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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-ARKANSAS VS TEXAS TECH (Dallas TX). Both teams are ranked in the top 20, both have a lot of potential, but both could also really use a big win like this on their resume. Arkansas has a nice win against Louisville, but that was a home game and right now it’s their only win of note. A win like this on a neutral site would boost their resume even more. This would also be Texas Tech’s biggest win of the season up to this point.

-OKLAHOMA STATE VS OKLAHOMA (Oklahoma City OK). BEDLAM!!!!!!! Oklahoma State isa perfect 9-0 whereas Oklahoma is a modest 6-3 and still trying to pick up some notable wins to put themselves on the map. It’s a rivalry game at a neutral site and it should be a fun one.

-TULSA VS NEW MEXICO STATE (Frisco TX). I’m highlighting this because Tulsa looks to be the only American team that has any real shot of landing inside the bubble and in order to get there they need to be able to beat a decent New Mexico State team on a neutral floor.

-NEBRASKA AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Nebraska is a perfect 10-0 and they blew Wisconsin off the floor the other night, but this is by far their biggest test of the year. They’re playing a ranked team on the road. If they can somehow win this then we are suddenly talking about whether or not the Huskers are a protected seed. It’s a big game for Illinois as well who is trying to continue to build up their profile.

-UTAH STATE VS ILLINOIS STATE (Salt Lake City UT). Illinois State has now won seven in a row, but they’ve also been untested in that stretch. They’ll be tested today by a Utah State team that appears to be the best in the Mountain West and who is trying to put together the kind of resume that will land them inside the bubble.

-KANSAS AT NC STATE. This is a tough road game for the Jayhawks who are having a good season and who have some big wins, but who have also played only one true road game so far and that was a loss at North Carolina. NC State got off to a bit of a sluggish start, but they are also coming off what may have been their best showing of the season earlier this week, so this one should be a good one.

-ARIZONA STATE VS SANTA CLARA (Henderson NV). I’ve been touting Santa Clara as a tournament caliber team all season, but they absolutely did not look like one in their last game, which was a blowout loss to New Mexico. Tonight they have Arizona State on a neutral court. This is the kind of game that a tournament caliber team should be able to win. It’s also a chance for Arizona State to pick up a notable win.

-INDIANA AT KENTUCKY. This is a rivalry game and it’s between two teams who both kind of need to win this game. Neither has really played up to their potential yet, neither really has any wins of note (Indiana’s win over Marquette is no longer a win of note), and both really need this one.

-SMU VS LSU (New Orleans LA). Both teams have good records and SMU in particular has looked good this season, but both also have work to do and could really use this win tonight.

-ARIZONA VS ALABAMA (Birmingham AL). This should be a fun one. Both teams are high in the rankings and both are probable protected seeds, which makes this the kind of game that could help elevate the winner to a #1 seed. Arizona is the top ranked team in the country and already has a true road win at UConn. If they can go into Birmingham and knock off Alabama then they’d make what may already be the nation’s best resume look even better.

-UCLA VS GONZAGA (Seattle WA). It seems like this is always a great game when these two meet. UCLA is a solid 7-2 with the losses being a very close game against top ranked Arizona and another somewhat close loss to a good Cal team, but they don’t have a really big win yet. This would certainly qualify as a really big win if they’re able to knock off the Zags.

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OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Michigan State @ Penn State (Big Ten) – Penn State has a respectable overall record, but they don’t have any wins as big as this one would be. Even though it’s a road game for Michigan State, it’s one they should hold serve in

-Iona @ Saint John’s – it’s a buy game that the Johnnies should win handily, but Iona will likely make a lot of noise in the MAAC so it’s at least worth checking out

-DePaul @ Wichita State – DePaul is a respectable 7-3, but this is their first true road game of the year

-Marquette @ Purdue – this isn’t a buy game, but it may as well be. Purdue should roll in this one

-Utah Valley vs UC Santa Barbara (Salt Lake City UT) – these are two really solid UTR teams, both of whom have decent shots of winning their conferences, will face off in the Delta Center!

