Under The Radar Game of the Day: Prairie View A&M at Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Posted on January 28, 2019 by John Stalica

For the weekly HoopsHD staff bracket featuring Chad’s personal bracket – CLICK HERE

For Jon Teitel’s weekly bracket where he guesses the Selection Committee – CLICK HERE

Prairie View A&M (8-11, 6-0 SWAC) at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-12, 4-2 SWAC) – 8:30 PM EST (No TV)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where the hometown Golden Lions will host the Panthers of Prairie View for Monday Night SWACtion. Pine Bluff is solidly in third place in league play – they are a full two games behind Prairie View for 1st and a game behind Alabama State for second place. They are a perfect 5-0 in home game so far this season with one non-D1 win in December and four wins in league play, including a hard-fought 90-86 win against Texas Southern on Saturday night. Martaveous McKnight leads Pine Bluff with a whopping 24.1 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per game.

While there is a team from Texas that is atop the SWAC at the moment, it is not Texas Southern but rather their neighbors from Prairie View. After a decisive 17-point win at Santa Clara to open the season, the Panthers have won their first six league contests and are coming off of an 11-point win at Mississippi Valley State over the weekend. Gary Blackston (15.5 PPG, 7.8 RPG) had 14 points and 11 rebounds in the Panthers’ win.

OTHER GAMES OF NOTE

-DUKE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  Duke is cruising and will likely end up as a #1 seed if they keep playing like they have been.  This is a very winnable road game.

-TCU AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  This is an interesting match-up.  Texas Tech has been winning, and you can’t just ignore that, but they’ve had to sweat out some wins that you wouldn’t expect a protected seed to have to sweat out.  TCU has been winning as well, but for the most part they’ve been beating up on a pastry cart and don’t have any really big wins just yet.  That will change if they’re able to pull it out tonight.

-BAYLOR AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12).  Based on how well Baylor has been playing, I’d say that both of these teams are probable NCAA Tournament teams, and it’s possible that Baylor could end up in the top half of the bracket despite their sluggish start.  It’s an opportunity at a quality win for both these teams, and it’s one that both of them could use.

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Bracket Prediction (Chad) 1-27-2019

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Chad

It is my (Chad’s) turn to do the staff bracket this week, so here it goes.  Below is the bracket  (followed by some notes) through all games of Sunday, January 27.  Note that this is how I feel the bracket should be as of right now, and is not an attempt to forecast what will happen as more games play out or to predict how the actual committee will decide things.

CHAD’S NOTES

– My top four teams out were, in order, Alabama, Pitt, UCF and Butler.  My next four were Florida, Providence, Northwestern and San Francisco.  Also considered were Arizona, Saint Louis, Clemson and Utah State.

– Tennessee is #1 overall, but only by a very slim margin over Duke.  I also placed Michigan to #3 overall, above #4 Virginia, because I just like the good on their profile, including 10 wins against the Board, better than UVA.

–  Gonzaga is a 2 seed, and behind both Kentucky and Michigan State on the 2 line.  At the end of the day, all the Zags have is one notable win, and no matter how good it was (and it was a great one!), it is only one win.  There are multiple teams below them in the bracket that have a better overall collection of wins.  In fact, I only have Gonzaga this high because of the “eye test” — their profile would probably place them on the 3 or 4 line.

– Kansas is at the top of the 3 line because of their wins, even though they came before they lost Azubuike for they year.  I am not confident that the Jayhawks will stay this high, and honestly believe that the streak of Big 12 titles may come to an end this year.

– LSU is a protected seed, and deserves to be one.  The Bayou Bengals have won 9 straight games and are one of the hottest teams in the country.  Another red hot team is 5 seed Purdue, whose overall resume is starting to match their metrics, and they proved it yesterday by beating Michigan State.  Of course, Purdue rising also helps the resumes of the teams they lost to, including Virginia Tech, Florida State and Texas.

– Yes, I have a Pac-12 team wearing white in the first round, albeit as an 8 seed.  I just really like the way Washington is playing right now, and with the garbage down at the bottom of the bracket, I went with eye test more than resume in this seeding.

