Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Monday, Feb 17th

NEWS AND NOTES:

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-Saint John’s keeps winning, and yesterday they got another big one as they held off Creighton 79-73. The Johnnies are being projected as a protected seed, and the real committee gave them one in their exercise over the weekend, so they are flying pretty high right now.

-Memphis finally stubbed their toes. They went into The Round House at Wichita State, got a battle from the Shockers, and ended up falling in overtime 84-79. It is a setback for the Tigers, but it shouldn’t set them back too much. To take up for them a little bit, it can be difficult to run through a stretch of games where none of them help build up your profile, and everyone of them is the biggest showcase game of the year for your opponent. That is sort of the situation that Memphis is in.

-Michigan got another big road win in a close and hard fought game at Ohio State 86-83. The Wolverines look like a solid protected seed to me, especially after yesterday. Ohio State still looks like a team that is squarely on the bubble, especially after yesterday.

-Drake, who needed to win out in order to be safely in the field, lost at home yesterday 61-59 to Bradley. It was close all throughout, and Drake had a chance to tie it on the last possession, but could not find the basket. I still think they’ll be inside the bubble if they win out, and I still think they are good enough to do it, but anything short of that and they’ll probably need the auto-bid.

-New Mexico and Utah State squared off in a big Mountain West match-up, and it was as exciting as we would expect. New Mexico came from behind in the second half to get the big win and improve to 22-4, I like both these teams, I think they will both be in the field, and both will be tough to beat in the Round of 64.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-DUKE AT VIRGINIA (ACC). Duke is solidly on the #1 line and will likely be moving up to #2 in the polls today. Even though they’re on the road this should be a game where Duke is easily able to hold serve.

-KANSAS STATE AT UTAH (Big 12). K State just had their winning streak snapped with a loss at BYU. As good as they’ve been recently, they still have a long way to go in order to make the field and need to bounce back and get this one on the road tonight. Utah is also about a thousand miles from making the NCAA Tournament, but they are coming off a big win against Kansas.

-ARIZONA AT BAYLOR (Big 12). Arizona has lost two straight and needs to bounce back, but they will be tested tonight. Baylor has battled injuries and setbacks throughout the year, but they are still on pace to make the field and have been really tough to beat at home. This would be a nice win for them as well if they’re able to pull it off.