NEWS AND NOTES:
-The biggest story of the day was, hands down, Texas Tech’s 82-81 win at Duke. Duke led by as much as 17 in the second half. I don’t have the data on the number of times Duke has been ranked in the top five, had a 17 point second half lead, and not won the game, but I’m betting it isn’t often. Texas Tech battled back, kept it within reach, got the lead with less than 2 mins to go, and held on to win after Duke missed what would have been a game winning shot at the buzzer. The Red Raiders had no real big wins coming into yesterday. They now have one of the single most impressive wins that any team will manage this season.
-Purdue absolutely blew Auburn into the sun 88-60. It isn’t the first time Auburn has been absolutely blown out this year, and I’m starting to question just how high their ceiling actually is.
-Houston managed a solid 94-85 win over Arkansas out in New Jersey for one of their better wins of the season. I still think we will see both these teams improve as the season goes on and both will be dangerous come March.
-North Carolina got a major scare from Ohio State, but held on to win 71-70 in the CBS Sports Classic. The Buckeyes don’t have any really big wins yet, but they’ve played well and they showed yesterday that they are capable of winning big games. They will certainly have more chances to do that in Big Ten play so they’ll have the opportunities to land inside the bubble.
-In the first half of the CBS Sports Classic, Kentucky got what was easily their biggest win of the season both on and off paper as they knocked off Saint John’s 78-66. They had to come from behind to do it, but totally outplayed the Johnnies in the second half. It was sort of a surprising result, and as big of a win as it was for Kentucky it also raises questions about Saint John’s. They just haven’t looked that good this season and they haven’t managed any real notable wins yet.
-Dayton was a team that we liked, but knew had a small margin for error. It is now much much smaller. They’ll to Liberty 64-61 at home. Liberty is good, but they’re not so good that a tournament caliber team should not be expected to beat them at home.
-Utah State absolutely blew out Colorado State 100-58. Utah State has looked good all year, but they probably looked better yesterday than they’ve looked in the last several years. It was an impressive blowout win against a pretty solid Colorado State team.
-Virginia Tech needed overtime but held on to beat Elon 82-81. Elon is one of several CAA teams that can be dangerous and that should be fun to watch the rest of the year, and they nearly pulled off a rather notable upset yesterday.
-Wyoming, who I was really big on, lost at home to Grand Canyon 82-70 in a game that was sort of surprising. Wyoming had nearly beaten that same Texas Tech team that just beat Duke and really seemed to be on a roll, so to see them drop a home game to GCU was unexpected.
-Butler held off Northwestern for a 61-58 win and is now a solid 9-3 on the season and should be able to make some noise in the Big East.
-Santa Clara, who I had been touting as an at-large team, is no longer in that category. They suffered a punishing 80-78 loss to a very weak Loyola Chicago team and that his just going to anchor down their NCAA Tournament resume. It was essentially a home buy game. Or at least it should have been.
-Stanford picked up a real solid 77-68 win over Colorado in Phoenix to improve to 10-2 on the year. They are much better than expected, they beat a pretty good team yesterday, and it will be fun to see what they can do in the ACC.
-Boise State could have really used a road win at Nevada yesterday, and didn’t get it. They fell 81-66 in their conference opener.
-Xavier continues to be up and down this season. After being annihilated in their previous game, they bounced back and got a big 80-77 road win against a fairly decent Georgetown team. It looked like Georgetown may be good enough to land inside the bubble, but not being able to hold serve in games like this will make it tough for them to get there.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-VANDERBILT AT WAKE FOREST. Vandy looks to remain unbeaten on the year and Wake is still looking for a signature win. Wake lost to both Michigan and Texas Tech by a single point, so they are capable of playing at a high level, but have yet to pick up a high level win that makes their resume pop. This would easily be their biggest win of the year so far if they’re able to pull it off.
-OLE MISS AT NC STATE. Neither team has been quite as good as expected so far. Both need to build up their resumes and both could really use this win today.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Pittsburgh @ Penn State – Penn State is having a solid season and should be able to hold serve in this one to improve to 9-3
-Quinnipiac @ Hofstra – neither team is likely to land anywhere near the bubble, but it’s two really solid UTR teams and it should be a fun matchup
-Oregon State @ Arizona State – Arizona State looks like they’re good enough to make a run at the bubble and should be able to hold serve at home in this one
-Cincinnati @ Clemson – Cincinnati has struggled this year and looks like a sub-level NIT team. Clemson looks like a solid tournament team and this is the kind of game they should be expected to hold serve in and win
-Connecticut @ DePaul (Big East) – This should be a very winnable conference road game for UConn
-Indiana State @ Illinois State (Missouri Valley) – Illinois State is looking a ton better after a somewhat sluggish start. They can improve to 10-3 overall with a win today
-Columbia @ California – this is a surprisingly fun one. Columbia is off to a great 9-2 start, but they haven’t won a game as big as this. Cal is one of the bigger surprises of the season so far and can improve to 12-1 if they can hold serve in this one
-Oregon @ Gonzaga – Oregon has struggled with injuries and don’t appear to be much of a match for a top ten level team like Gonzaga
BUY GAMES:
-Colgate @ Florida
-Southern @ Baylor
-Kennesaw State vs Alabama (Huntsville AL) – Kennesaw is good but is likely way overmatched
-Loyola MD @ George Mason
-Central Arkansas @ SMU
-PFW @ Notre Dame
-Cal State Fullerton @ Oklahoma State
-Gardner Webb @ Tennessee
-New Hampshire @ Saint Louis
-La Salle @ Michigan
-UC Santa Cruz (nonD1) @ USC
-East Texas A&M @ Texas A&M
-Florida A&M @ TCU
-North Florida @ Miami FL
-Long Beach State @ Iowa State
-North Dakota @ Nebraska
