HIGHLIGHTED GAMES (or lack thereof):
-There are very few games today due to postponments and rescheduling because of the Winter Storm Rocco. You can get all the updates on schedule changes on ROCCO MILLER”s X FEED
-USC AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Both teams are inside the bubble right now and both appear to be starting to play better, but both still have some work to do and this is a chance for each team to give their resume a bit of a boost.
-FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American) – these are two of the teams in the race for the American. While neither is likely to land inside the bubble, both are potentially dangerous opponents in the Round of 64.
NEWS AND NOTES:
-Connecticut was pushed to the limit (again), but escaped with a win (again). Villanova stayed with UConn the entire time and forced the game into overtime, but UConn pulled away in the extra period for the 75-67 win. UConn has not lost since top ranked Arizona beat them on November 19th, but their last five games have either been overtime wins or wins by 5pts or less.
-Illinois got a massive road win as they went to Purdue and pulled off an 88-82 victory that will boost what was already a very solid profile. To say they are now clearly a protected seed is sort of stating the obvious. There were also a lot of standout performances from freshmen across the country, but Keaton Wagler topped them all with an astounding 46 points (including 9 3-pointers).
-Texas Tech avenged their 4pt loss at Houston earlier this season with a 4pt win over Houston at home yesterday. It was a high scoring first half despite both teams being fantastic defensively, and Texas Tech held on for a 90-86 win. I’d say these teams are pretty much totally even in terms of how good they are. Even in a losing effort, Houston freshman Kingston Flemings had 42 points for the Coogs.
-North Carolina, who had been less than stellar on the road this year, picked up a huge road win yesterday at Virginia 85-80. The Hoos had been looking like a protected seed, so this was a big time win for the Tar Heels, and one that they kind of needed to help secure them in the top half of the bracket.
-Auburn, who needed a big win in the worst way, got what was easily their biggest win of the season as they knocked off Florida in Gainesville 76-67. This was perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the day given how well Florida had been playing and now much Auburn had been struggling. Auburn had not won in the Swamp since 1996.
-Tennessee, who hadn’t won a game on the road all year, got a big one yesterday as they knocked off Alabama in Tuscaloosa 89-83. Much was made of Alabama’s addition of Charles Bediako to the team. It didn’t help the Tide yesterday (and may have inspired the Vols instead).
-Nebraska trailed Minnesota at the half, but was not trailing at the end of the game. They totally dominated down the stretch and the 76-57 win makes it look as if the game was a blowout. The Huskers may well be a #1 seed now and could cement it further should they win at Michigan in a couple of days.
-Gonzaga got a huge battle from San Francisco in the Kennel, but escaped with a 68-66 win. Gonzaga led by as much as 14 in the second half, but San Francisco battled back and had a shot in the final seconds to win the game, but the 3pointer did not go down.
-Texas, who is having a very hot and cold season, was hot yesterday. They blew a pretty good Georgia team off the floor 87-67 and are now making a strong case that they belong inside the bubble.
-BYU won the second leg of the Holy War 91-78 yesterday. Freshman AJ Dybantsa had 43 points in the Cougars’ win; this shattered the school record for points by a freshman that had previously held by Danny Ainge.
-Rick Pitino picked up his 900th career win, and it came against his son as Saint John’s overcame a 16-point 2nd half deficit to beat Xavier on the road 88-83. Xavier has battled in a lot of their losses, but come up just a few points short. Their last three losses have been by 5pts or less.
-George Mason, whose record was much better than their schedule, suffered a major setback yesterday as they fell on the road to Rhode Island 74-65. The thing about George Mason is that their schedule is just too weak for them to afford really any losses.
-Every year I say I’m not going to get tricked into thinking Dayton is good. Every year there is a point to where I think Dayton actually is good, and every year they prove once again that they are not. And this year it has happened again. I was really starting to like them, but they followed up a loss to La Salle earlier in the week with an 81-74 loss to Saint Joseph’s yesterday and I’m pretty much done with them.
-Missouri hit a 3pt shot at the buzzer against Oklahoma to force overtime, and then hit a 3pt shot at the end of OT for the win. Mizzou escaped 88-87 and avoids a home loss to a team outside the bubble, which would have set them back.
-Murray State, who I thought had a chance at making a run at the bubble, really hurt themselves yesterday as they lost at Northern Iowa 81-76. Northern Iowa is good, and it’s not easy to win there, but like I always say…landing inside the bubble requires teams to win games that are hard to win.
-TCU played themselves closer to the bubble (and maybe in for some bracketologists) after getting a road win at Baylor yesterday. Baylor suddenly finds itself 1-6 in conference play, although they could potentially play spoiler to a number of teams as we approach February.
