Hoops HD

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NEWS AND NOTES:

-Nebraska is still unbeaten and is now (deservedly) ranked in the top ten. They got a battle from Ohio State last night, but held them off 72-69.

-Michigan State did not get a battle from USC. They really didn’t even get a pillow fight. They absolutely blew out the Trojans 80-51. This was the second game in a row where USC was completely blown out of the state of Michigan.

-McNeese had to come from behind to beat Stephen F Austin at home, but they escaped with a 66-64 win. SFA is a good team, but if McNeese is a top 40 caliber team they shouldn’t have had to sweat that much at home against them.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-TEXAS TECH AT HOUSTON (Big 12) (***Spotlight Game***). Both teams have had good seasons so far, but you also get the sense that both have improved as the season has gone on and that the games they lost prior to now they’d likely win if they were to replay them now. Texas Tech knocked off Duke in NYC while Houston’s only loss was a close one to Tennessee back over Thanksgiving. This one should be a fun one tonight. Both are capable of making the Final Four.

-DUKE AT LOUISVILLE (ACC). Louisville has been kind of meh on the road this year, but they’ve been fantastic at home. Duke comes in with just one loss on the entire season, but this would still be one of their biggest overall wins if they can pull it off. Both teams are in the rankings, Louisville is competing for a protected seed and Duke is competing for a 1-seed.

-GEORGIA AT FLORIDA (SEC). Both teams could use this win for different reasons. Georgia has only played one true road game so adding a conference road win to their profile will make it look a lot better. Florida is just 9-5, but all of their losses have been close games and most have been against really good teams, so they need a win just to get things kickstarted and to try and build up some momentum.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT BUTLER (Big East). Both these teams have work to do and both should have a sense of urgency coming into this one. The Johnnies are just 9-5 and if they don’t start stringing wins together soon they won’t make the field at all. Butler has been solid and still has a chance of making The Dance, but they have more work to do and a win today would help.

-UCF AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). UCF just picked up the huge win against Kansas, but they need to get their feet back on the ground because they’re going on the road to Oklahoma State who is 12-2 overall, a perfect 10-0 at home, and who could really use this win themselves. There is something at stake for each team in this one

-TCU @ KANSAS (Big 12). Kansas is looking to bounce back from a tough road loss at UCF and get themselves right again. TCU is a good team that’s looking for a signature win. While TCU is good, and while they appear to be getting better, I don’t know if they’re quite good enough to pull this one off, but we shall see.

-NEW MEXICO AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West). I’m highlighting this only because New Mexico is right on the bubble and they need to win games that are hard to win in order to land inside of it. This game, being on the road against a pretty good team, qualifies as a hard game to win.

-UCLA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Both teams should have a huge sense of urgency coming into this one because both have a ton of work to do and both could really use this one tonight.

-TEXAS A&M AT AUBURN (SEC). Auburn has a lot of work to do and they’re coming off a really tough multi-overtime loss to rival Georgia. I do think the Tigers are getting better, but they need to start winning. Texas A&M has a bloated record, but they don’t have any wins that are nearly as good as this one would be, so they also have a lot to play for.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Michigan @ Penn State (Big Ten) – Michigan has just been bulldozing everyone and I expect for that to continue tonight

-Western Michigan @ Miami OH (MAC) – Miami should be able to hold serve at home and remain unbeaten on the year

-South Carolina @ LSU (SEC) – LSU is having a big year and should hold serve at home

-Iowa @ Minnesota (Big Ten) – Iowa is an impressive 12-2 and is climbing the rankings. They don’t have much on their resume yet because the schedule is backloaded, but they should be able to add a conference road win to it tonight

-George Washington @ Dayton (Atlantic 10) – neither team is inside our bubble, or for that matter even on our board, but these were two of our favorites in the preseason to win the A10 and both still have a path (albeit a very steep one) to get there if they can blow through the league