– Finally, I honestly could not stomach filling the last at-large spot with any of the garbage from the power conferences.  I chose Creighton for the second to last spot only because the Bluejays really don’t have a single bad loss on the year.  For the last spot, I went with a second SoCon team, UNC-Greensboro, because I would rather see them in the field than anyone else I looked at.

– In terms of the bracket, the Midwest Region looks outright dangerous, and a few interesting matchups popped up including Louisville vs Murray State, an old Big 8 game in Kansas State vs Nebraska and a pod in Tulsa (West Region) with three Texas teams in it.

COMMENTS FROM HOOPSHD STAFF:

FROM DAVID

-Chad continues to downplay Gonzaga because they don’t have as many good wins.  How many good wins does a team need?  I don’t think you should look at a team’s resume like it’s a scorecard, at least not entirely.  Gonzaga has no losses to teams below Chad’s #2 line.  Virginia is the only team that he has on the #1 line that can say that.  Gonzaga’s two losses were to Tennessee (his overall #1) without two key players, and at North Carolina, also without two key players.  They’ve clearly avoided losses to teams outside the top eight.  They also have a win away from home against a team on Chad’s #1 line.  No one else on his #1 line can say that either.  But, since they don’t have wins against Purdue, Northwestern, and Indiana, in Chad’s mind they’re down on the scorecard.

-I’m not feeling Nevada quite like Chad is.  I know they only have one loss, and I do appreciate how many games they’ve won away from home.  I’m just not seeing a #3 seed.  Arizona State is the only team they’ve beaten that’s in his field, and while they do have a lot of decent wins, they don’t have a lot of good wins by protected seed standards.  That’s only part of the problem, though.  The other is that they haven’t exactly buried some of the teams that you would expect them to dominate like Akron, and Boise State, and Grand Canyon.  I know that those are decent teams, but they’re also teams that a #3 seed wouldn’t normally sweat out.

-I’m not all that big on Indiana.  They’ve been blown off of the planet for about six straight games now.  The problem is, I don’t know what to do with them.  I guess a #10 seed makes as much sense as anything right now.

-When I look at the bottom of Chad’s bracket, I’m really holding my nose.  I’d like to throw two teams out there that I think are better than basically anyone from the #10 line down to the bottom of the bubble, and in some cases actually have better paper.  One is Lipscomb, who’s in his bracket as an auto-bid winner, and the other is Belmont.  Lipscomb beat TCU at TCU.  That gives them not only a head to head win over TCU, but a quad 1 win, which is something TCU doesn’t have.  They also won at SMU, which TCU did as well, but I don’t think TCU should get more credit for the win.  The losses are also similar, and I really just think Lipscomb is better.  Same with Belmont, and although their resume isn’t quite as good as Lipscomb’s, it’s probably better than Auburn’s.  Belmont had a much easier time winning at Murray State than Auburn did in beating Murray State at home.  And if you feel that I’m cherry picking with that comment, then keep in mind that Murray State is Auburn’s best win right now, so it’s totally fair to scrutinize it.  Belmont also beat Lipscomb twice.  So, while I agree that the teams from the multi-bid leagues on the bubble smell really bad right now, and while I agree taking UTR teams in their place is a good idea, I feel he should have taken even more UTR teams than what he did.

FROM JOHN

-I think a case could be made for Michigan to be considered for #1 overall when you look at their profile as a whole. If you look at their wins against Quadrant 1, it includes a 17-point win at home against Michigan, a 19-point home win against Purdue and a 27-point win at Villanova. They are also a very respectable 6-1 away from home and their schedule will only get tougher as they get deeper into conference play.

-It was good to see that Buffalo wasn’t punished too harshly for finally stumbling in a conference game at Northern Illinois, but they can’t lose too many more games in order to stay above the First Four. It’s too bad that both Buffalo and Bowling Green stumbled last week – they have their first matchup scheduled for Friday night at BG.

