Hoops HD

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NEWS AND NOTES:

-Kansas was pretty good for the first half of the season. Since they’re loss at West Virginia on Jan 10th, they’ve gone from being pretty good to being outstanding. They followed up a big win against BYU over the weekend with a 64-61 road win at Texas Tech last night, which may be their best of the season to date. Texas Tech has now dropped two straight and needs to rebound if they want to end up as a protected seed.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-NC STATE AT SMU (ACC). Both of these teams are good, and NC State in particular has been playing a lot better these past couple of weeks, but both still have work to do and both could use this win tonight. For NC State it’s a quality conference road win that would elevate their profile. For SMU it’s a notable win that could help keep them inside the bubble.

-INDIANA AT USC (Big Ten). Indiana is coming off a strong week where they’ve really been able to add some big wins to their profile and they’ve got a chance to pick up another big one tonight against USC. The Trojans could really use this one as well. In short, both teams are fighting to get into the NCAA Tournament and a win tonight would be helpful.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Miami OH @ Buffalo (MAC) – Miami needed overtime to win the first meeting between these two and they’re on the road tonight. Having said that, Buffalo has been struggling having lost six of their last seven, but they should be way up for this one

-Xavier @ Connecticut (Big East) – UConn is good enough to win out and if they do they should be on the #1 line

-Boston College @ Duke (ACC) – this might as well be a buy game

-Ole Miss @ Tennessee (SEC) – Tennessee has won four of their last five, including two big road games, and is playing better now than they have at any point in the season. They should be able to hold serve tonight

-VCU @ Fordham (Atlantic 10) – people have kind of forgotten about VCU, but they have strung together quite a few wins and may have a path to the bubble

-South Carolina @ Texas (SEC) – Texas is right on the bubble and cannot afford to lose these types of games.

-Saint John’s @ DePaul – The Johnnies are really rolling and have lost just one game since Dec 20th and are keeping pace with UConn in the Big East standings. They should be able to win this one

-Pittsburgh @ Virginia (ACC) – Virginia is still within reach of a protected seed. They should be able to hold serve tonight

-Saint Louis @ Davidson (Atlantic 10) – SLU is good enough to win out and if they do they may be flirting with a protected seed

-Drake @ Belmont (Missouri Valley) – I will keep banging this drum! Belmont should be inside the bubble and if they win out until the end of the regular season they should be in the field regardless of what happens in the conference tournament!!

-Rutgers @ UCLA (Big Ten) – UCLA is just outside our bubble and needs to hold serve in games like this where they’re playing teams nowhere near the field at home

Wyoming @ San Diego State – San Diego State is coming off a rough loss to Utah State and needs to bounce back tonight to keep themselves within reach of making the field

UNDER THE RADAR WATCH:

-Stephen F Austin now has a two game lead over McNeese in the Southland standings after a solid 67-60 win against the Cowboys last night. Unfortunately, all that really means is that they’d get to wear white jerseys on McNeese’s floor since McNeese is hosting the conference tournament, but up to this point SFA has looked like the better team.

-Bethune Cookman won handily at Alabama A&M 80-62 and remains on top of the SWAC standings

-Portland State had no trouble with Idaho State and is still in control of the Big Sky

-Little Rock @ UT Martin (Ohio Valley) – UT Martin is alone in 1st place and appears to be the best team in what has been a very competitive OVC this year

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NEWS AND NOTES:

-Illinois is currently playing as well as anyone in the country and yesterday they picked up one of the single most impressive wins that any team in the country has managed so far. They knocked off Nebraska 78-69 in Lincoln to avenge a home loss to the Huskers from earlier this year. We used to call this the ‘Road-Win-Exchange-Program.’

-Since adding Charles Bediako to the roster, Alabama has looked noticeably worse than they did before they got him, and they did not look good at all yesterday as Florida blew them out 100-77. Now to be fair, the Gators looked fantastic and have been looking fantastic for the past several weeks now, but Alabama looked as if they were on the level of a team that was playing a road buy game.

-Iowa won decisively at Oregon 84-66. While it isn’t a huge profile win, to be able to win it that decisively as a road team is a statement for the Hawkeyes. As much as I have admittedly criticized their profile, this is a legit good team.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-KANSAS AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12). Nothing out of the ordinary here. Just another Big 12 game between two probable protected seeds. Texas Tech is looking to rebound from their loss at UCF and Kansas is looking to pick up what would probably be their single best win of the season so far.

-Syracuse @ North Carolina (ACC) – UNC seems to be playing their best ball of the year right now and shouldn’t have too much trouble at home in this one

UNDER THE RADAR WATCH:

-It’s February, which means we will be eyeing all the conference races in the daily write ups.

-East Tennessee State picked up a huge 86-72 win at Wofford last night to put themselves a game in front of the Terriers in the SoCon standings. Wofford had been playing really well, so for ETSU to get this one on the road is a big statement.

