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NEWS AND NOTES

-Texas Tech hosted Kansas in a defensive affair between two really good teams that actually appeared to have Big 12 title implications even though it’s still only December.  It was close all throughout with multiple lead changes in the final minute.  Texas Tech had what would have been a game winning shot blocked and Kansas held on to pick up yet another notable win against a ranked team.  Texas Tech has still pretty much only won buy games, but based on what they showed last night they’re good enough to build a strong resume between now and the end.

-Marquette has been more up than down this year, but they were a little down yesterday.  After winning on the road at Creighton, which was their second top ten win of the season, they turned around and lost at home to a Seton Hall team that’s good, but not top ten good like some of the teams that Marquette has played and beaten.

-Saint Louis picked up another notable win by knocking off NC State 80-69.  It was a very close game until the latter part of the second half when SLU began to pull away.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-BYU AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  San Diego State is unbeaten, in the rankings, and has some good wins on their resume already.  BYU is another probable tournament team looking to add a nice win to their resume tonight.

-DRAKE AT SOUTH DAKOTA.  Drake looking to remain unbeaten.

-RICHMOND AT LOYOLA CHICAGO.  Loyola Chicago is coming off a very impressive showing against Wisconsin and will most likely be a front runner in the Missouri Valley and even push for a spot inside the bubble.  A win today against a Richmond team that’s a probable NCAA Tournament team would certainly help.

-DAVIDSON AT RHODE ISLAND (Atlantic Ten).  You kinda get the sense that both of these teams are in desperation mode.  Davidson has played well at times, but lacks any real notable wins and is coming off a damaging loss to Charlotte.  Rhody has also played well at times, but also needs more notable wins on their resume.

-IOWA STATE AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12).  It’s a conference mismatch.  West Virginia looks like a probable protected seed and Iowa State looks like a sub-NIT team.

-SANTA CLARA AT SAN JOSE STATE.  Santa Clara hasn’t really been tested, but they are unbeaten and can pick up another road win tonight.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Carver College (nondiv1) @ Georgia State
-North Dakota @ Southern Illinois
-Tennessee Tech @ Tennessee
-Florida A&M @ Georgia Tech
-Montana State @ Washington State

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NEWS AND NOTES

-Ohio State suffered their first loss of the season as they fell to Purdue.  Ohio State, while good, has a bit of a flimsy resume at the moment with no wins that really jump out at you, whereas Purdue is now 5-2 with a win against…well…Ohio State!

-Duke’s win at Notre Dame was by far their best of the year.  That’s not saying much since their only other wins are buy games, but they actually looked better than they have all season long.  More importantly than the conference road win on paper is that they appear to be improving as a team on the court.

-Pitt has won five straight since dropping their season opener.  They knocked off (a short handed) Miami FL team last night for their first ACC win.  I’m not ready to say that they’re a solid tournament caliber team yet, but I am willing to say they don’t stink nearly as much as I thought on the first day of the season.

-Mercer suffered their first loss of the season as they fell on the road to Georgia State.  Mercer and Georgia State are two good UTR teams who’s only losses are to each other.

-Marshall is another really strong UTR team that had a bit of a surprising loss yesterday.  They fell at home to Toledo.  They trailed for most of the game, but rallied late and came back to force overtime.  They appeared to have all the momentum, but then fell flat in OT and ended up with their first loss of the season.

-Cincinnati fell at home to South Florida.  The Bearcats are young and wildly inconsistent, and while they’ve shown some promise, yesterday’s loss certainly does not help them.

-Oklahoma State went down for the first time this year in a home loss to TCU, which was a bit of a shocker.  Both these teams have looked better than what we thought they’d look like coming into the year.  TCU improves to 6-2 on the year with some decent wins on thier resume.

-SMU handed East Carolina their first loss.  The game was close for about 30 mins, but then SMU pulled away.  They aren’t getting a whole lot of national attention, but I really like this SMU team.

-Arizona State lost at home to UTEP, and nothing against UTEP who now improves to 3-2, but Arizona State just has not looked good in the last week or so.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KANSAS AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  Texas Tech was actually our preseason pick to win the Big 12, and while we expect to see a lot of improvement between now and the end, they haven’t really looked the part so far.  Of course, our opinions of them would change in a big way if they could knock off Kansas tonight.  It should be a good one between two probable protected seeds.

-CREIGHTON AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  Creighton has lost a couple of close games to Kansas and Marquette this past week and is looking to get that nasty taste out of their mouths.  This won’t be a cakewalk by any means as the Johnnies have shown quite a bit of life themselves this year, but it is a winnable road game.

-NC STATE AT SAINT LOUIS.  Neither team has a loss, and SLU has a pretty good win against LSU under their belts, but so far they’ve both had limited chances against quality opponents, so it’s good that we get to see them play each other tonight.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT OREGON.  San Fran is a wildly inconsistent team.  They have beaten ranked teams and lost to mid-level UTR teams within a 24 hour span.  They seem to be swinging a little bit over their heads tonight, but they’re still a fun team to watch and the Ducks better not overlook them.

-SETON HALL AT MARQUETTE.  Marquette has two huge wins under their belts against Wisconsin and Creighton.  They have a couple of losses as well, but neither one are damaging and they appear to have a very solid team.  Seton Hall has sputtered a little bit out of the gate, but they’ve won three straight and can really pick up some momentum if they’re able to win tonight.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Le Tourneau @ New Mexico
-Delaware State @ Coastal Carolina