NEWS AND NOTES:
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-Villanova is on a roll! They held on for what was perhaps a season defining win as they beat UConn 68-66. After a bit of a sluggish start they’ve now won eight of their last nine and have beaten both Cincinnati and Villanova in that stretch. They still have work to do, but they are definitely trending in the right direction.
-Texas A&M got a huge road win at Oklahoma 80-78, which is one of their better wins of the season so far. Oklahoma has now dropped two straight and while they’re still in good shape overall, they are in a bit of a tailspin after the 13-0 start.
-Ole Miss got a really nice road win at Arkansas 76-66. It was just the second true road win of the season for the Rebels and it came against a team that’s typically very tough to beat at home.
-After getting absolutely dump-trucked over the weekend by Kansas, UCF bounced back with a big 75-74 win over Colorado. Colorado has exceeded all expectations, but they still don’t have quite as strong of a profile as they need to start thinking of them as a solid tournament team. But, they’ll certainly have those chances between now and the end.
-George Washington followed up their big blowout win against Dayton with an impressive 75-67 road win at Rhode Island last night. This has sort of come out of nowhere. GW is now suddenly looking like the strongest team in the Atlantic 10.
-Dayton is NOT looking like the strongest team in the Atlantic 10. They lost at UMass 76-72 last night, and are starting to look like a team that doesn’t belong in the NCAA Tournament at all. At the end of November we were singing their praises and saying we thought they could end up as a protected seed. Now it’s looking like they may be headed to the NIT. Playing in the Atlantic 10 means that if they hit the skids and lose several games in a row their profile takes a major hit because they don’t have the opportunities to offset those losses with big time wins late in the year.
-Drake, who had dropped two straight, rebounded in a big way with a 64-57 road win at Bradley. The road to landing inside the bubble is still very narrow for Drake, but last night’s win was one they should get a lot of credit for considering how good Bradley is and that it was a road game.
-Saint Bonaventure, whose bloated record had gotten our attention, fell 73-68 at Saint Louis last night. The Atlantic 10 seems set on eating itself and becoming a one-bid league this year.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-OREGON AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State has been a little inconsistent this year, but when they’ve looked good, they’ve looked REALLY good. Oregon is having a great year, but in their last two games they were blown out by Illinois and barely got by Maryland. Both those games were at home, and this will be a very tough road test tonight.
-PURDUE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Purdue is having a great year, but to date they only have one true road win, so this would strengthen their resume a little bit if they’re able to pull this off. Rutgers has lost three of their last four and is in a bit of a tailspin.
-WASHINGTON AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). The Spartans have been looking really strong and should be able to hold serve in this one.
-VMI AT SAMFORD (SoCon). A win for Samford gets tthem to a very impressive 13-3 on the year.
-PACIFIC AT WASHINGTON STATE (West Coast). I really like this Wazzu team and they can get to 14-3 on the year with a win tonight.
-UC IRVINE AT CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (Big West). This will be a tough road game for UC Irvine, but they have had a great season, they have a path toward landing inside the bubble, and this is the kind of game they need to be able to win in order for that to happen.
-OREGON STATE AT SANTA CLARA (West Coast). This is a bit of a challenge for Oregon State on the road. If they can pull off the win it will get them to 13-4 on the year.