NEWS AND NOTES:
-Michigan, who a week ago I had said was playing better than perhaps any team had since the UNLV teams from the early 1990s, was upset at home yesterday by a Wisconsin team that prior to that hadn’t looked like they were good enough to land anywhere near the bubble. The Badgers pulled off a season defining, and perhaps a season saving, 91-88 win in Ann Arbor.
-Everyone else in the top ten held serve, although several were challenged. Arizona got a nice road win at TCU, Iowa State held off a tough Oklahoma State team, Purdue got a battle from Penn State but held on to win, Duke held off a really good SMU team, Houston went on the road and blew out Baylor, BYU had to sweat out rival Utah but managed to pull it out, Nebraska had to come from behind late to win at Indiana, and Vanderbilt held off LSU.
-Texas, who was another team that didn’t appear to be anywhere close to the bubble, got a huge road win at Alabama yesterday 92-88 to breathe a lot of life back into their season. The Longhorns still have a lot of work to do, but this was a huge step forward.
-Texas Tech got an absolute battle from Colorado on the road and almost blew what appeared to be a safe lead in the second half, but held on 73-71 to pick up another road win.
-Auburn, who had undergone several frustrating losses, worked a lot of those frustrations out yesterday as they absolutely blew Arkansas out of the gym 95-73. It was a home win, but it was still perhaps the most impressive Auburn has looked all season.
-Florida, who had also experienced a few frustrating losses, absolutely blew out Tennessee 91-67. Tennessee has still not won a true road game and that it something that is causing their resume to sag a little bit.
-Kansas hadn’t looked quite as good as they normally do, but they still looked pretty good prior to yesterday, so it was a bit surprising to see a West Virginia team that for the most part had not looked good at all at any point beat them rather handily 86-75. West Virginia still has a lot of work to do, but they’re now suddenly 11-5 and 2-1 in Big 12 play.
-George Mason held off a good VCU team 86-81 to improve to 16-1 on the year. Despite their bloated record their margin for error is very small given how weak their schedule is.
-Saint John’s went on the road and absolutely blasted Creighton 90-73. You figured that sooner or later the Johnnies would kick it into gear despite the somewhat slow start. Yesterday may have been the best they’ve looked all season.
-Tulsa will win a lot of games, but one of the games they better win is that American Conference Championship game. They lost at home to South Florida 93-78 in a game where they did not look anything like a top 40 team that belongs inside the bubble. I think they American is now getting just one team in.
-Texas A&M did not get off to the best of starts this season, but they are really playing well now. They beat Oklahoma 83-76 yesterday and are now unbeaten in SEC play and 13-3 on the year.
-Virginia Tech held off California 78-75 in a game between two teams that are fighting for spots inside the bubble. It would have been a huge resume-boosting win for Cal had they been able to pull it off.
In some Under the Radar notes:
-Yale, who I thought was the top UTR team, did not look anything like it yesterday as they were beaten rather handily by a very subpar Princeton team 73-60.
-Columbia, who was another Ivy League team we were excited out after their OOC season, lost at home to Harvard 79-54 rounding out a couple of blowout upsets in the Ivy.
-Belmont overcame a 25pt deficit in about 9 minutes of play at Drake to cut the lead down to 1 and then pulled off a tough come from behind win on the road 78-76 to keep their bubble hopes barely flickering.
-The Citadel ended a lengthy D1 losing streak with a 79-77 overtime win against Western Carolina
-High Point needed overtime, but was able to pull out the 84-82 win at Charleston Southern, which was perhaps their toughest remaining regular season game.
-Arkansas Pine Bluff won on the road at Texas Southern to improve to 3-0 in SWAC play, which is perhaps one of the biggest surprisng start to conference play in any of the 32 conferences.
-UC San Diego pulled off a 69-66 road win at UC Riverside after trailing for most of the game.
-And to close things out after 2am last night, UC Irvine hit a go-ahead shot with 5 seconds to play at Hawaii in a game that was close all throughout, only to see Hawaii hit a game winning shot that just beat the buzzer for a massive 67-66 win, which was the first Big West lost for the Eaters.
.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-ILLINOIS AT IOWA (Big Ten). Iowa is coming off a road loss to Minnesota, which isn’t good. Their resume really needs some work and winning today is something that would really help. Illinois is having a solid season and can add another solid win to their resume if they’re able to pull this off.
-OHIO STATE AT WASHINGTON (Big Ten). Both teams are on the outside looking in and both need to start stringing together wins.
-Wright State @ Oakland (Horizon League) – these appear to be the two best teams in the conference. Strangely enough this is the second conference game the two have played against each other with Wright State winning the first one, and will likely have a huge impact on who ends up finishing first.
-Cincinnati @ UCF (Big 12) – UCF should be able to bounce back after their loss to Oklahoma State earlier in the week
