Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

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-Iowa State knocked off Colorado for the 2nd time this year. They had previously played in the Maui Invitational before Iowa State’s 79-69 road win yesterday. While it was a home loss, it still wasn’t a bad showing for the Buffs. Iowa State is almost assuredly a protected seed, and perhaps even a #1 seed, and Colorado was in the game most of the way.

-Houston won their conference opener on the road at Oklahoma State 60-47 in a game that felt like a rock fight. It’s not an overly impressive win for the Cougars, but it was perhaps their most meaningful of the season up to this point.

-Cincinnati, who seems to be in a situation where all of their remaining games will be harder to win than all of their previous games, was unable to win at Kansas State yesterday. This is not a good sign considering it was arguably their most winnable remaining road game. Cincinnati is still well positioned, and if they can perform in conference they’ll land on the right side of the bubble, but it’s also fair to be questioning how good they actually are right now.

-Princeton, who basically needs to run the table to get inside the bubble, needed a last second shot to beat Akron yesterday. They dodged a bullet, but was able to pick up the 76-75 win against the Zips.

-Rutgers clobbered Columbia 91-64, which isn’t the biggest win on paper, but Columbia was a very respectable 11-1 coming into the game, and Rutgers finally at least looked like a top 40ish type of team on the court.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-WEST VIRGINIA AT KANSAS (Big 12). West Virginia has a really solid profile and is 9-2 overall. They probably aren’t quite good enough to where I would expect them to win a true road game against a top ten team, but Kansas better not just overlook them.

-UTAH AT BAYLOR (Big 12). Utah is a respectable 8-3, but all of their wins have come at home and this is their first true road game of the year, so a win today would easily be their biggest of the season so far.

-UCF AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12). Both of these teams come in at 9-2 and both have shown some signs of life, but both still have work to do between now and the end and a win today in the conference opener would be big for either of these teams.

-VCU AT SAINT BONAVENTURE (Atlantic 10). Both have racked up big records against weak schedules, and both could really use this win today to strengthen their overall profiles. Saint Bonaventure is a respectable 12-1, but with no real notable wins. This is the kind of game they need to be able to win if they want to land inside the bubble.

-RHODE ISLAND AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic 1o). Rhode Island is 11-1, but like most other teams in the A10 they played a weak schedule and have a very small margin for error. They also don’t have a true road win yet, so they kind of need this one today (and a lot more on top of that).

-ARIZONA STATE AT BYU (Big 12). Both teams are a very respectable 9-2, but BYU is a little light so far on high caliber wins. A win tonight in their conference opener would certainly give them a boost. Arizona State has probably exceeded expectations so far this year and looks like a probable tournament team, but they still don’t have a true road win, so to get this one in their conference opener tonight would certainly strengthen their resume.

-UAB AT NORTH TEXAS (American). North Texas is a good team who has a shot at making the NCAA Tournament, but their margin for error is small. They probably need to not lose to anyone other than Memphis the rest of the way, and perhaps win one of their games against Memphis on top of that.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT RICHMOND (Atlantic 10). Like several A10 teams, GW has an impressive record against an unimpressive schedule. They have a razor thin margin for error in regards to making the NCAA Tournament and every game will have a high stakes feel to it.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT CREIGHTON (Big East). Saint John’s has looked impressive this year and is 11-2 overall, whereas Creighton has somewhat underperformed this year and has had to deal with injuries and is a somewhat underwhelming 8-5. Still, the Blue Jays can be dangerous and they have beaten some good teams, and the Johnnies have only played one true road game so far.

-MARQUETTE AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). It’s never easy to win on the road, but Marquette is a good team that’s capable of winning games like this.

-UTAH STATE AT NEVADA (Mountain West). Utah State is coming off a massive road win against San Diego State, and while they’ll be challenged tonight, it’s still the kind of game they’ve shown they can win. Utah State looks like they’ll safely land inside the bubble and we will likely see them in the top 25 before the end of the year.

OTHER GAMES OF NOTE:

-Brown @ Kentucky
-La Salle @ Dayton (Atlantic 10)
-Seton Hall @ Xavier (Big East) – Xavier has lost three straight tough ones and needs to start stringing together wins to get back toward the bubble
-Norfolk State @ Tennessee – this feels like a 1 vs 16 game in the Round of 64
-Virginia Tech @ Duke (ACC)
-New Mexico @ Fresno State (Mountain West) – New Mexico can improve to 11-3 and 3-0 in conference play
-Boise State @ Wyoming (Mountain West) – Boise State needs to string together wins and a lot of those wins need to be on the road

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For the most part it was a pretty chalky day yesterday. Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, and Northwestern all won games you would expect them to win without too much trouble.

