NEWS AND NOTES:
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-The most shocking result of the night, and one of the most impressive single game performances of the year, was Ilinois’s 109-77 blowout win at Oregon. Oregon had been ranked in the top ten and absolutely looked like they belonged there prior to last night, and Illinois just lit them up on their floor. I mean…WOW!!!
-Also in the Big Ten…I’ am not a good enough wordsmith to properly explain just how ridiculous the officiating was in the final seconds of Northwestern’s loss at Penn State. In case you missed it, Northwestern had the ball down 2 in the final seconds, and converted an offensive rebound and put-back to tie the game. Or so it appeared. There was a whistle on the play because the referees had called a goaltend. They then went to the monitor for several minutes, and after an extensive review determined that there had been no goaltend on the play. They also determined that the whistle to call the goaltend had occurred before the offensive rebound and putback went through the basket, and therefore it was an inadvertent whistle, the ball was dead, and the shot didn’t count. To top it off, there was an OBVIOUS defensive foul on Penn State after that where the whistle was not blown, and Penn State ended up winning 84-80 after a couple of made freethrows. Chris Collins somehow did not lose his mind. It was an all-timer. I’ve seen a lot of basketball games, and I’ve seen some really bad calls, but this was even outside the parameters of “really bad calls.” This was one of the most botched officiating jobs I’ve ever seen, and it definitely had an impact on the final result of the game. Penn State played a good game and is having a good season, but Northwestern had a chance to tie it on the road and pick up a really big win, and it was denied because of an inadvertent whistle for a goaltend that ended up negating the tying basket.
-Liberty fell at home to Western Kentucky 71-70 for their second loss of the season. Any loss for Liberty will be considered a setback in terms of their chances of landing inside the bubble. WKU is a talented team, but they’re still the kind of team that an NCAA Tournament caliber team should be able to beat at home.
-Indiana got a nice 84-74 win against Rutgers. Rutgers is now just 8-6 on the season with multiple losses to UTR teams and no really good wins. They are going to be watching the NCAA Tournament on TV if they don’t get things turned around quickly.
-Oregon State, who I was starting to think was good, was the complete and total opposite of good last night. They were blown off the floor by LMU 82-61 and now don’t appear to be anywhere close to the bubble.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-WICHITA STATE AT TEMPLE (American). Wichita State is a modest 10-3, but they are lacking in notable wins and have a few bad losses on top of that. They’ll pretty much need to blow through the rest of their schedule if they want to reach the bubble.
-IOWA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Both teams are 10-3, both are on a path to make the NCAA Tournament, and this is a win that would look good on both teams’ resumes.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Since getting blasted into the sun by Auburn a few weeks ago, Ohio State has won three straight, and that includes a blowout win against Kentucky. They’re at home today against a really good Michigan State team, but the way the Buckeyes have been playing this is one they could end up winning. As for Michigan State, this would be a really strong win for them considering it’s a conference road game and considering how strong OSU has looked in their last few games.
-XAVIER AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Xavier is on the outside looking in, but they are coming off a blowout win against Seton Hall, which ended a three game losing streak. Each of those three games was a close loss to a ranked team, so X may be turning the corner. A conference road win against a much improved Georgetown team would be a huge step in the right direction.
-CREIGHTON AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Creighton is having a tough year, but they are coming off a nice win against Saint John’s, which was their second straight. Having said that, this is a much taller order. It’s probably their toughest remaining regular season game given that it’s against the best team in the Big East on the road.
-NEVADA AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West). New Mexico is well positioned to land inside the bubble if they can perform well in conference. They need to be able to hold serve against a decent (but not great) Nevada team tonight.
