NEWS AND NOTES:
-UCF pulled off a big 81-75 win against Kansas, which helps boost their resume and pushes them further into the national spotlight. It was a home win, but it’s still their biggest of the season and one that they kind of needed given how weak their schedule was up until yesterday.
-SMU ran away from North Carolina in the second half for a 97-83 win. North Carolina still has just one road win on the season and will need more if they want to climb the seedlist, but they’re still in relatively good shape. It was an important win for an SMU team that needed an important win.
-Arkansas held serve and beat Tennessee 86-75 at home. Tennessee is a really good team and a road loss like this won’t really set them back all that much, if at all.
-Alabama ran away from Kentucky in the first half and cruised to an 89-74 win. Kentucky’s resume is rather underwhelming up to this point. They still have a lot of time to get to where they want to, but they’re sure as hell aren’t there yet.
-Virginia jumped all over NC State in the first half and while the Wolfpack made a few runs at them, they never really got back into it. It’s a very impressive road win for the Hoos not just because of the win itself, but because of how dominant it was. We expected NC State to have a big season this year, and so far they just haven’t.
-Missouri knocked of Florida 73-71 in a game they almost blew. After appearing to have it wrapped up, Florida actually fought their way back in it via a sequence of made and missed freethrows, and got a shot up at the buzzer that would have won them the game, but it just didn’t go down. Mizzou ended up escaping with a win they really needed.
-Auburn took Georgia to overtime and nearly pulled off a massive road win which would have made their profile look a lot better, but the Dawgs held on 104-100. Still, it was one of the better games Auburn has played all season despite the loss and they’ll get more than enough chances at big wins between now and the end.
-Villanova ran away from a pretty good Butler team on the road 85-67. Nova is now 12-2 on the season, perfect in the Big East, and 3-1 on the road. One of their losses was the season opener against BYU. This team is very good and should be getting much more attention than they are. On the flip side of that…
-Saint John’s lost at home to Providence 77-71. The Johnnies simply are not very good and should not be getting as much attention as they are.
-Wake Forest was in another close game!! And this time they actually won it!! They knocked off a fairly solid Virginia Tech team 81-78, and while it was a home win, it was still one that they really needed.
-Miami OH remains unbeaten after knocking off a really solid Akron team 76-73. This was probably the toughest game Miami has played all year even though it was a home game. Their schedule has been rather weak, but their team isn’t weak at all and they showed that they can beat the best teams in the MAC yesterday (albeit at home).
-Texas A&M helf off a really good LSU team 75-72 for a win they really needed. They still have some work to do, but this is a step in the right direction. For LSU, it was a missed opportunity at what appeared to be a winnable conference road game.
-Colorado bounced back from back-to-back losses to Stanford and Northern Colorado and picked up their first true road win of the year against a decent Arizona State team 95-89.
-Northern Colorado seems to be going in the other direction. They’ve lost two straight games since their upset win at Colorado, which included losing to both Montana and Montana State. They’ve now lost four of their last five and don’t look like they’re going to dominate the Big Sky like we thought they would a week ago.
-We need to keep an eye on New Mexico. They beat a fairly decent Wyoming team rather handily 78-58 to improve to a solid 11-3 overall.
-Hawaii played what will likely be their toughest remaining game of the season yesterday and fell at UC San Diego 83-73. I still think they can win the Big West, but unless they run the table I don’t think they can get inside the bubble. They really needed a road win like this on their profile for that to happen.
-Duke, Houston, and BYU all had battles on the road, but all managed to pull out wins.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-CREIGHTON AT SETON HALL (Big East). Seton Hall has been one of the biggest surprises of the year up to this point. Creighton has been one of the biggest busts of the year up to this point. Having said that, things may be changing. Creighton has now won four straight, including three straight Big East games, and is looking noticeably better. If they can get this one on the road then it’s big for their resume and a sign that they are turning things around.
-SEATTLE AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). After nearly knocking off Gonzaga, Seattle has another chance to add a big win to their resume, which is something they are going to need in order to land inside the bubble. Saint Mary’s has won five straight and has knocked off some decent teams during that stretch. They will likely be tested again tonight even though they are at home.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Marquette @ Connecticut (Big East) – if this weren’t a conference game we’d be dismissing it as a buy game
-Jacksonville State @ Liberty (Conference USA) – Liberty may still have a remote shot at landing inside the bubble, but they’ll pretty much need to win out in order to do it
-Tulsa @ North Texas (American) – Tulsa is good enough to land inside the bubble, but this is perhaps one of Tulsa’s most challenging remaining games. North Texas is 5-1 at home and is one of the better teams in the American
-Bradley @ Murray State (Missouri Valley) – a win for Murray State gets them to 13-3 overall on the year and a solid 5-0 in MVC play
-Southern Illinois @ Belmont (Missouri Valley) – Belmont can land inside the bubble, but they pretty much need to win out in order to do it. They should be able to hold serve at home in this one
-San Diego @ Santa Clara (West Coast) – Santa Clara needs to hold serve and pick up some notable wins against either Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga in order to land inside the bubble
-Washington @ Indiana (Big Ten) – Neither team is inside the bubble. Both need to start stringing together wins in order to get there, and both could really use this win tonight
-LMU @ Gonzaga (West Coast) – The Zags got a scare the other night from Seattle. They should be able to hold serve tonight and remain in the hunt for a protected seed.
