Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Sunday, March 10th

LINKS:

Click HERE for last night’s Championship Week Notebook

Click HERE for Conference Championship Central

Click HERE for the updated Hoops HD Survival Board and current Selection Board. As you can see, this is a visual reminder that a team like Morehead State MUST be included in the field.

And most importantly, click HERE for your annual Hoops HD+ Subscription!

NEWS AND NOTES:

– Yesterday was the end of the regular season for most conferences – today the Big 10 and the American also wrap up their regular seasons.

– Houston and UConn continue their fight for the #1 overall seed; UConn fell behind at Providence early before turning on the afterburners and ended up winning on the road fairly comfortably. Houston waxed Kansas on their home floor and held the Jayhawks under 50 points for the first time in the Big 12 era.

– North Carolina led wire-to-wire at Duke to complete their outright ACC regular-season championship. The Tar Heels might have the inside track to the last #1 seed after Tennessee lost their home finale to Kentucky (who may be on the inside track for a protected seed themselves now).

– Arizona is also contending for the last #1 spot, but they lost at USC in the final Pac-12 regular season game ever played. The Wildcats really need to win the Pac-12 Tournament to have a shot at the final #1 seed now.

– Marquette, Creighton and South Carolina were the only Top 25 teams to win on the road yesterday. Iowa State and Baylor both lost on the road yesterday.

– South Florida buzzed the tower yesterday and ended up losing at Tulsa; that may have mortally wounded their at-large chances and now necessitates that they win the American conference tournament taking place in Fort Worth next weekend. Their opener will be against Tulsa/East Carolina – a loss there would relegate the Bulls to the NIT and make Selection Sunday a little easier for the Selection Committee.

– It was celebration time in Logan, Utah as the Utah State Aggies hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to give the Aggies the outright Mountain West crown with an 87-85 win against New Mexico.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

– NEBRASKA AT MICHIGAN (BTN). This is a tuneup for Nebraska on the road; failing to take advantage of a winnable road game will severely damage the Cornhuskers’ seed (although it won’t knock them out of the field by itself).

– WISCONSIN AT PURDUE (FOX). While Purdue has long since clinched the regular season crown in the Big 10, Wisconsin will seek to stop hemorraging blood and get the mother of all wins to stabilize a profile that has been in decline for about a month now.

– OHIO STATE AT RUTGERS (BTN). You never want to say never as it relates to the Buckeyes, but they now travel to Jersey Mike’s Arena for a must-win game at Rutgers. And as Chad will tell you, the JMA is not a friendly place for visitors in this league.

– MICHIGAN STATE AT INDIANA (CBS). The Spartans are another team that’s been leaking oil, but they’ll be going against an Indiana team that’s permanently rusted over for the season.

– ILLINOIS AT IOWA (FS1). Iowa’s late push for an at-large bid hits a pivotal checkpoint tonight where they host Illinois in the last meaningful regular season game in the country today. (Sorry Maryland/Penn State, you do not qualify).