NEWS AND NOTES:
For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-I’m posting the previews for the next two days due to a court date, I mean TIME COMMITMENT, that I have tomorrow morning that will prevent me from reviewing the games on New Years Day. As for the games on New Years Eve…
-West Virginia pulled off the shock of the day, and perhaps one of the biggest shocks of the season, when they went into Kansas and picked up a massive road win. The Mountaineers, who had no expectations at all coming into the season, are now 10-2 on the year with wins over Gonzaga and at Kansas. That’s pretty damn good! They had a lead from pretty much tip to buzzer, and while Kansas came back and nearly won, WVU held on 62-61.
-UCF won their conference opener at Texas Tech 87-83, which is their first road win of the season and it gives their resume a solid boost as they improve to 10-2 on the year with some pretty good wins.
-Saint Bonaventure and VCU seesawed back and forth, but the Bonnies pulled it out 77-75 to improve to 13-1 on the year. While Saint Bonaventure’s record is outstanding, their overall schedule is not. They still have a very small margin for error if they want to finish inside the bubble.
-BYU blasted Arizona State 76-56. It’s not shocking that BYU won, especially since they were at home, but to win by that margin was a bit of a surprise. We haven’t talked much about the Cougars, but they are now 10-2 on the year and perhaps we better start talking about them a little more.
-UAB has blown some really big leads this year. Yesterday against North Texas they were up 17 at the half, and North Texas came back to win 78-75 after a crazy last second shot. No second half lead is safe for UAB!! You may recall they blew a 27pt lead earlier this season.
-Creighton edged out Saint John’s 57-56 in their conference opener, which was a win the Bluejays desperately needed. They seemed to be going down a bit of a spiral, and while they’re still dealing with injuries this will hopefully help stabilize them some. As for Saint John’s, it was their third loss of the year, and their second by a single point. The other loss was by just 3pts, so they are literally just a couple of baskets away from being a consensus top ten team. They may be more dangerous on the court than what their record indicates.
-Providence may have made a tactical mistake by jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead against a Top-10 Marquette team at home. They made the Golden Eagles really angry; Marquette responded with a 21-0 en route to a 47-20 halftime lead and a 28-point win.
-Xavier “only” had a 16-0 run after Seton Hall scored the first five points of that game at the Cintas Center. The Musketeers got a badly needed blowout win at home after a brutal 3-game stretch with 3 close losses. The other silver lining is that Zach Freemantle is back to practicing for Xavier; however they still have a steep hill to climb to get back into any relevant postseason discussion.
-Wake Forest is another team that has disappointed in the 2024 portion of their schedule, but they got somewhat back on track with a road win at Syracuse. They did blow a double-digit lead during the game, but the Deacons never panicked and were able to win comfortably at the JMA Dome.
-Dayton had to shake off a little rust at home against La Salle, but the Flyers eventually broke the game open in the 2nd half en route to a 14-point win.
-Rhode Island looked like they would be a strong A-10 contender after a blowout win against Charleston and a win against archrival Providence. Now they just have a bloated record after a double-digit loss at Duquesne. The Dukes have suddenly become a spoiler days after knocking off UC-Irvine at home.
-Utah State is now 13-1 with another impressive win as they knocked off Nevada on the road 69-64 in a game that was close all throughout.
-Last but not least, Boise State’s game at Wyoming was going on at the same time as the Fiesta Bowl. I don’t know if they ever asked the MWC to move the start time to avoid the conflict, but…whatever. The Broncos needed a road win, and got one 67-58. They did pull through, but THE FIESTA BOWL SHOULD HAVE BEEN RESCHEDULED TO ACCOMMODATE THIS BASKETBALL GAME!!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES – WEDNESDAY, JAN 1ST:
-FURMAN AT WESTERN CAROLINA (SoCon). A win for Furman gets ts them to 13-1 on the season. They are perhaps positioned to make a run at the bubble if they can blow through the SoCon.
-UCONN AT DEPAUL (Big East). DePaul is much improved, but they still don’t look like they’ll finish anywhere close to the bubble. UConn isn’t as good as they have been the last two years and isn’t likely to 3-peat, but they still look like a solid protected seed.
-CALIFORNIA AT PITT (ACC). Pitt should be able to hold serve in this one. They need to win their home games against non-tournament caliber teams.
-DRAKE AT UIC (Missouri Valley). A win for Drake keeps them unbeaten and inches them a little closer to the top 25.
-STANFORD AT CLEMSON (ACC). Clemson is inside the bubble and will obviously stay there if they hold serve in this one. While Stanford has a good record and has won both their road games, their resume still needs a boost. A win in a game like this would certainly give it to them.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT LOUISVILLE (ACC). North Carolina has struggled against a tough schedule, but they are still a really tough team that should string together wins now that they’re starting ACC play (which is kind of a weird thing to say, but is the truth). They’ll be challenged on the road in this one, but it’s still one they should win.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES: WEDNESDAY, JAN 2ND:
-MEMPHIS AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC (American). Memphis has a very impressive resume from their OOC schedule and looks like they’re good enough to run through conference play and pick up a solid seed in the NCAA Tournament.
-NORTHWESTERN AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Both teams have solid records, and Northwestern has a couple of nice wins on their resume, but both teams still have work to do and both could really use this win today.
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT LIBERTY (Conference USA). Liberty is an Under the Radar team that’s good enough to land inside the bubble, but despite having a 12-1 record they still have a very small margin for error and will need to blow through CUSA to end up there. Western Kentucky is one of the more talented teams in CUSA, so the Flames will be tested in this one.
-PURDUE AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Purdue is in the rankings and most likely cruising to a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Something that Purdue does not have yet is a true road win, and this is probably one of the most winnable road games that they have remaining so it’s important that they take care of business.
-UC IRVINE AT CAL POLY (Big West). This will be a tough road test for UC Irvine, but they are good enough to get the win and keep their dreams of reaching the bubble alive.
-RUTGERS AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Rutgers has been somewhat disappointing this year and needs to start stringing together wins in order to build up their resume. The same can also be said for Indiana. Neither of these teams have lived up to their preseason expectations, and both should have a sense of urgency coming into this one.
-PORTLAND AT GONZAGA (West Coast). Gonzaga should cruise through this one.
-LOUSIANA TECH AT UTEP (Conference USA). Both are solid UTR teams and this should be a fun one to watch.
-MARYLAND AT WASHINGTON (Big Ten). Maryland has a solid resume and looks to be an NCAA Tournament caliber team, but they also don’t yet have a true road win and picking this one up in conference would be big.
-ILLINOIS AT OREGON (Big Ten). This is a great match-up between two ranked teams. Oregon is solid and looking like they could end up as a protected seed. As good as Illinois is, this one on the road is a tall order. If they were to get it, it would be their best win of the season to date.
-PEPPERDINE AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). SMC should stay within range of the bubble if they can avoid dropping games like this one the rest of the way.
-SAN FRANCISCO AT PACIFIC (West Coast). San Francisco can improve to a very respectable 13-3 with a win today, and it would also be their first true road win of the season.
-OREGON STATE AT LMU (West Coast). The Beavers are far from perfect, but they do have a solid 11-3 record and should be able to add a conference road win to that tonight.
