NEWS AND NOTES:
So even by ‘Saturday Standards’ yesterday was a pretty busy day. So, grab a cup of coffee because this is a bit long…
-Alabama, who had been blowing people’s doors off on the road, got their own doors blown off at Oklahoma yesterday. The final score was 93-69, and that probably understates just how much the Sooners dominated this game. It probably won’t knock Alabama off the #1 line, but to have three losses now, one of which was to a bubblish type of team, makes it hard for me to continue to argue (at least for now) that they are the top overall #1 seed.
-Houston, another team that has been flirting with the #1 line all year long, had a scare at home to a Cincinnati team that’s an NIT team at best, but held on to win 75-69 in a game that came down to the last couple of possessions.
-Tennessee had one of their more impressive showings of the year as they beat Texas 82-71. I don’t want to call this a blowout, but at no point in the game were the Vols ever not in control.
-Kansas has looked like a #1 seed for most of the year despite coming into yesterday’s game at Kentucky with three straight losses. Kentucky had been playing much better, and looked like a team that belonged somewhere between the 7 and 10 lines. And I’d say that’s exactly what it looked like yesterday. Kansas looked like a #1 seed that picked up a solid 77-68 road win against a Kentucky team that’s in the 7-10 range.
-TCU had been on an absolute rampage and who was actually considered for a #1 seed in our last Hoops HD Bracket Rundown (well, OK, I had them on my personal #1 line and everyone told me I was nuts). They did not look like it yesterday. Not at all. They lost 81-74 (albeit in overtime) to a Mississippi State team that was looking like they needed to hold serve just to make the NIT.
-Iowa State had been destroying the planet! They went on the road to face a Missouri team that looked like they could end up in the NCAA Tournament, but only because the rules say you have to take 68 teams. Mizzou absolutely blew away the Cyclones (bad pun not intended) 78-61. It was a surprising result to say the least.
-Xavier went on the road to face a Creighton team that has some work to do in regards to safely making the field, but who did a lot of work yesterday. Creighton won rather handily 84-67 and has now won 7 of their last 9 after going through a rather deep slump back in December.
-West Virginia got a huge win that they really needed 80-77 over Auburn. WVU is clinging to the bubble by their fingernails and every game that they play for the rest of the way will have a pivotal feel to it.
-Arkansas, who has not won on the road all season and who desperately needs to do so before the year ends, went into Baylor yesterday and played what was perhaps one of their best games of the season, but still came up just short against a very good Bears team 67-64. Still, if Arkansas can play at that level the rest of the season, they’ll get the road wins they need before March.
-We all thought Charleston’s game against Hofstra yesterday was their toughest remaining game of the season, but still thought they would win it. Well…they didn’t. They fell 85-81 for what was just their second loss of the season. The thing with Charleston is that the rest of their schedule is so weak that another loss will likely knock them outside the bubble. But if they win out, I think they will get selected even if they don’t win the Colonial Tournament.
-Pittsburgh is another team that’s been flirting with the bubble, and they picked up a huge 71-68 win at home against a very good Miami FL team yesterday. The Canes are now just 3-4 in their last 7 games, but they’ve still got a strong resume and should still go in on the first ballot. If they get things turned around they could even still end up as a protected seed.
-Saint Mary’s, who has been dominating the West Coast Conference, got a big scare on the road yesterday against BYU, but barely held on for a 57-56 win after a missed BYU shot at the buzzer.
-NC State, who I had been beating up on for a lack of quality wins and a lack of road wins, managed to improve in both of those categories yesterday as they beat a very solid Wake Forest team 79-77. This is a huge win for NC State given how well Wake has played at home this year.
-Duke, who had also been pitiful on the road all season, went in to Georgia Tech and blew them out yesterday 86-43. Now I can no longer criticize Duke for having just one very lucky road win which came at Boston College.
-Illinois picked up a big road win at Wisconsin yesterday 61-51. This will help bolster the value of Illinois’s resume, and it will continue to sink Wisconsin further down into the quicksand. Wisky has now lost six of their last seven and has fallen to just 12-8 on the year after looking like a potential protected seed just a few weeks ago.
-VCU, who was the one team out of the Atlantic Ten that was starting to look like they might belong inside the bubble, and who might be able to get there if they continued to blow through the schedule, lost at home to Saint Bonaventure last night 61-58. This is a damaging loss. When a team is on the bubble, losing to a team that’s nowhere near the NIT is not good. Losing to that team at home is worse. Losing to that team at home with no remaining games against anyone who is inside the bubble that would allow you to make up for the loss is worse still. VCU should (and likely will) get very seriously looked at if they win out, but even that might not be enough to get them selected without winning the Atlantic Ten Tournament.
-Utah, who keeps flirting with the bubble, also keeps missing chances to help get them inside of it. They fell on the road at Oregon yesterday 68-56. I know it’s not easy to win at Oregon, but it’s not easy to make the NCAA Tournament either. Doing so requires winning games that are hard to win.
-Nevada, who had been right on our bubble, will in all likelihood be outside of it now. They lost on the road to their rivals UNLV 68-62. I know it’ snot easy to win at UNLV, but it’s not easy to make the NCAA Tournament either. Doing so requires winning games that are hard to win.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-PROVIDENCE AT VILLANOVA (Big East). Providence is solidly in on the first ballot and is just playing to maintain/improve their seed. Adding another road win to their resume would certainly help.
-MICHIGAN AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Penn State is squarely on our bubble, and needs to hold serve in games like this. Michigan has played well a few times, but has not played well most of the time.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT PURDUE (Big Ten). When these two teams met about two weeks ago it was a classic! It was so good, that it seems like no one wanted the game to end, and the last minute of overtime took over 20 minutes to play. Purdue won a 64-63 thriller, and is now back at home for the rematch. Michigan State appears to be far enough inside the bubble to where they’ll be safe so long as they hold serve, but if they could somehow win a game like this today the value of their resume would skyrocket.
-IOWA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Both teams are being projected rather safely into our field, but both could give their resume a nice boost today if they were able to pick up this win, especially Iowa who has been a little more schizophrenic than Rutgers has this year. Some of their wins are great, and some of their losses are headscratchers, and they are just 12-8 on the year so padding the record some should help them out as well.
MEMPHIS AT TULSA (American). We have Memphis just inside our bubble, and Jon Teitel had them on his #10 line today (CLICK HERE to view). They definitely have a path to making the NCAA Tournament, but their margin for error is small and they absolutely need to hold serve in games like this.