-Georgia had to sweat South Carolina State a lot more than what many of us were expecting, but they did manage to hold on and win 79-72. South Carolina State also came very close to upsetting Xavier earlier in the year, so they’ll be a team to keep an eye on once MEAC play gets underway. Speaking of the MEAC…

-Norfolk State picked up a really nice road win at High Point yesterday 77-74. It was High Point’s first home loss of the year, and it may turn out to be their only home loss. Norfolk State will almost assuredly need the auto-bid to get into the NCAA Tournament, but they have looked good OOC so far (as has South Carolina State) and we could see them a little further up the seedlist than where we normally see the MEAC AQ team.

-Drake rolled past Belmont 65-46. It was never even a game. It may not be their most impressive win of the season on paper, but Belmont is still a pretty good team and for Drake to beat them that handily is certainly a statement. They remain unbeaten, and I guess we’ll have to wait until this afternoon to see if this was enough to put them in the top 25.

-Michigan absolutely dump-trucked Western Kentucky 112-64. This was a WKU team that had been playing fairly well coming into this game, so it is kind of impressive that Michigan beat them so badly.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-AKRON AT PRINCETON. Princeton had the big win against Rutgers their last time out and while they were a little disappointing in some of their OOC games they are still 9-4 overall. If they can blow through the rest of their schedule (which I know is a big ‘if’) they will likely at least be on the bubble at the end.

-COLUMBIA AT RUTGERS. Columbia has been one of the more intriguing stories in college basketball. They’re 11-1 on the season with 3 true road wins, but this will hands down be their toughest test so far. Rutgers is super talented, but also super young. At 7-5 overall they have underperformed, but the Big Ten will provide them with the opportunities they need to get big wins and land in the NCAA Tournament despite the slow start. Having said that, the sooner they start stringing together wins, the better.

-CINCINNATI AT KANSAS STATE (Big 12). This is not an easy road game for Cincinnati, but it is perhaps one of the more winnable road games that they’ll have the rest of the way. They are 10-1 overall and their last two wins were fairly solid, but their overall OOC schedule was not that difficult, and playing in the Big 12 will be…well…exceedingly difficult.

-HOUSTON AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12). I still really like this Houston team and think they are good enough to make it to the Final Four, but they didn’t build up much of an OOC resume (at least by protected seed standards) and need to start stringing together wins in conference play. Not only is this Houston’s conference opener, it’s their first true road game of the season.

-TCU AT ARIZONA (Big 12). Arizona is just 6-5, but they’ve played a very tough OOC schedule. Having said that, they need to hold serve at home and win the winnable games like this one to keep themselves within reach of the NCAA field.

-IOWA STATE AT COLORADO (Big 12). This is one of the more intriguing games of the day. Iowa State is ranked 3rd in the nation, and they go on the road in their conference opener to play a Colorado team that’s 9-2 overall with some really big wins and who has a shot at another huge showcase win tonight.

BUY GAMES (and other notable games):

-Western Michigan @ Michigan State
-Monmouth @ Auburn
-New Hampshire @ Iowa
-Presbyterian @ South Carolina
-Alabama State @ Missouri
-Oakland @ Arkansas
-Bryant @ Grand Canyon
-New Orleans @ Vanderbilt
-Bethune Cookman @ Mississippi State
-Southern @ Nebraska
-LMU @ Washington State (West Coast) – Wazzu should get the win and improve to 12-3
-Portland @ Oregon State (West Coast) – a win for Oregon State gets them to 11-3 on the year
-Gonzaga @ Pepperdine (West Coast) – Gonzaga is coming off a tough loss to UCLA, but should be able to bounce back tonight in their conference opener
-UC Irvine @ Cal Baptist (Big West) – I still really like this UC Irvine team and think they have a path (albeit a narrow one) to landing inside the bubble. They need to hold serve in games like this
-Santa Clara @ San Francisco (West Coast) – a Bay Area rivalry. Santa Clara has shown some signs of life, but San Francisco has shown more. A win gets them to 12-3

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Gonzaga and UCLA came down to the last shot of the game, as they seem to commonly do whenever they play each other. With 8 secs to go, the Zags hit a layup and got an and-1 with a chance to tie the game, but missed the freethrow, and then missed a heave in the final seconds after two made UCLA freethrows, and the Bruins picked up a massive 65-62 win. Gonzaga is now 9-4 on the season, and while they’ve had some really nice wins it’s still not quite as good as what many were expecting. Still, if you look at their losses, two have been in overtime (one of which was to Kentucky), another was to a very solid UConn team, and the fourth was yesterday. So, they still have a very high ceiling and when you look at the rest of their schedule it looks as though they’ll be favored in all their remaining games. As for UCLA, it was a huge bounce back win after their close loss to North Carolina, and considering they also have a couple nice wins against Arizona and Oregon they are very well positioned as they head into conference play.