-Texas @ Tennessee (SEC) – Texas has struggled this year and needs a win like this in order to get things turned back around. Having said that, games like this are incredibly difficult to win. Tennessee is having a solid year and should hold serve at home

-NC State @ Boston College (ACC) – it’s a road game, but it’s one that NC State should easily win. They need to hold serve in this one

-Utah State @ Air Force (Mountain West) – Utah State can get to 13-1 on the year with a win

-San Diego State @ Nevada (Mountain West) – if either team is going to make a run at the bubble then they need to start stringing together wins

We recorded our first HOOPS HD BRACKET RUNDOWN Video Podcast of the season. To watch us build the seedlist line by line – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Seton Hall had another crazy late game comeback, this time against Creighton, and picked up a 56-54 win. Seton Hall was squarely in our field last night, but it is fair to start to wonder how many games like this they can continue to pull out.

-Tulsa suffered just their second loss of the season as they fell at North Texas 72-67. The game was close all throughout, and it is not easy to win at North Texas, but I’d still say this was a damaging loss for Tulsa. In order to land inside the bubble a team must win games that are hard to win. Tulsa just hasn’t played that tough of a schedule and they needed this win yesterday to show they can win at a place like North Texas, which is legit hard to win at.

-Belmont has now lost two of their last three games and each of those losses was by a single point. Still, these were the kinds of games they needed to win in order to land inside the bubble. Yesterday’s 68-67 home loss to Southern Illinois may sink them.

-Indiana held serve at home against Washington with a 90-80 win and improved to 11-3 on the year. I’m still not sold on the Hoosiers, but I’m not ready to sell them off myself yet either.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NEBRASKA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). It’s another tough road test for Nebraska, who is having an amazing year, but who we are still learning about. If they really are one of the 15 best teams in the country then they should be able to win a game like this. Ohio State was outside of our bubble last night, but they are definitely close enough to it to reach it if they can start stringing together wins. This is a big opportunity for them tonight.

-USC AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). USC really got their noses bloodied by Michigan in thier last game, but that seemingly happens to everyone Michigan faces. Michigan State is also coming off a tough lost to Nebraska and is looking to bounce back, so both these teams should be hungry tonight

-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT MCNEESE (Southland). These are probably the two best teams in the Southland and if McNeese can win out (which they are good enough to do) we could see them inside the bubble.

-Yale @ Brown (Ivy League) – in order for Yale to have any shot at all of landing inside the bubble they pretty much need to run the table in the Ivy League, which they are certainly good enough to do

-William & Mary @ Charleston (CAA) – these are potentially two favorites to win the CAA, so it should be a fun one tonight

NEWS AND NOTES:

-UCF pulled off a big 81-75 win against Kansas, which helps boost their resume and pushes them further into the national spotlight. It was a home win, but it’s still their biggest of the season and one that they kind of needed given how weak their schedule was up until yesterday.

-SMU ran away from North Carolina in the second half for a 97-83 win. North Carolina still has just one road win on the season and will need more if they want to climb the seedlist, but they’re still in relatively good shape. It was an important win for an SMU team that needed an important win.

-Arkansas held serve and beat Tennessee 86-75 at home. Tennessee is a really good team and a road loss like this won’t really set them back all that much, if at all.

-Alabama ran away from Kentucky in the first half and cruised to an 89-74 win. Kentucky’s resume is rather underwhelming up to this point. They still have a lot of time to get to where they want to, but they’re sure as hell aren’t there yet.

-Virginia jumped all over NC State in the first half and while the Wolfpack made a few runs at them, they never really got back into it. It’s a very impressive road win for the Hoos not just because of the win itself, but because of how dominant it was. We expected NC State to have a big season this year, and so far they just haven’t.

-Missouri knocked of Florida 73-71 in a game they almost blew. After appearing to have it wrapped up, Florida actually fought their way back in it via a sequence of made and missed freethrows, and got a shot up at the buzzer that would have won them the game, but it just didn’t go down. Mizzou ended up escaping with a win they really needed.

