NEWS AND NOTES:
-At halftime of the Iowa State v Purdue game I was thinking that Iowa State had just played a fantastic first half. Little did I know what was coming next. This is something that’s rarely ever said, but the top ranked team was boat-raced off of their own home court. The final score was 81-58 in, but it felt like an even more dominant win than that for the Cyclones. When factoring in margin of victory this may be one of the most impressive single game performances I can remember in the last several years.
-Duke picked up a hugely impressive road win by knocking off 7th ranked Michigan State 66-60. This was going on at the same time as the Iowa State v Purdue game. It’s rare that you see two likely protected seeds lose at home on the same day, much less at the exact same time.
-I can’t say I’m a fan of Arizona’s new court, but their team looked incredible. They blew out the Auburn Tigers 97-68 and will probably slide into the #1 spot when the polls come out Monday.
-Louisville had no issues with all against Indiana. The final score was 87-78, but Louisville jumped out to a 16-0 lead to start things off and at absolutely no point did it feel like the Cardinals were not in control of this one.
-Illinois got their biggest win of the year as they knocked off Tennessee 75-62 in Nashville. The Illinis were able to pull away in the second half and pick up one of their biggest wins so far.
-Saint John’s got a little bit more of a battle than I was expecting from Ole Miss, but still held on to win 63-58. I get the sense that the Johnnies are going to be one of those teams that gets a lot better over the winter break.
-Washington, after nearly upsetting UCLA a few nights ago, went on the road and got a hugely important and very much needed win against USC 84-76. It’s the first loss of the year for the Trojans, and a signature conference road win for the Huskies.
-Providence beat rivals Rhode Island rather handily 90-71 in the Ocean State Rivalry. This was probably the best the Friars have looked so far this season.
-Boise State went on the road to Butler and got a win that they really needed. Butler had looked pretty good this season going into yesterday’s game, but the Broncos picked up the 77-68 win.
-Saint Bonaventure handed Buffalo their first loss of the season as they went on the road and beat their Big Four rivals 77-69. I had not been a believer in Buffalo. I said that I would start to believe if they won this game. They didn’t win the game, but I will absolutely admit that I was wrong about them. This is a good Bulls team, at least by Under the Radar standards. They are certainly not the worst team in the MAC like I thought they’d be.
-I was also wrong about Seton Hall. They are far from the worst team in the Big East. Their 78-67 in at Kansas State isn’t that great on the surface because K State is…well…terrible, but to be 9-1 on the year and to have the overall resume that they do is pretty impressive for the Pirates.
-George Mason fell at Virginia Tech 73-62 for their first loss of the year. It was also probably their first real test of the year. I’m still not a believe in George Mason despite the bloated record.
-Memphis, who has been a disappointment for most of the season, did pick up a nice home win against Baylor yesterday 78-71 to even out their season record at 4-4. They still have a ton of work to do, but have also now won three straight and appear to be turning themselves around.
-Colorado suffered their first loss in an exciting battle against Front Range rivals Colorado State 81-76. Still, it’s a better than expected start to the season for the Buffs.
-Santa Clara is a team I had been praising!! They had a chance yesterday at a statement win at New Mexico. Santa Clara did not win. They did not win by a lot. New Mexico totally dominated the game 98-71. I know it’s hard to win at New Mexico, but this was a chance for us to see if Santa Clara was good enough to win a game that was hard to win. Well…they came up 27pts short.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-MISSOURI VS KANSAS (Kansas City MO). The Border War resumes!!! Mizzou is 8-1, but they have absolutely no good wins to speak of. Kansas has had several tests and has looked better all year, but in rivalry games like this you sometimes don’t know what’s going to happen.
-TEXAS TECH VS LSU (Fort Worth TX). Texas Tech looks to be the better team, but they don’t have any notable wins away from home yet and this would be their biggest win of the year so far if they’re able to pull it off. LSU is perfect on the season, but this is their toughest test so far. Both teams need to do more to build up their profiles and a win today is a chance to do that.
-GEORGETOWN AT NORTH CAROLINA. The Hoyas are much improved, but I don’t know that they’re so much improved that they’re capable of beating the Tarheels in Chapel Hill. Having said that, if they somehow do win this, then they’ll be worthy of top 25 consideration.
-CREIGHTON AT NEBRASKA. Creighton has struggled this year, but has managed to win their last two. Nebraska is perfect on the season and they’ve managed some decent wins. They should be able to hold serve at home today against their in-state rivals
-SMU VS TEXAS A&M (Arlington TX). Both teams are good, both are potential NCAA Tournament teams, but both have room to improve and both could really use this win today.
-NORTH TEXAS AT TCU. This is a pretty good North Texas team that TCU does not want to overlook, especially since they are looking to bounce back from a somewhat surprising loss to Notre Dame earlier in the week.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Saint Mary’s @ Davidson – this is the first true road game of the season for the Gaels, and while it won’t be easy it is one that they should be able to win
-Utah State @ Charlotte – Utah State is having a solid year, but they still don’t have a true road win yet. This should be one that they’re able to get
-San Francisco vs Mississippi State (Tupelo MS) – both these teams need to start stringing together wins in order to get on the committee’s radar
-Towson @ UCF -Towson has some nice wins so far, but they still don’t have a true road win and they’ll need a win like this in order to get the attention of the committee. UCF is a very respectable 7-1 so far.
-Belmont @ Middle Tennessee – Belmont takes the short trip down to Murfressboro. A win will get them to 9-1 on the year and be their third true road win of the season
BUY GAMES:
-UTSA @ Alabama
-UIC @ Yale
-Central Michigan @ Saint Louis
-UNLV @ Stanford
-North Florida @ Gonzaga