-McNeese @ Stephen F Austin (Southland) – it’s unlikely that either team will land inside the bubble, but both are potentially very dangerous teams in the Round of 64 and there is probably only room for one of them to get there. It will come down to the conference tournament to see who gets the bid, but this could be a game that helps propel one of them to the #12 line. Rocco Miller will also be in the building for this game!

-Bethune Cookman @ Alabama A&M (SWAC) – this is a road test for Cookman, who is currently atop the SWAC standings

-Idaho State @ Portland State – Portland State sits atop the Big Sky and should be able to hold serve tonight and stay there

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Texas Tech, as good as they are, still doesn’t have a true road win against a team that is inside the bubble. They fell at UCF 88-80 yesterday and while it wasn’t a blowout by any means they were behind for seemingly the entire game. As for UCF, it’s another solid win and it keeps them solidly inside our field.

-I thought BYU could win at Kansas yesterday and it became evident in the first half that that just was not going to happen. BYU did come back in the second half, but it took them way too long to get their motor started and they just couldn’t catch up. Kansas ended up with a 90-82 win.

-Kentucky managed to get a huge 85-77 win at Arkansas, which is one they really needed after losing by a wide margin to Vanderbilt earlier in the week. They also managed at one point to be called for three technical fouls in a 38 second stretch, which has got to be some sort of record. It is probably one of Kentucky’s biggest wins of the year.

-NC State is continuing to roll. It’s not particularly noteworthy that they won at Wake Forest, but they totally dominated the game on the road winning 96-78 and have now won six of their last seven.

-Utah State and San Diego State battled early in the day, but Utah State held on for a big 71-66 win. It would have been a huge resume boost for San Diego State had they pulled it off and would have likely put them safely inside the bubble had they done it. The Aztecs still have a path, but this win yesterday would have been huge.

-Texas A&M won rather decisively at Georgia and are showing they’re as good as anyone else in the SEC. They’re 17-4 on the year, they’ve won 10 of their last 11, they’re 4-2 in true road games, and just beat a really good Georgia team on the road rather handily

-Indiana and UCLA played a double OT thriller in a game where both teams really needed the win. Indiana appeared to have blown it at the end of regulation, but pulled it out in OT 98-97. This probably puts the Hoosiers on the right side of the bubble for now.

-George Mason needed to come from behind at Saint Bonaventure to avoid a loss that would have pretty much ended any hopes of landing inside the bubble, but they picked up a nice road win 77-73.

-Yale, who we thought could make a run at the bubble, lost at home to Harvard 67-65 and were behind for much of the game. We no longer think that Yale can make a run at the bubble.

-Belmont absolutely manhandled Murray State last night. The final score was 103-86, but the game was over just a few minutes into the second half and the final score doesn’t indicate just how dominant Belmont was. The committee needs to be looking at Belmont! They are one of the 40 best teams in the country and they belong inside the bubble.

-Gonzaga held on for an 8-point win at home against Saint Mary’s in the first leg of what has become the WCC’s signature rivalry. We’ll see if this rivalry continues once the Zags move on to the Pac-12 next season.

-And in what is perhaps the most amazing note of all, The Citadel beat UNC Greensboro at home 71-66. With that win they’ve now won for of their last five and are 5-5 in SoCon play. I cannot begin to tell you just how surprising that is.

-I wonder how our colleague John Stalica is feeling after yesterday. Xavier has been having a miserable season and finally had an 18-point comeback and buzzer-beating shot in the same game. Too bad it was wasted against DePaul.

-Butler may have shot themselves between the legs yesterday with a loss at home to Georgetown. With UConn burying Creighton and Seton Hall barely surviving against Marquette, the Big East’s best case scenario is a 4-bid league if The Hall can somehow get hot in February. They are also on the wrong side of the cut line right now.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-ALABAMA AT FLORIDA (SEC). Florida suffered a bit of a surprising loss to Auburn earlier in the week and is looking to bounce back against an Alabama team that is solidly in the rankings within reach of a protected seed. It wouldn’t shock me if both teams ended up as protected seeds, so this is a big resume building opportunity.

-ILLINOIS AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). This is a massive match-up between two top ten teams that are very clearly protected seeds. Nebraska is within reach of earning a #1 seed despite them coming off a loss in their last game at Michigan. The two faced each other earlier this year with Nebraska winning on the road. It should be a crazy environment tonight.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Purdue @ Maryland (Big Ten) – Purdue needs to bounce back from their loss to Indiana (not to mention their current 3-game losing streak) and this should be a winnable conference road game for them

-Iowa State @ Kansas State (Big 12) – Iowa State is a solid protected seed and should be able to add another road win to their profile

-Wichita State @ Tulsa (American) – Tulsa is trying to remain atop the American standings and keep whatever at-large bid hopes they still have alive

-TCU @ Colorado (Big 12) – TCU needs to start stringing together wins. This is the kind of game they need to be able to routinely win if they want to show the committee that they belong

-East Tennessee State @ Wofford (SoCon) – these are the two best teams in the SoCon and both are currently tied for 1st place. This should be a fun one to watch.

-Iowa @ Oregon (Big Ten) – this is a conference road game that Iowa needs