NEWS AND NOTES:
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-Bradley held off San Francisco in a 66-64 thriller to improve to 9-2 and pick up what is probably their biggest win of the year. Bradley still has a lot of work to do, and their margin for error is small, but I do think they have a path to the NCAA Tournament along with Drake. They’ll have to basically blow through the MVC in order to get there, but they’re good enough to do it and the opportunity is there.
-Alabama really had to sweat at North Dakota. They pulled off the 97-90 win on the road, but it was close all throughout and for much of the first half they were actually behind.
-Xavier was on fire from 3pt land yesterday and was right with UConn on the road, but ended up falling in overtime 94-89. Considering all of the injuries and setbacks Xavier has gone through it is hard to not be impressed with the effort. While they didn’t get the win, it does show that maybe they’re capable of stringing together some wins in the Big East and are not quite totally out of it yet.
-Oklahoma remains unbeaten after pulling out an 87-86 thriller over Michigan. Michigan had a lead for much of the game, and for most of the second half, but it was close all throughout. The Sooners are one of about…oh…a dozen teams in the SEC that look like they belong in the top 25.
-Memphis got a battle from Virginia on the road, but escaped 64-62 to pick up their third true road win of the season. The Tigers have built up quite a profile, and have managed to beat teams that are not always easy to play against or beat. Virginia is still a very good defensive team and can be a very frustrating opponent, but the Tigers figured it out.
-Georgetown absolutely blew Creighton out 81-57. The Hoyas have a lot of energy built up, they continue to get better as the season improves, and will be a force within the Big East this year.
-Washington State, who had been cruising and looking really good, did not look that good yesterday. They fell to rivals Washington 89-73. While Washington is a respectable 8-3 on the year now, they hadn’t looked as good as Wazzu coming into last night’s game.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-UC IRVINE AT BELMONT. This is an interesting road game for what is a very good UC Irvine team and it’s an important one if they want to finish the season inside the bubble. If you’ve been following Under the Radar, you know that we feel this is a team that can make the NCAA Tournament. Belmont is 9-2 on the season, and 5-1 at home. They’ll likely win a lot of home games, so the committee should take note of this game if UC Irvine is able to pull it off.
-Buffalo @ Georgia – Georgia can get to 10-1 with a win
-New Orleans @ Texas
-Merrimack @ Saint Mary’s