NEWS AND NOTES:
For our latest CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK VIDEO NOTEBOOK where we recap all of last night’s conference tournament action and preview all of tonight’s – CLICK HERE
-Connecticut, as good of a year as they’ve had, probably got their best win of the season yesterday as they knocked off Marquette on the road 74-67. It was their first true road win against a solid protected seed, and they pretty much had a lead from start to finish. Marquette was shorthanded, but even with that it was a very impressive performance for the Huskies.
-Tennessee just keeps getting big wins, and got another one on the road against a very good South Carolina team 66-59. It wasn’t a blowout by any means, but at no point in the game did it feel like Tennessee was not in control.
-I’ve been dogging BYU for most of the year for their lack of success on the road. They did not win at Iowa State last night, but they were in the game until the final minute before losing 68-63, and Iowa State is one of the toughest places in the country to play. They also won at Kansas a short time ago, so even though they lost I’m much more of a believer in BYU now than I was about a week ago.
-Seton Hall needed a win in the worst way yesterday, and got it 66-56 over Villanova. Both teams were on the bubble, and Nova had been playing well, so it was a very pivotal game for both teams. Seton Hall may be breathing a little bit easier, but they are still breathing hard!
-Mississippi State continues to struggle in true road games. I think they are still inside the bubble, but they have just two true road wins on the year, and came up short last night against Texas A&M 75-69.
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SURVIVAL BOARD WATCH (CLICK HERE to see the whole board):
SWAC:
-Alabama State out with a loss and wins by both Alabama A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-RUTGERS AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Wisky needs to win this game, or to put it another way, they need to not lose this game. They’ve lost 7 of their last 9 and have gone from looking like a Big Ten frontrunner who would earn a solid protected seed to a team that has slid way down the seedlist. They cannot afford to lose at home to a Rutgers team that is nowhere near the field.
-GRAMBLING AT ALABAMA A&M (SWAC). A win for Grambling will give them an outright first place finish!!
-WASHINGTON AT WASHINGTON STATE (Pac 12). Wazzu is a virtual lock for the NCAA Tournament and is just looking to finishing up the season by continuing to build up momentum. If they hold serve they should be seeded in the 6 to 7 range, and perhaps even better depending on what they do in the Pac 12 Tournament. But tonight they just want to beat their rivals in the last ever Pac 12 match-up between these two.
-COLORADO AT OREGON (Pac 12). We have Colorado right on our bubble, but I personally don’t even understand why we have them their. Their resume is rather weak, but having said that this would be the best win of the year on their resume and will get them a much more serious look from the committee.
-ARIZONA AT UCLA (Pac 12). This is another conference rivalry is coming to an end. Hopefully these two will continue to play OOC in future years. This year’s edition looks like a big mismatch with Arizona being close to a #1 seed and UCLA being nowhere near the field. UCLA has played well at times this year, and was actually very competitive in the first game, so Arizona won’t want to completely overlook them.
-UTAH AT OREGON STATE (Pac 12). Utah is outside the bubble and needs a strong finish to get any sort of real look from the committee.