-Baylor and Kansas State on the same line is also intriguing. Both teams have wins against Iowa State and Texas Tech, although K-State got their win at Iowa State (something Kansas could not claim, for example). While Baylor has greatly improved with their roster getting healthy, they also have an iffy loss at Wichita State and two really bad home losses against Texas Southern and Stephen F. Austin. K-State’s worst losses are at Tulsa and Texas A&M.

-I’m starting to wonder if there’s a scenario where the Big East might only get two teams into the field this year. Villanova and Marquette are running away from the rest of the league. I mean, REALLY running away. The “Little Eight” are all within a half game of each other in the standings, and Seton Hall is going in the completely wrong direction after getting swept by DePaul and losing against Providence and Villanova. The Johnnies have home wins against VCU (or at least in a neighboring borough) and Marquette but not much else. Creighton is another team that Chad threw in at the last minute, but they cannot slip up against either St. John’s or Xavier at home this week.

-The only reason a team like Indiana is still in the field is because I too can’t think of a team like Alabama or Pitt that I would put in their place. Teams like Oklahoma State and Xavier in recent years had 6-game losing streaks and still managed to get in the field, but they also had the benefit of rejuvenated rosters later in the year. Will Indiana get the same benefit of the doubt later in the year if they stop the bleeding?

 

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Bracketology 2019: March Madness Predictions (Version 4.0)

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Jon Teitel

For the UTR Game of the Day between North Alabama and NJIT – CLICK HERE

For the rest of today’s Highlighted Games, and a look back at yesterday’s action – CLICK HERE

We are only 7 weeks away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. Last March HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 66 of the 68 teams that made the tourney, 65 of which were within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 42 right on the money. He will spend the upcoming months predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on March 17th. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and if you agree or disagree then feel free to tweet us. To see how we stack up with other websites (ranked 9th out of 127 entries over the past 5 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com

SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE)
1: Duke (ACC)
1: Virginia (ACC)
1: Tennessee (SEC)
1: Michigan State (Big 10)

2: Michigan (Big 10)
2: Gonzaga (WCC)
2: Kansas (Big 12)
2: Kentucky (SEC)

3: North Carolina (ACC)
3: Houston (AAC)
3: Maryland (Big 10)
3: Texas Tech (Big 12)

4: Marquette (Big East)
4: Virginia Tech (ACC)
4: Nevada (MWC)
4: Louisville (ACC)

5: Villanova (Big East)
5: LSU (SEC)
5: Purdue (Big 10)
5: Iowa State (Big 12)

6: Oklahoma (Big 12)
6: Wisconsin (Big 10)
6: Buffalo (MAC)
6: Iowa (Big 10)

7: Auburn (SEC)
7: Kansas State (Big 12)
7: Mississippi State (SEC)
7: Nebraska (Big 10)

8: Florida State (ACC)
8: Mississippi (SEC)
8: NC State (ACC)
8: TCU (Big 12)

9: Cincinnati (AAC)
9: Indiana (Big 10)
9: Syracuse (ACC)
9: St. John’s (Big East)

10: Texas (Big 12)
10: Ohio State (Big 10)
10: Washington (Pac-12)
10: UCF (AAC)

11: Minnesota (Big 10)
11: Seton Hall (Big East)
11: Alabama (SEC)
11: Baylor (Big 12)
11: Arizona State (Pac-12)
11: Butler (Big East)

12: Wofford (SoCon)
12: VCU (A-10)
12: Murray State (OVC)
12: Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)

13: Hofstra (CAA)
13: New Mexico State (WAC)
13: Old Dominion (C-USA)
13: Yale (Ivy)

14: Vermont (America East)
14: Texas State (Sun Belt)
14: Loyola-Chicago (MVC)
14: Northern Kentucky (Horizon)

15: Radford (Big South)
15: UC Irvine (Big West)
15: South Dakota State (Summit)
15: Bucknell (Patriot)

16: Weber State (Big Sky)
16: Rider (MAAC)
16: Sam Houston State (Southland)
16: Norfolk State (MEAC)
16: Robert Morris (NEC)
16: Prairie View (SWAC)

