NEWS AND NOTES:
-Michigan continues to blow good teams completely out of the gym. By midway through the first half last they had complete control of Villanova and the rest of the game wasn’t even worth watching. The final score was 89-61.
-Clemson v BYU in the Jimmy V Classic was just an amazing game! Clemson scored the last 20+ points of the first half and appeared to be on cruise control. Then BYU came back, tied it, and got the lead late. It was then Clemson that scored on three key possessions late in the game to tie it and appeared to be sending it to OT before BYU hit a shot at the buzzer to win 67-64. WOW!! For Clemson, it was a missed opportunity to pick up what would have been their biggest win of the year so far. BYU is a possible protected seed and to beat them on a neutral floor would have give the Tigers a lot of weight.
-UConn and Florida was also a tight game in the second half of the Jimmy V Classic with UConn holding on for a 77-73 win. This is yet another big win on the season for the Huskies. Florida falls to a modest 5-4, but they’ve played a tough schedule, they appear to be getting better, and by the end of the year their resume and team will both likely to be solid.
-Illinois got a solid win on the road against a pretty formidable Ohio State team 88-80. The Illini are now 8-2 on the year with a solid conference road win. That’s pretty good!
-McNeese, after suffering a surprising loss to Incarnate Word last week, got a big road win at Rhode Island yesterday 66-64. It was Rhody’s first home loss of the year and they were a team that was at least showing signs of being able to make a run at the bubble. I think McNeese, at leaston the court, is a top 40 team in the country. The question is will their resume indicate that at the end of the year? The committee only seems to care what’s on a team’s resume, and oftentimes an Under the Radar team is much better than their resume indicates because of the opportunities (or lack thereof) that they had during the season, or because they had one or two bad games like what McNeese had against Incarnate Word and were just never able to offset it.
-Buffalo handed UMBC their first home loss and has improved to 9-1 on the year. It was an exciting 83-79 game where Buffalo was actually behind for a lot of it. The Bulls have started to play tougher opponents, and they still keep winning.
-Howard knocked off NC A&T 73-69 at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night. This is the second win of the year at Cameron for Howard!! There are top level teams in the ACC that don’t have two wins at Cameron over the last five years!! Howard has done it within a span of a couple weeks!!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-NEW MEXICO AT VCU. Both teams have the potential to be good this year, but neither team has anything on their resume yet that would jump out at the committee. Both teams could really use this one. New Mexico has yet to win a road game and while VCU does have a decent win against Virginia Tech, that’s all they’ve got at this point.
-LIBERTY AT NC STATE. LIberty is a solid 6-2, but even with that solid record they’ve been a little more disappointing than what we were expecting. Before the season started this was the game we had circled as their chance to really make a statement. While NC State has also landed a little below expectations so far, the key part of that is “so far.” It’s still a team with a high ceiling that’s likely to win a lot of games, and getting a win on their floor will go a long way for Liberty if they’re able to pull it off.
-WISCONSIN AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). This is a big game for several reasons. Nebraska is still perfect on the season, but they yet haven’t faced any teams that clearly look like tournament teams. Wisconsin has gone into a tailspin and needs to pull themselves out of it and a conference road win like this would be a good way to do that.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Miami OH @ UNC Asheville – Miami’s schedule has been week and this is probably their toughest test of the year so far. A win keeps them perfect on the season
-Minnesota @ Purdue (Big Ten) – The Boilers are looking to bounce back after being beaten soundly in their last game.
-Western Kentucky @ Marshall – this is a good WKU team. This would be a solid road win for them and get them to 7-2 on the year
-UT Martin @ Southern Illinois – UT Martin is having a solid year at 7-2 and can pick up their 3rd true road win tonight. It won’t be easy. Southern Illinois is definitely formidable and they’re perfect at home so far
-Duquesne @ Boise State – Boise has been playing much better and they need to hold serve in this one
BUY GAMES:
-Norfolk State @ Baylor – Norfolk is probably the best team in the MEAC, but they’re way overmatched today
-UAlbany @ Yale
-Idaho @ Notre Dame
-Colgate @ Saint Bonaventure
-Delaware @ George Washington
-Jackson State @ Houston
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Tulsa
-Lamar @ San Diego State
-Hawaii Hilo (nonD1) @ Hawaii
