NEWS, NOTES, AND LINKS:
-For our most updated SURVIVAL BOARD – CLICK HERE
-For our CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS tab, with all the brackets, sites, and tip times – CLICK HERE
-Michigan State keeps stringing together wins. They beat a really good Wisconsin team yesterday 71-62, they’re looking like the best team in the Big Ten, and will likely ended up as high as a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The loss barely even qualifies as a setback for Wisky. They’re still well within the protected seed range.
-Illinois, who had not looked good in the last few weeks or so, looked pretty good yesterday! They blew Michigan off of their own floor 93-73 and probably exercised a lot of frustrations during that game. Michigan had been playing with fire by cutting it close in so many games and barely escaping with a win. Well, they didn’t cut it close yesterday. They just got run over.
-Memphis picked up a nice road win at UAB 88-81. I hope the committee gives them some credit for this. UAB is nowhere near the bubble, but they had been playing well down the stretch and beating them on their home floor wasn’t easy.
-Drake needed overtime to get by Missouri State on their home floor, and while they won it was the second straight game where they struggled against a very weak team. Some say this would have been a quad 5 loss. But, they did hold serve, they did get the win, and I think Drake should be inside the bubble and in the field even if they lose in the Missouri Valley Tournament.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-WAKE FOREST AT DUKE (ACC). Duke is cruising to a #1 seed and should be able to hold serve at home in this one. Wake Forest is outside the bubble, but they are close enough to it to where picking up a colossal level win such as this could put them inside of it. Easier said than done, though. Winning at Duke is…well…kinda hard to do.
-KANSAS AT HOUSTON (Big 12). Kansas has struggled in true road games for most of the season and struggled in big games recently. Well, this is a chance to correct both of those issues in a very big way!! It’s much easier said than done, though. Houston appears to be on pace for a #1 seed and is as good as anyone in the country right now and winning at Houston is…well…kinda hard to do.
-UCLA AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). UCLA is solidly in the top half of the bracket and depending on how they finish and how well they do in the Big Ten Tournament they may still have a shot at a protected seed.
UTR WATCH:
-McNeese @ Stephen F Austin (Southland) – McNeese has wrapped up the Southland title and is just biding their time until the conference tournament starts.
-BIG SKY – Montana and Northern Colorado are deadlocked for 1st place and both are in action tonight