-Utah State pulled off an exciting finish at San Diego State 67-66. They trailed by 7 with under 2 minutes to go, but finished the game on a 9-1 run which included the game winning 3 with less than 10 seconds to go. Utah State is now 12-1 on the year with wins over Iowa, Saint Bonaventure (who has just one loss), and Saint Mary’s. The win at San Diego State is probably their most impressive of the season so far, and we should see the Aggies in the Top 25 next week.

-Memphis ran away from Ole Miss 87-70. While Ole Miss did make some runs at times to keep themselves in it, at no point did it feel like Memphis was not in control of the game. The Tigers are now 10-3 with a very strong resume as they are about to begin conference play, and it looks like they’ll be favored in all of their remaining games. I think they are on track to end up with a protected seed come March.

-Louisville barely escaped Eastern Kentucky. They seemed to be in control at the half, but then a poor shooting second half allowed EKU to get back in it and actually take the lead with less than 10 seconds to go. A go-ahead basket in the final seconds (and then a foul) allowed Louisville to hold on 78-76. I don’t know if Louisville had any time off for the Holidays, but if they did I bet they don’t get any time off next year.

-New Mexico picked up their first road win of the season as they knocked off Colorado State 76-68. They are now 10-3 on the year with and have a nice win over UCLA from earlier, so the Lobos are well positioned.

-Boise State barely escaped San Jose State, but held on 73-71 for a conference road win. Boise State was the preseason conference favorite (at least among our group), but with San Diego State, Utah State, and New Mexico all looking strong they certainly have their work cut out for them.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-INDIANA STATE AT OHIO STATE. It’s a buy game, but it’s interesting enough to go ahead and highlight. After a very slow start and a lot of roster turnover, Indiana State is starting to hit their stride with five straight wins. This is a much bigger test than any of the previous five games, though, as Ohio State is coming off a very impressive win against Kentucky, which ranks up there as one of the more impressive single game performances any team has this season.

-NORTHEASTERN AT NORTHWESTERN. Again, this is a buy game, but Northeastern may be just good enough to make this one interesting. They’ll need to do better than they did against UMass, though. Northwestern has several solid wins, and of their three losses they were all against good teams by five points or less, so you don’t want to just overlook the Wildcats.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT ALABAMA. This is a good South Dakota State that has gotten better as the season has gone along, but they’re probably way overmatched in this one. Alabama is a probable protected seed, and while the Jackrabbits will be a force in the Summit League, beating a protected seed on their floor is probably too tall of an order.

-BELMONT AT DRAKE (Missouri Valley). Belmont is good, but Drake has just been fantastic this year and are one of the few remaining unbeaten teams. They are inching closer and closer to the top 25 and may be just a week or two away from breaking into it if they can keep winning. They will be tested today, but it’s still a game they should be able to win.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT MICHIGAN. This is a talented WKU team that got off to a big of a slow start, but since losing to Kentucky has won six straight. I don’t know if they’re good enough to win at Michigan, but the Wolverines (who are having a damn good year themselves) better not overlook them.

BUY GAMES (and other games of note):

-Northwestern State @ Texas
-Stetson @ Florida
-Penn @ Penn State
-Prairie View A&M @ Oklahoma
-Chicago State @ Illinois
-Norfolk State @ High Point – these look like two conference frontrunners, but High Point looks to have more talent and they are playing at home
-South Carolina State @ Georgia
-Longwood @ SMU – Longwood has a very respectable 11-3 record with 3 true road wins, but they’re probably way overmatched in this one
-Valparaiso @ Bradley (Mountain West) – a win for Bradley gets them to 11-2 on the year and keeps them unbeaten in league play
-Winthrop @ Indiana
-Weber State @ Oregon
-Toledo @ Purdue
-Mississippi Valley State @ LSU
-Campbell @ North Carolina