NEWS AND NOTES:
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-Missouri controlled the game for most of the first half at Tennessee, and then initially appeared to widen their lead at the start of the second half, but Tennessee fought back, got control of the game themselves, and held on to win 85-81 despite a late run from the Tigers. I think Mizzou is playing like a protected seed. I know they lost, but most protected seeds would lose on the road to a team like Tennessee that we are currently projecting onto the 1-line.
-Illinois continues to lose games that aren’t easy to win, but that you still feel that they should win. They fell on the road to Rutgers 82-73. Rutgers is super talented, but they are currently nowhere near the field and this is the kind of game you would think Illinois should win even though it was on the road.
-Michigan held off Oregon 80-76 in a win that should help out their resume. Oregon has some really impressive wins on their profile, but they are also just 5-7 in Big Ten play at the moment.
-UCF, who was/is squarely on the bubble, is in a situation to where losing games at home to teams that are nowhere near the bubble would be really bad. Last night they lost at home to Cincinnati 93-83. That’s really bad. UCF has looked so good at times and nearly pulled off some major upsets, but they’ve also had nights like last night where you just look at them and feel they don’t belong in the field.
-Arkansas, who seemed like they were 100 miles outside the bubble a week ago, has now won two huge back-to-back road games and may have actually played their way into our next bracket projected. They were blowing Texas off the court last night. Texas did make a run late in the game, but it was too little too late as Arkansas won 78-70.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-MARYLAND AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Maryland has come to life lately with six wins in their last seven games, including two on the road. They can keep building their resume and climbing the seed list with another road win today. Ohio State is squarely on the bubble, so this game (and pretty much all their games) has a pivotal feel to it.
-LMU AT GONZAGA (West Coast). Gonzaga has had a bit of a disappointing season and LMU is improving as a program and making progress this year, but the Zags are still safely inside the bubble and should be able to hold serve at home.
-SAINT MARY’S AT SAN FRANCISCO (West Coast). This is another tough road test for an SMC team that’s passed its share of tough tests and can continue to rise up in the metrics and up the seedlist if they can keep winning games in this league. San Francisco is outside the bubble but they’re still tough to beat at home.
UNDER THE RADAR GAMES TO WATCH:
–Middle Tennessee @ Jacksonville State (Conference USA) – Middle looked like the best team in the league a few weeks ago, but Jax State has now climbed into 1st place and has a one game lead
–SEMO @ Morehead State (Ohio Valley) – Morehead State has just a one game lead over SEMO in the conference standings
–Montana @ Northern Colorado (Big Sky) – If NoCo wins they’ll have a two game lead for 1st place, if Montana wins the two are tied
–Fairleigh Dickinson @ Central Connecticut (Northeast) – CCSU has a one game lead over FDU, and if they win today and widen that to two games I don’t think anyone else in the league will catch them
–UC Riverside @ UC San Diego (Big West) – these are two of the better teams in the Big West, and UCSD still has an outside shot at landing on the bubble if they can win out