-Providence @ Butler (Big East) – Both teams have had decent starts and both are perhaps exceeding their low preseason expectations, but both also still have work to do and both could use this win today

-Cincinnati vs Georgia (Atlanta GA) – Georgia is having a really solid season and should be able to hold serve against a Cincinnati team that has not even looked like an NIT-ish level team so far

-George Washington vs Florida (Sunrise FL) – I’ve started to lose faith in GW. They’re a respectable 8-3, but they’ve blown every shot they’ve had at a notable win. Florida is off to a bit of a slower start than expected, but they appear to be getting better as the season goes along. They’ve lost two straight, but the losses were by just 1pt at Duke and by just 4pts against UConn. They should be able to win today.

-UNC Wilmington @ Valparaiso – UNCW has a solid 9-1 record, but this will be one of their toughest tests so far. Valpo is 6-3 overall and 5-1 at home

-Kansas State @ Creighton – if either of these teams are going to land anywhere near the bubble then they need to start stringing together wins now

-Memphis @ Louisville – these two used to be huge rivals. Memphis got off to a disappointing start, but they’ve won three straight and are coming off a win against Baylor. They appear to be overmatched in this one, but if they could somehow upset Louisville it would catapult their resume

-UIC @ Belmont (Missouri Valley) – a win for Belmont gets them to a very solid 10-1 on the year

-Murray State vs Akron (Henderson NV) – a really odd location for this game. Both are solid UTR teams, both could make some noise if they can make the NCAA Tournament, and it should be a fun game. I don’t know how many people in Henderson, Nevada are going to come out and watch, but those who do should see a good game!

-Pittsburgh @ Villanova – this should be a game where Nova can easily hold serve and improve to 8-2 on the year

-Saint Bonaventure vs Ohio U (Cleveland OH) – The Bonnies are having a good year and can get to 10-1 overall with a roadi-ish win today

-Oakland @ Northern Iowa – Oakland is 5-5 after playing a brutal early season schedule. Northern Iowa is 7-2 after playing a really soft early season schedule. Both are very good UTR teams and this should be a fun one!

-Southern Illinois @ Richmond – Richmond is having a good year, but they’ve played a very weak schedule. While Southern Illinois appears to be improving, the Spiders should still hold serve at home

-Stanford @ San Jose State – this is the first true road game for Stanford and a win gets them to 8-2 on the year. San Jose State is at least a respectable 4-1 at home so far

-Michigan @ Maryland (Big Ten) – since Thanksgiving Week Michigan has looked like the most dominant team in the country and it’s really not even close. It’s a conference road game, but it’s one they should easily win

-Rutgers @ Seton Hall – this one is usually fun! Seton Hall is an astonishing 9-1 and has another winnable game at home today.

-Ohio State @ West Virginia (Cleveland OH) – I’m not all that sold on West Virginia, but I’m starting to think Ohio State may have something this year. If they can get this win away from home and improve to 8-2. then I’d say they’re pretty well positioned right now

-San Francisco @ Saint Louis – San Francisco has been a bit of a disappointment this year so far whereas Saint Louis has been a lot better than expected so far. If the Dons are going to bounce back and make a run at the bubble then this is one they need.

-Mississippi State @ Utah – both teams need to start stringing together wins

-Duquesne @ Nevada – Nevada could make some noise in the MWC and needs to hold serve today

-Tulane vs UC San Diego (Henderson NV) – UCSD is one of the few UTR teams that may be able to make a run at the bubble. In order for them to do that they need to win games like this one

-UTEP @ Hawaii – a win for Hawaii gets them to 10-2 on the year with all ten wins coming at home. They will eventually need to leave the island and win.