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: North Alabama at NJIT

Posted on January 27, 2019 by John Stalica

CLICK HERE for today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games

North Alabama (8-14, 5-2 A-Sun) at NJIT (16-5, 4-2 A-Sun) – 4:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

After a weeklong hiatus, the Under The Radar Game of the Day returns to Newark, New Jersey where the Highlanders of NJIT will play host to the North Alabama Lions. The Lions are one of two transitional programs making their debut in Division I this year (the other being Cal Baptist). As expected, they got off to a rough 3-13 start with all of their wins coming against non-D1 programs. But since they’ve started conference play, their first win came against perennial league power Florida Gulf Coast and have won 5 of 7 games since that checkpoint (including a 61-55 in their first meeting with NJIT). Jamari Blackmon leads the Lions with 15.5 points a game and 2.7 assists per game.

NJIT is also in the midst of their best start to a season since back-to-back semifinal appearances in the CIT a couple of years ago. The Highlanders have won nine true road games so far this season – their best win was at Duquesne back in December. After a brief two-game losing streak to North Alabama and Lipscomb earlier this month, the Highlanders have now won three straight games after beating Jacksonville at home and sweeping a road trip at North Florida and Stetson. Zack Cooks leads NJIT with 18.6 points a game and 4.8 rebounds a game; Abdul Lewis also averages 12.1 points a game and 9.7 rebounds a game as well.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Jan 27th

Posted on January 27, 2019 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-Kentucky v Kansas was close throughout, but in the final minutes of the game Kentucky surged ahead to pick up the win.  Kansas is now just 1-4 in true road games, and I know that Kentucky is a likely protected seed, and has they won this game I would start to warm up to them more as a #1 seed because of how strong some of their wins are, but they have just ONE true road win up to this point, and one of those losses was at West Virginia, who just flat out stinks this year.

-Last week I had said that I thought Syracuse was getting better.  Last week I also said that I felt Virginia Tech had done nothing to prove themselves.  So naturally, VA Tech absolutely boat-raced Syracuse yesterday.

-Maryland decided to play a home game in New York City against Illinois, and lost.  Maryland had been on an absolute tear, especially at home (albeit not at home in New York).  This was perhaps the biggest surprise of the day.

-Kansas State’s loss at Texas A&M is a close second.  K State had won three straight games against ranked teams, and picked up two of those wins on the road, and Texas A&M had struggled to punch their way out of a paper bag for most of the season, so it almost doesn’t make any sense at all that TAMU got the win.

-Texas Tech won again, but they had to sweat out another rather weak team, again.  They held off Arkansas in a game that was much closer than it should have been if Texas Tech really is a top fifteen team.

-Mississippi State got a decent win against Auburn, which is important because they don’t have decent wins.  Auburn failed to beat Mississippi State, which is important because they don’t have ANY decent wins.

-Iowa State went on the road and won handily at Ole Miss in what may have been the most impressive showing of the day.  They Cyclones seem to be getting better and better as the season goes along.

-Remember two years ago when Clemson lost about eight (or was it nine?) games either in overtime or on the last possession of the game?  Well, they’re back to their old ways!  NC State had a three at the buzzer to pick up the 69-67 win.

-LSU trailed Missouri the entire game, and Mizzou seemed to have it in such control in the final couple of minutes that you may have changed the channel.  Well, if you did you missed Mizzou completely falling apart, and LSU hanging on to win in overtime.

-Ohio State ended a four game losing streak by picking up a very nice road win at Nebraska.  The Huskers have now lost three in a row and are suddenly in real trouble.

-Baylor and Alabama was another close thriller that Baylor was able to pull out.  The Bears have been on a tear the last couple of weeks, and are looking more and more like a solid NCAA Tournament team.

-Texas continues to look Schizophrenic.  They fell at Georgia, and now their profile looks even more scattershot than it did before.  They’ve got wins against North Carolina, Purdue, and Oklahoma, but are just 11-9 overall, have just one true road win, and have losses to Radford and now Georgia.  Have fun seeding that team!

-Saint Louis lost at home to Davidson.  I am now convinced that the A10 will only send the tournament winner.  VCU is the last chance, and I don’t know how good of a chance they have.  They held on to win at Duquesne yesterday, and need to win out in order to feel safe.

