU earlier in the week, played with a purpose yesterday as they absolutely blew Alabama off the floor 117-95. Kentucky is playing well right now! They are potentially dangerous.

-South Carolina, who had dropped two straight, got a really nice 72-59 win at Ole Miss yesterday. Their resume looks very solid and I still think they still have an outside shot of end up as a protected seed. Ole Miss seems to be outside the bubble after losing five of their last six.

-Washington State finished up the weekend doing exactly what we all thought they would do!! They split the road trip through Arizona!! We figured they’d go 1-1, and that’s exactly what they did!! They followed up their hugely impressive win at Arizona on Thursday, with a bit of a head-scratching 73-61 loss at Arizona State last night.

-UNLV continues to string together wins, and they got another one last night against Colorado State 66-60. There is a lot of talk about the strength of the Mountain West, but not much of it has focused on UNLV. Maybe it’s time to look at them. They still have work to do, but they’re 16-10 overall, 9-5 in league play, they’re 8-1 in their last nine games, and if they can win out through the regular season they’ll absolutely be in the discussion for a bid.

-Texas Tech is a good overall team that just doesn’t win on the road. They fell at UCF 75-61 and are now just 2-6 in true road games. They still go to West Virginia and Oklahoma State, and they should be able to get one of those, but their road record is becoming a bit of an issue.

-BYU also can’t win on the road. They fell at Kansas State 84-74 and are also just 2-6 in true road games.

-108 years of Bedlam ended yesterday, and it ended with a game winning 3pt shot at the buzzer at the end of overtime. Oklahoma desperately needed a big road win, and got it 84-82. One story is that it’s a much needed road win for the Sooners’ profile. Another story is that it’s a damn shame this rivalry is ending, and that it’s ending for the reasons that it is. They could keep this going if they wanted to., but they don’t. It’s another reminder that a lot of administrators in college athletics just don’t care about things such as rivalry games that draw fan interest.

-We have a new biggest upset of the year!! Air Force was about 250 spots behind New Mexico in the NET, and they went into The Pit and stunned the Lobos 78-77. AFA had a lead throughout, but then New Mexico got control late and once that happened you just sort of figured they’d escape. Well, they didn’t. It doesn’t knock the Lobos outside the bubble, but it is an extremely damaging loss.

-I’m pretty sure whatever slim hopes Drake had of an at-large have been dashed. They lost to Northern Iowa 91-77 yesterday and will now almost assuredly need the auto-bid in order to make the field.

-Mississippi State had been really bad on the road, but they picked up a really nice 87-67 win at LSU last night, which does a ton to help out their resume.

-Utah was blown out at Colorado, they continue to be absolutely awful on the road, and given that they’re just 7-9 in Pac 12 play it’s probably time to place them squarely OUTSIDE the bubble.

-Another UTR surprise was Cornell losing at home to Brown yesterday. We had Cornell listed as Under Consideration on our Survival Board, but I strongly suspect that will no longer be the case when we do a scrub of the Board on Monday night. This all but eliminates the potential for a 3-way tie between Princeton, Yale and Cornell that would require an Ivy League degree to decode tiebreakers for seeds here.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-SAINT JOHN’S AT CREIGHTON (Big East). Saint John’s tailspin continues, and Creighton continues to look more and more like a protected seed. They should be able to hold serve at home in this one.

-CREIGHTON AT ST. JOHN’S (Big East). Stupid Puppet, St. John’s is hosting the Bluejays at MSG. Nonetheless, the Johnnies are almost out of strikes and absolutely need wins of any kind in the worst way. A protected-seed caliber win would immensely help right now. (Edited by The Management at Hoops HD)

-SMU AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American). These are two teams that have been playing really well, but are likely still outside the bubble. SMU had won seven in a row before losing to South Florida earlier this week, and South Florida is one of the hotter teams in the nation. The Bulls’ NCAA Tournament at-large hopes are still barely flickering, but they need to win out through the regular season in order to get any sort of a serious look.

-PURDUE AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Purdue will almost assuredly lock up a #1 seed if they can hold serve the rest of the year. This should be an easy win for them even though it’s a road game.

-FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT MEMPHIS (American). Back in January it appeared that this would be the showcase match-up of the regular season in the AAC, but that was before Memphis had lost six out of nine and played their way entirely out of the picture. Memphis still has a talented team, and they are at home, and this is a showcase game for them, so FAU won’t just waltz in and blow them off the floor, especially when you consider how FAU tends to play either up or down to their competition no matter who it is.

-OHIO STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State has been playing better and should be able to hold serve at home against a non-tournament caliber team.

-XAVIER AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Marquette is looking like a solid #2 seed and will be in that range so long as they continue to hold serve. They should roll in this one against a Xavier team that’s now lost three straight

-MINNESOTA AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Nebraska got a much needed road win earlier in the week, and they should be able to hold serve in this one, but Minney has been playing better lately. They’ve won five of their last seven, they’re over 500 in conference play, and if they can get a road win like this they’ll continue to work their way toward the bubble.

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UTR CONFERENCE WATCH

-WRIGHT STATE AT OAKLAND (Horizon League). Oakland can clinch at least a share of 1st place with a win today, and since their last game of the season is a home game against Detroit, it’s kind of like clinching it outright today. (UTR Game of the Day)

-High Point clinched at least a share of 1st place in the Big South yesterday with their win against Charleston Southern and UNC Asheville’s loss to Gardner Webb.

-Merrimack and Central Connecticut both win, so Merrimack holds on to their one game lead with two games to go in the NEC.

-Samford has clinched 1st place in the SoCon after their 87-71 win over East Tennessee State. BUCKY BALL!!!!

-North Dakota fell to rival North Dakota State 73-68, and South Dakota State held on to beat Saint Thomas 77-72. The two will play each other this Thursday with major 1st place implications. If South Dakota State wins, they clinch 1st place in the Summit League. If North Dakota wins, the two are tied with just one game remaining.

-UC Irvine and UC San Diego are now tied atop the Big West after UCSD’s OT win against the Eaters yesterday pulled the two even with just four games to go

-Little Rock and UT Martin remain tied with Morehead State in the OVC after both teams won yesterday

-McNeese continues to cruise through the Southland

-Cornell suffered an upset to Brown, which all but ends their at-large hopes and knocks them back into a three way tie with Princeton and Yale in the Ivy League

-Vermont clinched at least a share of 1st place in the America East with their 65-48 win over Bryant. They’ll face UMass Lowell in their next game and can clinch it outright with a win

-Eastern Washington snapped a two game losing streak and got a big win at Northern Colorado. They now have a two game lead in the Big Sky standings with just three games to go.

-Lousiana Tech and Sam Houston State remain tied atop Conference USA

-Grambling got a massive 63-57 road win over their rivals Southern U and now have a one game lead in the SWAC standings