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NEWS AND NOTES

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For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a good one out of the OVC – CLICK HERE

-Iowa State picked up their biggest and most impressive win of the year by knocking off Texas State.  Eight days ago, no top 15 teams had lost at home.  Now NC State (who is no longer in the top 15), Texas Tech, Duke, and North Carolina all have home losses.

-K State went on the road and blew out Oklahoma.  They looked so much better than they have at any point this season that I’m not even sure what the proper adjective is to described just how much better they looked.  Whatever was wrong with them before was not wrong with them last night.

-Something is suddenly very wrong with Minnesota.  They went up against a very weak Illinois team, and were blown off the court.  They trailed by more than 20 for seemingly the majority of the game.

-UCF fell on the road to Wichita State, which doesn’t help a resume that was in need of some work.

-South Carolina picked up a road win at Vanderbilt last night.  They have now won five straight, are 4-0 in the SEC, which is the 3rd ranked overall conference in the NET, are tied for first for Tennessee who is a potential #1 seed……and they are still about a hundred miles from making the NIT.  Next up for them is LSU, Auburn, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee.  If they win three out of those four, they’ll still have work to do, but I think they will have demonstrated that they are capable of getting that work done by the end of the year and landing in the NCAA Tournament.

-Perhaps the most amusing moment of the night was in the UConn v Tulsa game, where both Dan Hurley and Frank Haith were ejected at the same time.  I’ve never seen that before.  After watching the video, it was clear that both coaches needed to cool it, but it had not gotten anywhere close to escalating to the point of where you’d think either one of them would be ejected.  They shook hands with each other as they left the court.  There are a lot of coaches in the American getting ejected this week, which raises the question of whether or not it’s the coaches that are the problem

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MICHIGAN STATE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten).  Michigan State is ranked in the top ten and has a path to a #1 seed if they can win out.  Nebraska looks to be a solid tournament team and is coming off one of their nicest wins in years.  They’re also very tough to beat at home so while they’re nowhere near Michigan State in terms of profile, they will be jacked for this one and it won’t be an easy game for Sparty.

-LMU AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  LMU started off with some promise, but is now just 1-2 in league play.  They’ve got a seemingly impossible order tonight against a Gonzaga team that’s gunning for the #1 line.

-STANFORD AT WASHINGTON (Pac Twelve).  As bad as the Pac Twelve has been this year, I still think there’s room in the bubble for a team like Washington if they can continue to win at the clip that they have been.  This is a winnable home game where they need to hold serve.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT PACIFIC (West Coast).  If San Francisco can close to all their remaining games, I think they’ll get a serious look from the committee, and may even be selected.  The problem is that they just don’t have any wins against NIT caliber teams, much less NCAA teams, but there have been times where teams with bloated records and no real wins have gotten in before.

-OREGON AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve).  Arizona still has a lot of work to do, but in our current bracket they’re hovering around our bubble and should be okay this March so long as they continue to hold serve, and in this conference that pretty much means beating everyone.

-OREGON STATE AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve).  Arizona State is in a bit of a tailspin and they need to pull themselves out of it.  Oregon State is much improved, and may be a dark horse in this conference, so ASU better not overlook them.

UNDER THE RADAR

-LOUISIANA TECH AT OLD DOMINION (Conference USA).  Both had really good OOC runs, but both have already lost two conference games.  Both could potentially be dangerous in March, but they gotta get there first.

-CHARLESTON AT NORTHEASTERN (Colonial).  After a fantastic 13-2 start to the season that included a win at VCU, Charleston had a terrible week where they lost two straight.  They need to win out to have any shot at all.

-UNC GREENSBORO AT WESTERN CAROLINA (SoCon).  It will be fun watching UNCG, Wofford, Furman, and ETSU battle throughout SoCon play.  There may be room for more than one bid.

-MURRAY STATE AT EASTERN ILLINOIS (Ohio Valley).  If Murray State wins out, the committee will have an interesting decision to make.

-GEORGIA STATE AT SOUTH ALABAMA (Sun Belt).  GA State has had some close calls, but I still feel they’re the best team in the SBC and it’ll be interesting to see what their resume looks like at the end of the year if they win out or come close to it.

-BELMONT AT JACKSONVILLE STATE (Ohio Valley).  This is the game of the week in the OVC.  It’s a somewhat tough road test for Belmont against a Jax State team that’s unbeaten in conference, and who beat them at home earlier this season.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT SEATTLE (WAC).  NMSU has been somewhat disappointing even though they only have one league loss.  They had to really sweat out their other two.  Seattle has not been somewhat disappointing.  They’ve been totally disappointing after a strong OOC run.  I still think NMSU can dominate this league and give someone fits in the Round of 64.