-Seton Hall = OUCH!!! The 87-80 loss at DePaul is going to leave a mark! This is Seton Hall’s fourth straight loss and they are now in a major tailspin. What looked like a top 25 caliber team at one point is now looking like they may fall all the way outside the bubble. Don’t look now, but DePaul has now won four straight conference games at home and could actually get to .500 in the Big East if they win their next game at Georgetown.
-California got a really big road win at Stanford 78-66, which is both a win over a rival and a win that will really help their case for making the NCAA Tournament. Prior to yesterday I would have said I thought Stanford was the better team. Now, with injuries hitting Stanford and with the result of this game, it looks as though Cal might be the ACC’s team to watch in the Bay Area.
Some Under the Radar notes…
-Queens fell to West Georgia 74-66 for their first loss in ASun play
-Merrimack beat Saint Peter’s 67-59 to draw even in the conference standings
-Troy actually won a game in regulation! They knocked off Georgia Southern on the road 83-78 to improve to 8-1 in Sun Belt play
-Portland State is still perfect in Big Sky play after a tough 69-66 road win at Idaho.
-Cal Baptist, who dropped their first three WAC games, has now won five straight and pulled even with Utah Valley in the WAC standings with their 78-71 win yesterday.
Hoops HD Staff Bracket – Friday, January 23rd
As most of the country gets ready for Winter Storm Rocco (click here for updates to time changes for affected games), it is our colleague John Stalica’s turn to prepare the staff bracket for Hoops HD this week. This is NOT like Jon Teitel or Rocco Miller’s bracket where they attempt to guess the Selection Committee; rather this is what Stalica feels the bracket should look like through games played last night.
And this is the bracket below:
First Four Out: Akron, Baylor, Indiana, LSU
Others Considered: Ohio State, Belmont, Oklahoma State, TCU
COMMENTS FROM JOHN:
– There is no question on the first four teams at the top of the bracket. I would give a slight edge to Duke over Michigan when you look at the quality of the Blue Devils’ wins. Nebraska is on the cusp of making the #1 line and probably vaults UConn if they are able to win their upcoming game at Michigan.
– The way the protected seeds played out, I did not have to do any reshuffling on account of BYU this week. Hence the regions being more balanced than what I would have expected.
– I thought I might have to justify Florida being a protected seed, but upon further review I would have the Gators as my top team in the SEC over Vandy. In this instance, Florida really asserted themselves with a road win at Vandy last week.
– Alabama is going to bear watching because of the return of Charles Bediako to the lineup. Despite being selected in the 2023 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs, he has somehow managed to get a temporary restraining order to be allowed to play again for the Crimson Tide. (We’ll just conveniently overlook the fact that the judge in question has Alabama program ties) Personally, I would think that Alabama is at risk of having any contest he plays in ultimately being ruled a forfeit. And who’s to say that another judge with opposing school ties (i.e. Auburn or Tennessee) wouldn’t overrule the TRO? What a mess for the NCAA to deal with.
– The Miami Redhawks have clearly not been negatively impacted by the loss of Evan Ipsaro back in December. I say this because the Stanford Cardinal (currently on the 10-line as of today) are now going to have to deal with a season-ending injury to their leading scorer Chisom Okpara. They are now going to have to prove that they can still play at an NCAA Tournament level without Okpara. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt for now, but I doubt my colleagues will feel the same way initially.
– I nearly put the Akron Zips in my field. I gave George Mason the edge for now because of more Tier 2/Tier 3 wins, but teams like Akron and Belmont have shots at at-large bids for now since teams like Baylor, Indiana and LSU have too many fatal flaws at the moment to be included in this bracket.
STAFF COMMENTS:
COMMENTS FROM DAVID GRIGGS: Out of the 68 selections and seedings I think I can agree (or at least live with) about 64 of them, which means I like this bracket a lot more than I’ll like the committee’s actual bracket. I’m not big at all on Virginia Tech. I think they are certainly within reach of the bubble, but a team I like more than them is a team that Stalica has two lines out and that’s Belmont.
-I’m also not a fan of NC State’s profile. I know they had a nice win this week against Clemson, so but they still just don’t look that good overall and have missed chance after chance after chance.
-I think Duke on the #1 line makes sense. They’ve been on my #1 line for a while now.
-I think Akron may win the auto-bid out of the MAC. They are good. Miami is unbeaten and in the rankings and therefore in the spotlight, but they didn’t beat Akron by much. It was a close win at home and it’s Akron’s only MAC loss. Akron also blew out Buffalo at Buffalo, whereas Miami OH faced them at home and needed a miracle at the end of regulation just to get the game to overtime. The profile, and the ranking, and the unbeaten part of it makes sense. You have to select Miami ahead of Akron…but Akron is good! I think they’re better on the court than Stalica’s entire First Four (minus maybe UCLA who seems to be kicking it into gear). I think Belmont is as well!!
PUPPET’S AWARDED GRADE: B+. Not bad!!
COMMENTS FROM CHAD: