NEWS AND NOTES
-Houston was in deep trouble at home for much of their game against Baylor, but the Cougars finally kicked into gear late in the 2nd half to take control en route to a 77-64 win.
-In a classic Southwest Conference matchup, Arkansas took their frustrations from their loss at Florida out on the Texas Longhorns en route to a 20-point victory. Neither team’s position really changed on the seedlist, however.
-SMU’s at-large hopes took another body blow with a home loss to Miami. The Mustangs better find a way to win at Florida State or they will be sweating bullets next week during the ACC Tournament.
-California took care of the first leg of their road trip with a win at Georgia Tech. A win at Wake Forest would put the Bears closer to the good side of the bubble, but that will not be easy by any stretch.
-Purdue was in a free fall by protected seed standards; they trailed Northwestern on the road by 9 at halftime. The Boilers did rebound with a harder-than-expected 70-66 victory. Has a 2 or 3 seed ever looked this flimsy this late in the year?
-Indiana temporarily got back on track by avenging a loss to Minnesota from earlier in the season; they mauled the Gophers by 30 points. They still have what amounts to a play-in game against Ohio State this weekend. And speaking of the Buckeyes…
-Ohio State continues their late season push with a blowout win at Penn State. Consider this is the same place where Michigan narrowly escaped with a win and Iowa could not escape and ended up with a loss that smells bad for the Hawkeyes.
-I think we can stop talking about USC as an NCAA Tournament-worthy team. They lost at Washington and even a home win against UCLA won’t be enough to pull them out of their nosedive. They better win the B1G Tournament or else.
-Stanford is still a long shot for an at-large, but they did win at Notre Dame last night. That is something that NC State was not able to do, for example.
-Bubble teams better be cheering hard against Colorado State; the Rams are red-hot with their 8th straight win in the Mountain West and they got #8 with an 8-point win at The Pit against New Mexico. That is not what the Lobos needed as they strive for their own NCAA Tournament bid.
-UAB pulled off road perfection in the American with a win at Charlotte last night. This is one of the bizarro splits of all time; the Blazers are 9-0 on the ROAD in the American but are 1-7 at home. And if you guessed that the American tournament will be played in Birmingham, you would be correct! (thankfully for them it’s Legacy Arena, not Bartow Arena)
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MICHIGAN AT IOWA (Big Ten). Michigan is almost locked into a #1 seed and likely will lock one up with a win tonight. Iowa should be solidly in the field, but a win in a game like this could help move them up to the top half of the bracket.
-Rutgers @ Michigan State (Big Ten) – Michigan State is pretty much guaranteed a protected seed and should be able to hold serve tonight
-South Florida @ Memphis (American) – South Florida can clinch first place outright with a win, and if they can win out until the American championship game they may get a serious look for an at-large. The American has been weak this year, but South Florida is clearly the best overall team
-Howard @ Norfolk State (MEAC) – Howard is getting close to wrapping up 1st place in the MEAC
-Louisiana Tech @ Liberty (Conference USA) – since clinching 1st place Liberty seems to have taken a few weeks off. We’ll see if they can build up some momentum heading into the CUSA Tournament
-Bethune Cookman @ Florida A&M (SWAC) – this is a great rivalry and Cookman has cruised to a first place finish
-Cal Poly @ UC Irvine (Big West) – UC Irvine has had some battles this year, but despite having five overall losses I still think they’re the strongest overall team in the conference and they can stay tied for 1st place with a win tonight
-UC Riverside @ Hawaii (Big West) – Hawaii is trying to keep pace with UC Irvine
