NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-I’m starting to come around to the idea that UConn may be a half way decent team this year. They absolutely blew Marquette off the floor yesterday 81-53, and let’s make sure we all understand something. This is an OUTSTANDING Marquette team! UConn has now won 14 straight games, and has SIX quad 1 wins!! Oh…excuse me. They actually NINE quad 1 wins. What I meant to say was that six of those quad 1 wins were by double digits.
-A week ago everyone was piling on Kentucky, and understandably so. They had lost three straight at home, their defense looked awful, and they appeared to be sliding down the seedlist. Well, whatever was wrong with them has been fixed. They picked up their most impressive win of the year (and maybe their most impressive win in several years) yesterday as they knocked off Auburn 70-59. This was an Auburn team that was unbeaten at home, and wasn’t just beating top 25 teams on their home court, but blowing them out. Kentucky came in to a very hostile environment, and after struggling defensively all year absolutely shut Auburn down. It was a great win for Kentucky, and perhaps one of the best singular wins that any team has managed this season.
-Houston blew out Texas 82-61 to show that they clearly belong on the #1 line. Let’s hope this isn’t the last time these two teams play for the next thirty years.
-Kansas, who I have been beating up on all year for not winning on the road, got a big road win at Oklahoma yesterday 67-57. I’ve also been beating up on Oklahoma if you watched the last Bracket Rundown podcast, but I’ll save that for later. Kansas got a huge road win, and I think it strenghtens their resume. I can now live with them getting a #2 seed (although the win came AFTER the committee had given them a 2 seed, but I digress).
-South Carolina followed up their blowout loss at Auburn with perhaps a far more damaging loss on paper as they fell at home to LSU 64-63. South Carolina had a lead for much of the game, but couldn’t put LSU away, and they had a shot at the buzzer that would have won the game, but it didn’t go down.
-BYU, who has been in the rankings but who we have been questioning, showed us yesterday that they are a team that we absolutely need to continue to question. They lost on the road 93-83 team to an Oklahoma State team that’s just…well…not good. BYU’s road record is becoming more and more of an issue.
-Wisconsin’s tailspin continues as they lost yet another game. They’ve now lost five of their last six, and four of those have come to teams that are nowhere near the NCAA Tournament. Yesterday’s 88-86 loss was on the road, and it was in overtime, but it was also to IOWA!! That’s not good!
-Virginia held off Wake Forest 49-47. And, yes, that is the final score. They didn’t decide to just quit at halftime. It was an ugly win, but it was a win, and Virginia continues to string them together and strengthen their resume. Speaking of doing the complete opposite of strengthening your resume…
-Indiana State has now lost two straight, and this may be too much to overcome. After building up a 22-3 record with some pretty good wins and cracking the rankings for the first time in over four decades, the Trees have now lost two straight, and while Southern Illinois is not the easiest place to go and win, it’s absolutely the type of road game that a team that’s inside the bubble needs to hold serve in. Indiana State is still good, and still potentially dangerous in the Round of 64, but it may be that they’ll need to win the MVC Tournament in order to get to the Round of 64.
-I’m starting to warm up to this TCU team. Something that they’re able to do is win on the road. They won against Kansas State at the Octagon yesterday 75-72 for their fifth true road win of the year.
-Samford was a team we were sort of campaigning for to get inside the bubble. Well, their 88-84 loss to Mercer yesterday is going to make that a lot harder to do. As good as Samford is, they may need to win the SoCon Tournament to insure themselves a spot in the NCAAs.
-Colorado State absolutely blew out Utah State yesterday 75-55. We’ve seen so many good games in the Mountain West this year!! Well, this was not one of them. Having said that, Utah State is still in excellent shape. At the end of the day a road loss to Colorado State, even if it’s a blowout, isn’t going to set them back too badly.
-Our Hoops HD mock committee, despite being a MOCK committee that makes no attempt at all to guess or match the actual committee, still ended up with 15 of the same top 16 teams, and I think 13 that were seeded correctly. The one team that we had as a protected seed that the real committee didn’t was Clemson. Well, Clemson lost AT HOME to NC State yesterday 78-77. I think it’s safe to say that we will not have Clemson as a protected seed in our next mock bracket.
-Colorado desperately needs more road wins, and yesterday they got one! Barely. Against a very bad team. They needed two overtimes to knock off USC, but they got it done 92-89. It’s just their second true road win of the season, and even though it only came against USC it could make a big difference as to whether or not they get in the field.
-Nevada got a scare from rival UNLV, but they did hold on to pick up the 69-66 road win. This is a win that Nevada should get a decent amount of credit for. It was on the road, and while UNLV hasn’t had a good season overall, they had been playing well lately with five straight wins coming. into last night’s matchup.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American). Florida Atlantic, by far, has the best tournament resume in the AAC. They are rather schizophrenic, and they do tend to play either up or down to their opponents. Today, I think they’re going to need to play up. South Florida is the first place team in the AAC, and while they didn’t get the big OOC wins, I think they’re the team that looks the best on the court right now. I think they have a shot at winning today, and then winning the auto-bid four weeks from now. (Note from Stalica – if South Florida wins today, they will tie their school record of 12 conference wins in a season. Even without a win today, there is an excellent chance they’ll shatter that record this year.)
-PURDUE AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State’s first game since removing Chris Holtmann won’t be an easy one. Purdue was the #1 overall seed yesterday and should roll today.
-MURRAY STATE AT DRAKE (Missouri Valley) . Drake may now be the frontrunner in the MVC and the team that’s best positioned to land inside the bubble. They need to hold serve today and for the rest of the year.
-NORTHWESTERN AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Northwestern needs more road wins, and this is a very winnable road game. If they take care of business in this one I think it strengthens their profile because it would be their third true road win. If they lose it, I think it weakens their profile because it shows that they can’t beat Indiana on the road.
-MEMPHIS AT SMU (American). Both teams are outside the bubble, and may need to win out just to get there.
-SETON HALL AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East). Seton Hall is straddling the bubble right now and needs some more big wins between now and the end in order to get there. The Johnnies are outside the bubble and also need a strong finish, so this game has a very pivotal feel to it for both teams.
-RUTGERS AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Neither team is inside the bubble, but both teams have shown signs of life, especially Rutgers lately. They both have a path to make the field if they can finish strong.
-UTAH AT UCLA (Pac 12). I almost to think Utah shouldn’t be projected into the field at all right now, but most of the experts keep putting them in. Having said that, this would be a monster win for the Utes. They have just one true road win, and the one thing they need more than anything else between now and the end of the season is road wins. UCLA is also playing really well right now having won six in a row coming into this, so the Utes should get a lot of credit for this win if they’re able to pull it off.
