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For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-CREIGHTON AT UCONN (Big East).  Creighton has started to string together wins, but this is a MUCH higher level win than anything they’ve managed so far.  UConn is trying to snap a tough two game losing streak of their own.

-TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12).  Oklahoma State is starting to look better, and perhaps evens starting to look like an NCAA Tournament team, but they’ve still got a lot of work to do.  A win today over a really strong Texas team would be a good start.  It would be a solid road win for Texas as well, who despite some off the court issues still look like they could end up as a protected seed.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  I’m really impressed with what Providence has done in the early part of conference play and think they’ve already indicated they can be a force in the Big East.  Their resume is currently a little bit flimsy due to a really weak OOC schedule, but if they keep going like they have been they should be able to shore it up.  Saint John’s has dropped four in a row and is falling further and further outside the bubble.

-KENTUCKY AT ALABAMA (SEC).  Kentucky has no real notable wins, and while our mock committee took them in our recent staff bracket, I would argue that as of now Kentucky doesn’t belong in the field at all.  Now, if they can win today, then they will ABSOLUTELY belong in there.  Alabama is ranked in the top 10 and at times has looked so good it makes me think they could even end up as a #1 seed if everything falls right.

-GEORGIA AT FLORIDA (SEC).  No one is really talking about Georgia, but they’re 11-3, they just beat a pretty good Auburn team, and this looks to be a winnable road game for them.   So…let’s start talking about them.

-WISCONSIN AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  Wisconsin just keeps winning games, keeps making their resume look better and better, and keeps climbing the rankings.  Illinois had a huge win against Texas back on December 6th, and has done absolutely nothing since then other than win a couple of home buy games.  This is a tall order, but Illinois is in a tailspin and they need some sort of notable win to pull themselves out of it.

-IOWA STATE AT TCU (Big 12).  Another Big 12 match-up between two top 25 teams.  We’re going to see this a lot between now and the end of the year.  TCU just picked up a really nice win at Baylor and is looking like they could end up as a protected seed.  A road win like this for Iowa State would give them a huge boost as well.

-CHARLOTTE AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC (Conference USA).  It’s past time to start talking about Florida Atlantic as a legit NCAA Tournament team that, if they keep this up, should go in on the first ballot.  They just beat a pretty good UAB team earlier in the week, and can improve to 14-1 on the year with a win today.  Charlotte won’t be a cakewalk, but FAU should be able to beat them.

-MICHIGAN AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Both teams could end up in the NCAA Tournament.  Hell, by the time the season is over both could be in the top 25, but at present day both still have a ton of work to do.  Michigan has looked good in their last two games, but both were at home.  Going on the road to face a rival is at a bit of a higher level.  Michigan State has won five straight, but every single win other than perhaps Penn State came against an objectively bad team, so this is a bigger test than what they’ve had for a while.

-CLEMSON AT PITTSBURGH (ACC).  Prior to the season started this was never a game I expected to be highlighting, but Clemson is off to a 4-0 start in ACC play with a 12-3 overall record and some pretty good wins on their resume.  Pitt is actually showing signs of life and seems to be improving as the season progresses.  They’ve had back to back home wins against North Carolina and Virginia and has a chance to pick up another big one today.

-NEVADA AT SAN JOSE STATE (Mountain West).  Nevada is another team that’s squarely on our bubble.  This will be a bit of a tough road test for them, but San Jose State has a pulse this year and it’s a win that Nevada should get some credit for if they’re able to pull it off.

-XAVIER AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  I do think Villanova is getting better, and is good enough to get the wins that they need between now and the end in order to make it into the field, but they’ve still got a lot of work to do.  A win today would be a nice start.  Xavier has looked so good that you have to wonder if they could end up as a protected seed.  A road win in a game like this would certainly help their case.

-KANSAS AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12).  This will not be an easy road game at all, but it’s still a road game that Kansas is good enough to win.  West Virginia is a solid tournament team that has some room to move up the seedlist, and a win today would enable them to do that.

-KANSAS STATE AT BAYLOR (Big 12).  More and more people are starting to believe in this Kansas State team.  After questioning their record because of their strength of schedule, their last two wins came against West Virginia and at Texas, which indicates they can do more than just beat cupcakes.  They can beat protected seeds on the road.  This is another big road test against a Baylor team who’s in the top 25, but that isn’t having quite as good a year as many were expecting and could really use a win like this to help build themselves up a little more.

-LSU AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  At 12-2 LSU is starting to make a little noise, but they need to make a little more.  A road win against a decent (but not great) TAMU team should help some.

-UTAH STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West).  Both teams are on our bubble, both need to string together wins and add some quality wins to their resume, and because of that both of them could really use this win today.  Utah State has just two losses on the year, but they don’t really have any wins that are as good as this one would be today.

-OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  Both teams are tournament caliber teams, but both have room to move up the seedlist and this is a resume building opportunity.

-NC STATE AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Similar to the previous game, both teams appear to be tournament caliber teams (NC State sure looked it the other night against Duke), but both have room to move up the seedlist, and this is a good resume building opportunity.

-ARKANSAS AT AUBURN (SEC).  While both teams are ranked, this game has a bit of a pivotal feel to it for Auburn.  They haven’t done much this year to deserve that ranking, and if they don’t win today chances are they’ll lose it.  Arkansas is coming off an exciting win against Missouri, but they’ve only played one true road game this season and they didn’t win it, so this is a test for them as well.