-South Carolina had been on a tear, but they fell on the road to an Oklahoma State team that has struggled all season long yesterday.

-A big Under the Radar result from the America East was that Vermont didn’t just win at Stony Brook, they completely blew them out.  In hindsight we probably should have seen it coming considering how much of a struggle it was for Stony Brook to get wins against teams like Albany and Maine, but I couldn’t get past how good their resume looked.  Furthermore, Vermont was coming off a rather decisive loss to UMBC.  Vermont just plowed them, though, to take over the driver’s seat of the America East.

-Belmont also picked up a nice win at Austin Peay, who had previously been unbeaten at home.  Not a bad week for Belmont who beat both Murray State and Austin Peay on the road this week.

-Penn knocked off Saint Joe’s to finish a perfect 4-0 in Big Five play!!  The problem is, they’re not doing so well in Ivy League play at the moment.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-GEORGETOWN AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  The first meeting was an overtime thriller.  Both teams have work to do if they want to make the NCAA Tournament, and this game has a very pivotal feel to it.  Georgetown has lost four out of five, and the Johnnies have lost three out of four.

-DEPAUL AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Both of these teams have a lot of ground to make up to catch back up to the pack of teams that are in contention to make the NCAA Tournament, so a win today is important.

-CINCINNATI AT TEMPLE (America East).  Both teams have bloated records, but both teams are very light in regards to quality wins.  Both also have limited chances to pick up quality wins, which is why this game is so important.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  Michigan State has won their last two on the road, and has another big road test today.  They definitely have a road to a #1 seed, but getting there will require that they continue to win games like this.

-HOUSTON AT TULSA (American).  This should be a tough road game for Houston.  Tulsa is about a hundred miles away from making the NCAA Tournament, but they have been very strong at home this year.

-SETON HALL AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  These are two teams that are going in completely opposite directions.  Seton Hall had some big OOC wins and appeared to be on pace to basically skate into the top half of the bracket, but has not lost four of their last five games, including two to DePaul.  Villanova tripped up in some OOC games, but are currently unbeaten in Big East play and looking more and more like a protected seed.

-UCF AT MEMPHIS (American).  UCF is hovering around our bubble right now and has a very small margin for error.  Memphis is coming off a loss to Temple, but prior to that they’d win six out of seven, so beating them on the road may not be the easiest of tasks.

-LIPSCOMB AT STETSON (Atlantic Sun).  If Lipscomb can run the table then I think the committee will take a serious look at them.

-IOWA AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten).  Both of these teams are probable tournament tams, but Iowa could use a road win on their resume, Minnesota could use a quality win on theirs.  Both definitely have room to move up.

-FLORIDA STATE AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  This is quite simply a road game that Florida State needs to win.  They are in a tailspin, and it will get even worse if they lose to a team like Miami.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Jan 26th

Posted on January 26, 2019 by David Griggs

It’s another huge day of hoops with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, and quite a few other big games as well…

-KANSAS AT KENTUCKY (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  It’s not November or December, but it will technically go in the books as YET ANOTHER OOC TOP TEN MATCH UP!!!  We’ve had more of those this year than any season I can recall.  Both these teams seem very #2 seedish to me.  Kansas has slipped a little bit since being hit hard with the injury bug, but if they can win this game then I think it erases a lot of doubts with them.  If Kentucky pulls it off then they have a potential path to a #1 seed when you consider that they will face Tennessee multiple times between now and the end, and that they’ve (for the most part) avoided bad losses.

-GEORGIA TECH AT DUKE (ACC).  This is an ACC game that in all likelihood will end up looking like a buy game by the time it’s over.

-ILLINOIS VS MARYLAND (Big Ten, New York City).  This is a Big Ten game that in all likelihood will end up looking like a buy game by the time it’s over.

-IOWA STATE AT OLE MISS (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  Neither team began the season in the rankings, and I don’t think either were expected to do all that much, but both have played their way into the top 25, both are probable NCAA Tournament teams, and it would be a nice resume win for whichever team pulls it off.