-Auburn took Georgia to overtime and nearly pulled off a massive road win which would have made their profile look a lot better, but the Dawgs held on 104-100. Still, it was one of the better games Auburn has played all season despite the loss and they’ll get more than enough chances at big wins between now and the end.

-Villanova ran away from a pretty good Butler team on the road 85-67. Nova is now 12-2 on the season, perfect in the Big East, and 3-1 on the road. One of their losses was the season opener against BYU. This team is very good and should be getting much more attention than they are. On the flip side of that…

-Saint John’s lost at home to Providence 77-71. The Johnnies simply are not very good and should not be getting as much attention as they are.

-Wake Forest was in another close game!! And this time they actually won it!! They knocked off a fairly solid Virginia Tech team 81-78, and while it was a home win, it was still one that they really needed.

-Miami OH remains unbeaten after knocking off a really solid Akron team 76-73. This was probably the toughest game Miami has played all year even though it was a home game. Their schedule has been rather weak, but their team isn’t weak at all and they showed that they can beat the best teams in the MAC yesterday (albeit at home).

-Texas A&M helf off a really good LSU team 75-72 for a win they really needed. They still have some work to do, but this is a step in the right direction. For LSU, it was a missed opportunity at what appeared to be a winnable conference road game.

-Colorado bounced back from back-to-back losses to Stanford and Northern Colorado and picked up their first true road win of the year against a decent Arizona State team 95-89.

-Northern Colorado seems to be going in the other direction. They’ve lost two straight games since their upset win at Colorado, which included losing to both Montana and Montana State. They’ve now lost four of their last five and don’t look like they’re going to dominate the Big Sky like we thought they would a week ago.

-We need to keep an eye on New Mexico. They beat a fairly decent Wyoming team rather handily 78-58 to improve to a solid 11-3 overall.

-Hawaii played what will likely be their toughest remaining game of the season yesterday and fell at UC San Diego 83-73. I still think they can win the Big West, but unless they run the table I don’t think they can get inside the bubble. They really needed a road win like this on their profile for that to happen.

-Duke, Houston, and BYU all had battles on the road, but all managed to pull out wins.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-CREIGHTON AT SETON HALL (Big East). Seton Hall has been one of the biggest surprises of the year up to this point. Creighton has been one of the biggest busts of the year up to this point. Having said that, things may be changing. Creighton has now won four straight, including three straight Big East games, and is looking noticeably better. If they can get this one on the road then it’s big for their resume and a sign that they are turning things around.

-SEATTLE AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). After nearly knocking off Gonzaga, Seattle has another chance to add a big win to their resume, which is something they are going to need in order to land inside the bubble. Saint Mary’s has won five straight and has knocked off some decent teams during that stretch. They will likely be tested again tonight even though they are at home.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Marquette @ Connecticut (Big East) – if this weren’t a conference game we’d be dismissing it as a buy game

-Jacksonville State @ Liberty (Conference USA) – Liberty may still have a remote shot at landing inside the bubble, but they’ll pretty much need to win out in order to do it

-Tulsa @ North Texas (American) – Tulsa is good enough to land inside the bubble, but this is perhaps one of Tulsa’s most challenging remaining games. North Texas is 5-1 at home and is one of the better teams in the American

-Bradley @ Murray State (Missouri Valley) – a win for Murray State gets them to 13-3 overall on the year and a solid 5-0 in MVC play

-Southern Illinois @ Belmont (Missouri Valley) – Belmont can land inside the bubble, but they pretty much need to win out in order to do it. They should be able to hold serve at home in this one

-San Diego @ Santa Clara (West Coast) – Santa Clara needs to hold serve and pick up some notable wins against either Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga in order to land inside the bubble

-Washington @ Indiana (Big Ten) – Neither team is inside the bubble. Both need to start stringing together wins in order to get there, and both could really use this win tonight

-LMU @ Gonzaga (West Coast) – The Zags got a scare the other night from Seattle. They should be able to hold serve tonight and remain in the hunt for a protected seed.