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Lipscomb and NJIT – CLICK HERE

-Virginia stomped all over Virginia Tech.  This is the second time in about a two week period that they have blown the doors off a ranked team at home.  If I counted correctly, Virginia is 47-3 in their last fifty games, and 24-1 in their last 25 ACC games (including last year’s conference tournament).  They don’t seem to immediately register as being a blue blood the way Duke and North Carolina do, but they’ve dominated both those teams in the time Tony Bennett has been there.  I think they’re 11-2 against ranked teams over the last two years.  Yeah, they lost to UMBC in the NCAA Tournament, and I’m sure that’s playing a role in peoples’ perception of them, but they have been absolutely destroying the college basketball planet over the last several years.

-Nevada needed a near last second three to hold off a Boise State team who was unbeaten in play, but that had looked pathetic for most of the season.  Still, a win is a win.

-Marquette got a much needed road win against Georgetown.  As good as Marquette has been this year that was just their second true road win.

-NC State fell at Wake Forest.  I know they’ve got a bloated record and will likely make the NCAA Tournament without too much trouble, but their resume is kind of flimsy.  They’re just 1-2 on the road, and have just four wins against teams with current winning records.

-LSU picked up a really nice road win at Ole Miss.  That is probably the biggest win of the year so far for the Tigers, and it greatly improves their resume.

-Seton Hall fell on the road to Providence.  Providence needed the game more, but Seton Hall could have sure used it.

-West Virginia fell below 500 on the year, and is now 0-5 in the Big 12.  TCU blew them off of the planet.  I don’t think we can consider a win against them as a quality win anymore, which is kind of rough on a team like Buffalo, who was counting on their season opening win at WVU to be a signature win.  I still think the Bulls are in good shape, but everyone is beating the Mountaineers these days.

-Cincinnati continues to bloat out their record after picking up another decent win by knocking off South Florida.  Once again, Mick Cronin decided to impersonate Yosemite Sam, and was ejected from the game.  I was surprised to learn that it was the first ejection of his career.  It certainly isn’t the first temper tantrum of his career.

-Saint Louis barely won at Fordham, but they remain unbeaten in the A10, and if they dominate the league I think there is room for them inside the bubble.  Barely beating Fordham doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence, though.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-CREIGHTON AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  The Johnnies have hit the skids a little bit and need to pick this one up at home to even things out.  Creighton has also lost three of their first four conference games and has some catching up to do.

-AUBURN AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  Auburn’s resume is actually kind of bland despite their high ranking.  This would be their first road win of the season if they’re able to pick it up.

-KANSAS STATE AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12).  K State is coming off a hugely important win against Iowa State, and if they can follow that up with a win tonight, then they’ll suddenly go from out of the field to in the top half of the bracket in our next projectoins.  Oklahoma is cruising, but it’s a winnable home game against a quality team, which never hurts.

-IOWA AT PENN STATE (Big Ten).  This is a very winnable conference road game for an Iowa team that’s done well so far, and looks to be a tournament caliber team.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT LOUISVILLE (ACC).  Louisville is coming off what is easily their biggest win of the season, and needs to hold serve at home against BC.

-TEMPLE AT EAST CAROLINA (American).  Temple is looking more and more like a solid tournament team and just needs to hold serve on the road tonight.

-DAYTON AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  Dayton has looked pretty good since conference play began, but didn’t quite have the resume that VCU had.  VCU has been somewhat inconsistent and is coming off a loss at Davidson.  Still, if a team is going to land inside the bubble, I think VCU has the best chance, but they pretty much need to win out to do it.

-BUTLER AT DEPAUL (Big East).  DePaul is better than we expected, but still has a ways to go before we start thinking of them as a tournament team.  Butler has hit the skids and needs to pull themselves out of the tailspin they’re in.  I recommend they not lose this game tonight.

-IOWA STATE AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  We’ve labeled Iowa State as a home court hero, and they have just one road win on the season.  If they can some how pick this one up then it sheds them of that label.  Texas Tech continues to look like a solid protected seed.

-HOUSTON AT SMU (American).  Houston continues to cruise, and if they keep it up we should see them as a protected seed come March.  SMU is a team that’s decent, but not great.  If Houston is as good as their ranking they should be able to win it even though they’re the road team.

-ALBAMA AT MISSOURI (SEC).  This is a decent winnable road game for Alabama, and it’s one that they kind of need.

-GEORGIA TECH AT CLEMSON (ACC).  This is a winnable home game for a Clemson team that’s got a flimsy resume at the moment, so they’d be advised not to lose it.

-MINNESOTA AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  There aren’t many road games in Big Ten play that are as winnable as this one.  The Gophers need to take care of business.

-UCF AT WICHITA STATE (American).  UCF has a bloated record, but still seems to be below the sightline.  All they can do is keep winning.  This is just their third true road game of the season, so it would help make their resume look a little better if they’re able to pull it off.

UNDER THE RADAR 

-LIPSCOMB AT NJIT (Atlantic Sun).  These are two of the better teams in the league and will play a huge role in determining who finishes first and gets home court advantage int he conference tournament

-VERMONT AT NEW HAMPSHIRE (America East).  If anyone can keep pace with Stony Brook in this league, it’s Vermont

-LIBERTY AT KENNESAW STATE (Atlantic Sun).  Liberty is looking to remain unbeaten in league play