NEWS AND NOTES:
-Top ranked Arizona continues to do what top ranked teams do, and that’s beat good teams on the road. They went into UCF and picked up another notable road win 84-77. UCF is still solidly inside the bubble and it wouldn’t shock me to see them pick up some more big wins before it’s all over.
-Iowa State, who was ranked 2nd (and I guess still is) lost their second straight game on Saturday, and this one was far more surprising than the first. They went on the road to Cincinnati and lost 79-70 to a Bearcats team that had looked totally anemic all season long. This will be a bad loss by #1 seed standards as Cincinnati still doesn’t look like they’ll end up anywhere near the field.
-UConn had to sweat at Georgetown, but escaped 64-62 and avoided a loss that would have likely been even more surprising than Iowa State’s loss to Cincinnati.
-Purdue also got a scare as they went on the road to USC and the Trojans were right in it until the very end, but the Boilers escaped 69-64 to improve to 17-1 on the year.
-Florida stumbled out of the starting gate back in November, and they didn’t get up to speed right away after stumbling, but they are on an absolute rampage right now. They picked up a huge 98-94 win at Vanderbilt and are playing better than anyone else in the SEC right now. They’ve won eight of their last nine and have beaten Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt in their last four games.
-Texas Tech got a nice 84-71 home win over BYU and continues to improve as the season goes along. I think they’ll be right in the mix with Houston and Arizona in the Big 12 by the end of the year.
-North Carolina lost their second straight game as they fell at California 84-78. Cal actually had a commanding lead for most of the game. UNC still has just one true road win on the season.
-Virginia’s winning streak continues as they went on the road and knocked off a pretty good SMU team 72-68. The Hoos are now 16-2 overall on the year.
-Georgia bounced back from their surprise loss to Ole Miss earlier in the week and knocked off Arkansas 90-76. Arkansas is now just 1-3 in true road games and will need a few more to really solidify their profile.
-Utah State had a somewhat surprising loss at Grand Canyon 84-74. It was a tough road game, but if Utah State really is a top 25 team they need to be able to win games like this. The Aggies are still very safely inside the bubble, but this was a bit of a setback.
-Kentucky picked up their second straight road win as they went into Tennessee and won 80-78. Like their game against LSU, they did not look good early, and fell behind by double digits in the first half, and trailed by double digits in the second half, and trailed for pretty much the entire game, but made some big plays down the stretch and got the big win. A shoving match broke out right as the game was ending, but nothing serious happened and Kentucky is looking much better than they were a week ago.
-Miami OH is still unbeaten after their win against Buffalo, but BARELY! They were behind for most of the second half and had to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer (after coming up empty on several possessions prior) to get the game to overtime. They hit another 3-pointer as time was expiring in OT to escape with a 105-102. I think Miami will get into the polls on Monday.
-Saint Mary’s, who had been on a roll, fell on the road at Santa Clara 62-54. This is a bit of setback, but not a huge one. Winning at Santa Clara would have done more to help SMC than the loss will do to hurt them. Santa Clara still has an outside shot of landing inside the bubble, but they pretty much need to win out in order to do it.
-Seton Hall, who was having a great year and nearly upset UConn earlier in the week, fell at home to Butler 77-66 in a game that was a bit of a surprise. This is one where we were expecting The Hall to hold serve.
-New Mexico fell at San Diego State 83-79 in what was a huge game for both teams. For New Mexico it was a chance to pick up a big road win and build up their resume, for San Diego State, it was also a chance to add a notable win to their profile and increase their win streak to seven games.
-NC State fell at home to Georgia Tech 78-74. I’m about ready to declare NC State unfit for postseason play.
-I was really big on Hofstra coming into this week and was surprirsed when they fell at Stony Brook a few days ago. I was equally surpised when they lost at home to Elon today 89-85. Hofstra is capable of playing really well and will win a lot of games, but one of them better be that CAA Championship game.
-Saint John’s is getting better and better as the season goes on and they picked up a really tough road win at Villanova as they held off the Wildcats 86-79. The Johnnies have now won six of their last seven.
-UCLA lost at Ohio State 86-74, which is a huge setback for a team that could have really used a road win like this. I’m about ready to declare UCLA unfit for postseason play.
-TCU is continuing to sputter. On January 6th they had a 9pt lead at Kansas with 75 seconds to play and lost the game. They have not won since and yesterday they fell to a very average Utah team 82-79. Im about ready to declare TCU unfit for postseason play.
-Iowa got a big road win at Indiana 74-57, which finally puts some meat on their resume. They still have work to do, but this was a really big win for the Hawkeyes and one they really needed.
-Syracuse, who we were sort of keeping our eyes on, went on the road and lost to Boston College 81-73. I’m about to declare that Syracuse be out right DISQUALIFIED from postseason play!!
-After two straight big wins, Texas could not knock off their rivals Texas A&M and fell at home 74-70. This was a big road win for TAMU and will help move them up the seedlist.
-UC Irvine fell on the road at UC Davis 75-72 in a game we were expecting them to win. The team they are chasing Hawaii, also fell on the road. They were absolutely blown out at UC Santa Barbara 77-62 in a game that was even more lopsided than the final score indicated.
-Lipscomb got a big home win against Austin Peay in a hard fought 82-78 game. The two teams are now tied atop the ASun standings.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-Wichita State @ South Florida (American) – USF now looks like the best team in the American, and may be good enough to blow through the league and end up near the bubble
-Oakland @ Green Bay (Horizon League) – these are two of the better teams in the HL, and both need this win if they want to keep pace with Wright State
-Tulsa @ UAB (American) – this is potentially a tough road test for Tulsa and they need it to keep pace with South Florida
-Arizona State @ Houston (Big 12) – Houston should be able to hold serve in this one