-FLORIDA AT TCU (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  Both teams are hovering around the bubble, and we feel that Florida is on the outside of it.  It’s a big game for two teams that still need to build up their resumes.

-OHIO STATE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten).  Nebraska is a home court hero and is capable of beating ranked teams at home, but other than a win at Indiana has done very little else.  Ohio State has done nothing since the start of the new year.  Both these teams are in a bit of a tailspin and could really use a win in this game.

-ALABAMA AT BAYLOR (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  Baylor has really kicked it into gear lately, and if they keep it up they’ll not only make the NCAA Tournament, but be in the top half of the bracket.  Alabama has looked really solid at times, but still has some work to do, and a road win like this could really help them out.

-VIRGINIA AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  Virginia may be the best team in the country, and is gunning for a #1 seed.  If they keep winning, which they are certainly good enough to do, then that’s where they’ll end up.

-MARQUETTE AT XAVIER (Big East).  Marquette is looking more and more like a protected seed, and if that’s the case then this is the kind of road game they should be expected to win.

-CLEMSON AT NC STATE (ACC).  NC State didn’t play the toughest of schedules, and while they’re good they don’t have the highest caliber of wins, so they need to make sure they continue to hold serve at home against teams that are outside the NCAA Tournament picture.

-PITTSBURGH AT LOUISVILLE (ACC).  Pitt is much improved, but they still don’t have a true road win on their resume.  Louisville is looking more and more like a protected seed and should be able to hold serve.  Pitt won the first meeting in overtime between these two, but that game was at Pitt.

-DAVIDSON AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten).  SLU may be one or two losses away from being completely out of strikes.  They pretty much need to win out in order to feel safe.

-TEXAS AT GEORGIA (SEC/ Big 12 Challenge).  Texas has been a very schizophrenic team, and while I think they should win this game easily, one never knows what they are going to do.  Their good wins are really good, and their bad losses are really bad.  This would be another bad loss if they fail to get it done.

-VCU AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten).  This game has the intrigue of a much improved Duquesene team and a VCU team that has a chance of ending up inside the bubble if they’re able to win out.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT OKLAHOMA STATE (SEC/ Big 12 Challenge).  South Carolina has flipped a switch since conference play began, and is actually playing like a tournament caliber team.  They’ve still got a long ways to go, but if they keep it up they may get there.

-KANSAS STATE AT TEXAS A&M (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  K State is looking like a protected seeded caliber team, and TAMU is looking like a team that just flat out sucks.  That makes this a very winnable road game for K State.

-NORTHWESTERN AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Wisky seems to be back on track with two straight wins, and has another winnable game at home today.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT TENNESSEE (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  Back in October, I was really excited about this game.  Now it’s looking like it could be a complete pounding.  Having said that, Tennessee has had to sweat in their last two games and West Virginia recently knocked off Kansas, so they shouldn’t be too cocky.

-UTAH STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West).  Utah State is probably out of strikes, but if they’re able to win out they could end up landing inside the bubble.

-FRESNO STATE AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West).  Similar to Utah State, Fresno State has NCAA Tournament hopes that are barely flickering, and they pretty much need to win out to have any real chance.

-VANDERBILT AT OKLAHOMA (SEC/ Big 12 Challenge).  Oklahoma is coming off a nice win against Oklahoma State, which should get them turned back around after they dropped a few games.  They’ve got another very winnable game at home this weekend that won’t help them out all that much on paper, but could be good for their mental health.

-WASHINGTON AT OREGON STATE (Pac Twelve).  Washington is coming off an exciting win against Oregon, which is probably their best win of the season on paper.  They’ve got another challenging but winnable road game today against the Beavers.

-ARKANSAS AT TEXAS TECH (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  Arkansas is better than we thought they’d be this year, but they still don’t look much like an NCAA Tournament team.  Texas Tech could still end up with a protected seed, but they’re lacking the high caliber wins that they had a year ago, at least for right now.  They’ve also been in a bit of a rut and need to pull themselves out of that with a win today.