BUY GAMES:

-UL Monroe @ Miami FL
-Old Dominion @ George Mason
-USC Upstate @ North Carolina
-Mercyhurst @ Davidson
-Evansville @ Notre Dame
-Saint Peter’s @ Georgetown
-New Orleans @ Houston
-Southern Miss @ Ole Miss
-Mercer @ Clemson
-UTSA @ Colorado
-Hofstra @ Syracuse – Hofstra is a good UTR team, but they’re likely overmatched in this one
-Chattanooga @ Auburn
-Northwestern State @ California
-Southern Utah @ Washington
-Central Arkansas @ Vanderbilt
-The Citadel @ South Carolina
-North Florida @ Dayton
-UC Riverside @ BYU

-Iowa State looked to be a huge favorite against their in-state rivals considering how they’d demolished Purdue over the weekend, and how they were at home, and how they were ranked 4th nationally, but Iowa battled until the very end. This is a huge rivalry in terms of how bitter it is, and you could feel it yesterday. The Cyclones survived 66-62.

-TEXAS AT CONNECTICUT (Hartford CT). Connecticut clearly looks to be the superior team so far and while Texas isn’t bad, they haven’t really even come close to winning a game against an opponent of this caliber yet. A win for Texas would give their resume a huge boost, but that’s far easier said than done.

-Missouri State @ Xavier – Xavier still has a lot of work to do, but this would be their fifth straight win after nearly upsetting Georgia

-East Texas A&M @ McNeese

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NEWS AND NOTES:

-Nebraska remains unbeaten and certainly looked like a team that was deserving of their top 25 ranking after blowing out Wiscnosin 90-60. I don’t think Wisky is a tournament team. At least they haven’t shown any signs of it yet. But it’s still a big win for Nebraska, and the crowd was electric!

-Miami OH remains unbeaten after a 90-87 overtime win at UNC Asheville. Miami appeared to be in control early in the second half, but then UNCA came all the way back and got the lead, and it was actually Miami that had to force overtime and then escaped with a win.

-Western Kentucky, a team I was praising, deserves no praise after yesterday. They went on the road and lost rather handily to Marshall 77-61. I know it’s hard to win at Marshall, but that’s the point. It’s hard to land inside the bubble and in order to do it a team must win games that are hard to win.

New Mexico DID win a game that was hard to win! They pulled off a huge 81-78 road win at VCU, which is clearly their best win of the year and now has us all looking at the Lobos again. When they lost to rival New Mexico State we sort of shrugged them off, but they’ve only lost one other game, they blew away Santa Clara in their previous game, and they picked up a big road win last night.

-What NC State did to Liberty is illegal in some states. It was a level of assault that I would not wish on anyone. It was an 85-45 blowout. It was by far the best I’ve seen NC State look this year and it makes me wonder why I ever thought Liberty had a chance to land inside the bubble.

-George Washington lost at home to Delaware 70-58 in one of the more pathetic showings of the season. I thought GW might be a tournament team coming into the year. Last night they looked like they may be CBI bound. \.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-IOWA AT IOWA STATE. This is a rivalry that is not for the weak at heart!! Iowa State is coming off one of the most impressive single game performances I can ever remember as they blew out top ranked Purdue on the road. Iowa is coming in with just one loss, but they were beaten handily on the road at Michigan State in that one loss, and Iowa State appears to be just as good, or even better, than the Spartans. Still, with this being a rivalry, sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen.

-Saint Joseph’s @ Syracuse – The Orange have had times where they’ve looked like a tournament team and they’re sitting at a modest 5-3 on the year after coming off a big win against Tennessee. They should be able to hold serve at home in this one

-Western Carolina @ Virginia Tech
-Alabama State @ Missouri

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Michigan continues to blow good teams completely out of the gym. By midway through the first half last they had complete control of Villanova and the rest of the game wasn’t even worth watching. The final score was 89-61.