-UNLV AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West).  Both teams have bloated records, and while they have a few decent wins, neither team has that many and both could really use this one.  This game has the feel of two teams that are hovering around the bubble and trying to get inside of it, which is what makes this so important for both of them.

-GONZAGA AT SANTA CLARA (West Coast).  Gonzaga survived a scare the other night at San Francisco, and will be tested again tonight by a Santa Clara team that’s off to a very respectable 14-4 start and who could really get the committee’s attention if they’re able to pull off the upset tonight.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Notre Dame @ North Carolina (ACC) – UNC looks to be safely in the field, but nowhere near a protected seed at the moment.  They don’t want to drop a game at home to a non-NIT team
-Vanderbilt @ Missouri (SEC). – Should be a winnable home game for Mizzou
-Duke @ Boston College (ACC) – should be a rather easy road win for Duke, and it would be their first of the season
-East Carolina @ Memphis (American) – simply put, this is a winnable game for Memphis, and they need to win it
-Georgetown @ Marquette (Big East) – a winnable home game for Marquette
-Ole Miss @ Mississippi State (SEC) – this is a rivalry game, so you don’t want to assume anything, but Mississippi State should be able to hold serve at home in this one
-Wake Forest @ Louisville (ACC) – should be a winnable road game for a Wake team that’s hovering around our bubble right now
-Southern Miss @ UL Monroe (Sun Belt) – Southern Miss needs to bounce back from a loss to Louisiana from earlier in the week.  They can still get inside the bubble, but are running out of strikes
-Tennessee @ South Carolina (SEC) – I love how Tennessee is playing, and this should be a winnable road game for the Vols
-Kent State @ Miami OH (MAC) – I still think Kent State is good enough to run through the MAC and get inside the bubble
-San Diego State @ Wyoming (Mountain West) – San Diego State is a top 25 caliber team that for whatever reason the voters aren’t voting for right now.  This should be a rather easy road win for them.  Although, you know what they say about Wyoming!  No one gets higher!
-Washington State @ Arizona (Pac 12) – Wazzu has been playing better lately, but not so much better that I think they can stay on the court with Arizona on the road
-Syracuse @ Virginia (ACC) – it’s a team that’s below the NIT visiting a team that appears to be a solid protected seed
-Delaware @ Charleston (Colonial) –  Charleston will land inside the bubble so long as they don’t stub their toes too many times in games like this between now and the end
-Tarleton @ Sam Houston (WAC) – Sam Houston needs to blow through the rest of their schedule in order to have any shot at landing inside the bubble
-North Texas @ Middle Tennessee (Conference USA) – I think there is a chance North Texas could make a run at the bubble, but they basically need to dominate the rest of their schedule
-Oregon @ Utah (Pac 12) – Utah is inside the bubble, but could certainly stand to move a lot further inside of it.  They need to hold serve in this one today
-UAB at FIU (Conference USA) – UAB is a super talented team that could do some damage if they make the NCAA Tournament, but they may be out of strikes.  Anything short of winning out will probably mean needing the auto-bid
-Portland @ Saint Mary’s (West Coast) – in order to end up inside the bubble, SMC can’t afford to lose home games to teams that are nowhere near it

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For the latest HOOPS HD BRACKET RUNDOWN Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-So, we saw four top ten teams really sweat yesterday, but all four still ended up winning by 3pts or less.

-Purdue bounced back from their loss to Rutgers with a hard fought road win over Ohio State.  The game was close all throughout and Purdue hit a 3pt shot in the final seconds to go ahead, and ultimately win, 71-69.

-Arizona had to really sweat at home against Washington.  They fell behind early, and every time it appeared they were about to get control, Washington had an answer.  Arizona ended up winning 70-67, which should secure their top five ranking (for now), but it wasn’t their most impressive performance of the year.  As for Washington, you kind of have to wonder where this type of play suddenly came from.

-Gonzaga had to sweat even more in San Francisco, and was basically behind for the entire game before some big plays in the final minute, and one in particular in the final seconds, gave them a 77-76 win.  San Francisco had looked good at times this year, but wasn’t playing at a high level consistently enough, which is why they weren’t really near our bubble.  They played at a high level last night, though.

-UCLA also got a scare from crosstown rival USC.  The Bruins appeared to be in complete control In the first half, then couldn’t get anything going offensively in the second half, but they still held on to win (just barely) 60-58.

-Whatever funk Iowa was in, they may have finally snapped out of it last night.  They went from looking like a top 25 team to looking like they may not win a game for the rest of the year in a span of about a week, but they beat a good Indiana team 91-89 at home last night, and hopefully for them this is will be the start of a turnaround.

-Florida Atlantic improved to 13-1 after their big win over a really good UAB team.  The game seesawed back and forth and was close all throughout, but FAU got control in the final seconds and held on for the 88-86 win.  This FAU team has a good record with some pretty decent wins on their resume and should absolutely have the attention of the selection committee.  It’s a shame they don’t have the attention of the AP voters, but at least the committee should recognize them.

-Sam Houston, who has some impressive wins on their resume, is off to a slow start in conference.  They lost at home to Grand Canyon yesterday 72-68 and are now just 1-2 in WAC play.  Grand Canyon is good, but for a team that’s trying to show that they belong in the bubble, it’s the kind of game that you need to be able to win at home.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-Some good Ivy and MAAC games tonight, but nothing really jumps off the page as having any huge implications for the NCAA Tournament