-LSU AT MISSOURI (SEC/Big 12 Challenge).  LSU has been playing much better, and has cracked the rankings.  They’ve got a winnable road game today and should be able to keep that momentum going.

-SOUTH CAROLINA STATE AT SAVANNAH STATE (MEAC).  The Team of the People!!!  Savannah State has a winnable game at home today, which will hopefully get things turned around for them.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT PENN (Big Five).  A win for Penn makes them a perfect 4-0 in Big Five play and gives them the outright title!!  The bad news is that the Big Five is simply a mythical conference, and while the winner has never missed the NCAA Tournament so far as we know, Penn can’t get in without the Ivy auto bid despite having a couple of really good wins.

-SYRACUSE AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Syracuse has been schizophrenic all season long, but these last couple of weeks they seem to have gotten it together and are playing consistently good basketball.  VA Tech, on the other hand, has not won a game that comes anywhere close to indicating they are a top 10 team even though the voters have them ranked 10th for some reason.  I know they’re at home, but this is hardly a shoe in for them.

-ARIZONA STATE AT USC (Pac Twelve).  Arizona State his hovering around the bubble despite having some pretty big wins, and needs to hold serve against non-tournament teams, which in the case of the Pac Twelve is damn near the entire conference.

-AUBURN AT MISSISSIPPI STATE (SEC).  This is a very important game for two teams with good records, but without many (or any) really good wins.  The voters like them both, but neither team’s resume is as good as their current ranking.  I think this is a very big game for both teams, and would be the biggest win of the season for either team up to this point.

UNDER THE RADAR

-HOFSTRA AT TOWSON (Colonial).  Hofstra is unbeaten in the league and is good enough to win out.  If they do, then they’ll be looking at the #12 line in the Round of 64.

-SAMFORD AT FURMAN (SoCon).  Furman still has a pretty strong resume despite being three games out of first place in the SoCon.  If they hold serve and can finish in second place behind Wofford the committee should at least look at them.

-BELMONT AT AUSTIN PEAY (Ohio Valley).  The two losses to Jacksonville State hurt, but I can’t help but think that if Belmont wins out that the committee will at least look at them.

-TEXAS STATE AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN (Sun Belt).  Texas State is coming off a really nice win at Georgia State, and is now in the driver’s seat to finish first in the Sun Belt and earn what should be a manageable seed in the Round of 64

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT NORTH TEXAS (Conference USA).  The top of CUSA is a complete logjam right now, and North Texas needs to bounce back from their loss to UAB the other night.

-VERMONT AT STONY BROOK (America East).  These are the top two teams, and this game is hugely important in determining who will get home court advantage throughout the conference tournament.

-CHATTANOOGA AT WOFFORD (SoCon).  Wofford has cut it very close the last two games, and this one won’t be all that easy either, but they keep winning, and if they keep doing that they’ve got a very good shot at landing inside the bubble and not needing the auto-bid.

-TENNESSEE STATE AT MURRAY STATE (Ohio Valley).  Murray State’s at-large hopes are pretty much shot.  They’ll need to win the auto-bid.  But finishing in the top two gives them a bye into the semis, so it’s still important that they do well.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT UTVRG (WAC).  New Mexico State is still in the race to finish first in the WAC, and should be able to pick this one up on the road.

-WEBER STATE AT MONTANA (Big Sky).  These are two of the better teams in the Big Sky, and this game will likely have a huge impact on who ends up winning the league.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT LONG BEACH STATE (Big West).  It’s a two horse race in the Big West between UCSB and UC Irvine.  They need to pick this one up on the road to keep pace.

-GRAND CANYON AT CAL BAPTIST (WAC).  GCU had some tough close losses out of conference, but is 5-1 in league play with the only loss being on a beyond half court shot at the buzzer against New Mexico State.  Cal Baptist can be tough to beat at home, so this one should be good.

-UC RIVERSIDE AT UC IRVINE (Big West).  The much anticipated RiverVine Cup!!!  The best made up trophy in all of sports!!  UC Irvine is in a race for first with UCSB, so every game has a pivotal feel.

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