-Clemson v BYU in the Jimmy V Classic was just an amazing game! Clemson scored the last 20+ points of the first half and appeared to be on cruise control. Then BYU came back, tied it, and got the lead late. It was then Clemson that scored on three key possessions late in the game to tie it and appeared to be sending it to OT before BYU hit a shot at the buzzer to win 67-64. WOW!! For Clemson, it was a missed opportunity to pick up what would have been their biggest win of the year so far. BYU is a possible protected seed and to beat them on a neutral floor would have give the Tigers a lot of weight.

-UConn and Florida was also a tight game in the second half of the Jimmy V Classic with UConn holding on for a 77-73 win. This is yet another big win on the season for the Huskies. Florida falls to a modest 5-4, but they’ve played a tough schedule, they appear to be getting better, and by the end of the year their resume and team will both likely to be solid.

-Illinois got a solid win on the road against a pretty formidable Ohio State team 88-80. The Illini are now 8-2 on the year with a solid conference road win. That’s pretty good!

-McNeese, after suffering a surprising loss to Incarnate Word last week, got a big road win at Rhode Island yesterday 66-64. It was Rhody’s first home loss of the year and they were a team that was at least showing signs of being able to make a run at the bubble. I think McNeese, at leaston the court, is a top 40 team in the country. The question is will their resume indicate that at the end of the year? The committee only seems to care what’s on a team’s resume, and oftentimes an Under the Radar team is much better than their resume indicates because of the opportunities (or lack thereof) that they had during the season, or because they had one or two bad games like what McNeese had against Incarnate Word and were just never able to offset it.

-Buffalo handed UMBC their first home loss and has improved to 9-1 on the year. It was an exciting 83-79 game where Buffalo was actually behind for a lot of it. The Bulls have started to play tougher opponents, and they still keep winning.

-Howard knocked off NC A&T 73-69 at Cameron Indoor Stadium last night. This is the second win of the year at Cameron for Howard!! There are top level teams in the ACC that don’t have two wins at Cameron over the last five years!! Howard has done it within a span of a couple weeks!!

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-NEW MEXICO AT VCU. Both teams have the potential to be good this year, but neither team has anything on their resume yet that would jump out at the committee. Both teams could really use this one. New Mexico has yet to win a road game and while VCU does have a decent win against Virginia Tech, that’s all they’ve got at this point.

-LIBERTY AT NC STATE. LIberty is a solid 6-2, but even with that solid record they’ve been a little more disappointing than what we were expecting. Before the season started this was the game we had circled as their chance to really make a statement. While NC State has also landed a little below expectations so far, the key part of that is “so far.” It’s still a team with a high ceiling that’s likely to win a lot of games, and getting a win on their floor will go a long way for Liberty if they’re able to pull it off.

-WISCONSIN AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). This is a big game for several reasons. Nebraska is still perfect on the season, but they yet haven’t faced any teams that clearly look like tournament teams. Wisconsin has gone into a tailspin and needs to pull themselves out of it and a conference road win like this would be a good way to do that.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Miami OH @ UNC Asheville – Miami’s schedule has been week and this is probably their toughest test of the year so far. A win keeps them perfect on the season

-Minnesota @ Purdue (Big Ten) – The Boilers are looking to bounce back after being beaten soundly in their last game.

-Western Kentucky @ Marshall – this is a good WKU team. This would be a solid road win for them and get them to 7-2 on the year

-UT Martin @ Southern Illinois – UT Martin is having a solid year at 7-2 and can pick up their 3rd true road win tonight. It won’t be easy. Southern Illinois is definitely formidable and they’re perfect at home so far

-Duquesne @ Boise State – Boise has been playing much better and they need to hold serve in this one

BUY GAMES:

-Norfolk State @ Baylor – Norfolk is probably the best team in the MEAC, but they’re way overmatched today
-UAlbany @ Yale
-Idaho @ Notre Dame
-Colgate @ Saint Bonaventure
-Delaware @ George Washington
-Jackson State @ Houston
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Tulsa
-Lamar @ San Diego State
-Hawaii Hilo (nonD1) @ Hawaii