NEWS AND NOTES:
-It’s not surprising that Tennessee beat Arkansas, or that they did it easily, but with the final score being 76-52, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite that easy.
-Iowa State also pretty much blew Baylor off the floor 74-55. Again, the result wasn’t all that surprising, but it’s worth pointing out just how impressive Iowa State looked.
-Duke blew SMU off the floor 89-62 to get a really nice road win. This was surprising. I thought SMU would be way amped up for this one and give the Blue Devils a game, but that just didn’t happen.
-Alabama blew out Oklahoma 107-79. Another game where the result wasn’t necessarily shocking, but for this to be as big of a blowout as it was was kind of unexpected.
-Kentucky had a big 106-100 win over Florida, which was the first loss of the year for the Gators. I don’t know if it even qualifies as a setback for Florida seeing as how Kentucky is ranked in the top ten and how it was a road game, but it was still a nice win for the Wildcats.
-Nebraska picked a really nice 66-58 win over UCLA. Nebraska has now won six straight since getting blown out by Michigan State and their resume is starting to look stronger and stronger. UCLA has now lost two out of three, but given the overall strenght of their resume they’re still in good shape.
-Arizona got a nice 72-67 road win against Cincinnati. Arizona actually had a 19 point lead in the second half and appeared to be on cruise control, but Cincinnati battled back and actually tied the game in the final few minutes, but couldn’t quite come all the way back. Arizona has had some tough losses prior to yesterday, and really kind of needed this one.
-North Carolina barely escaped against a so-so Notre Dame team, but did hold on to win 74-73 and dodge a bit of a bullet.
-Dayton, who had looked so good earlier in the year, was completely blown off the floor by George Washington 82-62. They trailed for most of the game, and while there was a stretch during the second half where it appeared they were coming back, GW just dominated. I’m now rethinking my comments about how Dayton would likely blow through the Atlantic 10 and end up as a protected seed. They didn’t look anything like a protected seed yesterday.
-San Diego State picked up a really nice 76-68 road win against Boise State. I said coming into this that this game had a pivotal feel for both teams. It now feels as if San Diego State is looking like a very solid tournament team that can get into the field on the first ballot, and Boise State seems more like an NIT team at the moment.
-Furman, who had just one loss coming into yesterday, was beaten rather handily by UNC Greensboro 84-67. It is a bit of a setback for Furman, who looked like they may be positioning themselves to land inside the bubble had they been able to blow through the SoCon. It’s not easy to win at Greensboro, but that’s just it. Landing inside the bubble requires winning games that aren’t easy to win.
-Vanderbilt is now 13-1 after a really nice road win against LSU. With the strength at the top of the SEC, most people have kind of forgotten that there are some really good teams all throughout the conference. Vandy isn’t ranked in the top ten, but they are still really good and are having a great year.
-Washington State is now a very respectable 13-3 after a really solid 91-82 win over San Francisco yesterday. Wazzu is looking more and more like a team that will make it to the NCAA Tournament.
-Texas Tech looked really good at Utah yesterday. They went on the road and just completely blew out the Utes 93-65.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-INDIANA AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Both teams are coming off wins and both seemed positioned to land inside the bubble, but both teams still have a lot of work to do to stay on that path. Another conference win would certainly help out either team.
-PROVIDENCE AT UCONN (Big East). UConn is a solid protected seed and Providence does not appear to be anywhere near the bubble right now, so the Huskies should be able to hold serve in this one.
-NORTHWESTERN AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Northwestern is coming off what has to be one of the more frustrating losses that any team has suffered this year after some questionable officiating at the end of their game against Penn State. It’s their second conference road loss this season against a solid opponent that happened in the final seconds. It doesn’t get any easier today as Purdue is in the rankings and is showing every sign that they’ll likely land in the top half of the bracket.
-MURRAY STATE AT DRAKE (Missouri Valley). Drake needs to bounce back from their somewhat surprising loss at UIC earlier this week.
-KANSAS AT UCF (Big 12). This will be a road test for the Jayhawks as UCF is a very strong 10-2 with some pretty good wins and Kansas is still looking for their first true road win of the season. The Jayhawks also need to bounce back from their surprising loss to WVU earlier this week.
-MARYLAND AT OREGON (Big Ten). Maryland is a solid team, but they’re coming off a loss to Washington and still haven’t managed a true road win this season. Oregon is looking to bounce back from a home loss to Illinois in a game where they were just blown off the floor. Speaking of Illinois…
-ILLINOIS AT WASHINGTON (Big Ten). Illinois is coming off that highly impressive blowout win at Oregon, and while they’ll be tested again on the road today, it’s hard to not like their chances after they looked so good the other night. Washington is a modest 10-4 and needs to start stringing together wins if they want to land inside the bubble.
-NORTH TEXAS AT MEMPHIS (American). I think Memphis has looked like a protected seed so far, and will end up getting one if they can hold serve for the rest of the season. North Texas is a good team, and a road win like this would be huge for their resume, but chances are they’re just too overmatched in this one.