NEWS AND NOTES
-TCU remains unbeaten and has now beaten a ranked team away from home. Of all the games I’ve seen TCU play this year, this was clearly the most impressive. They led for most of the game and although Nevada got back into it in the final minutes, TCU was never really sweating them out. They’ve got a good basketball team for the first time in recent memory. Chad said they’d be a protected seed prior to the start of the season. I thought he was crazy then, but he may have been right.
-Arizona State and Oklahoma were also winners in what was a triple header out in the Staples Center.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-DUKE AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). BC is much improved on the season, and this is Duke’s first true road game. Having said that, Duke is the clear favorites and should roll
-MONMOUTH VS KENTUCKY (MSG, New York). Monmouth has had some good teams in recent past, but this year’s edition is somewhat of a rebuilding project. Kentucky is young and has room for improvement, but they’re still clearly the superior team and their only loss was a close game against Kansas.
-UCLA AT MICHIGAN. Both teams could really use this win as both profiles could use some work. For UCLA it’s their first true road game.
-MARQUETTE AT WISCONSIN. Both these teams are off to somewhat of a sluggish start and both could really use this win to help turn things around.
-INDIANA AT LOUISVILLE. Both teams come into this with a sense of urgency. Louisville has yet to win a game that wasn’t a buy game, and Indiana is just 5-4 with no really good wins yet either.
-VALPARAISO AT BALL STATE. Valpo has just one loss, but it was their only real test and it was a blowout loss at Purdue. Ball State is coming off a huge upset win at Notre Dame and will have a lot of momentum coming into this one.
-YALE AT SAINT BONAVENTURE. Yale had a slow start but is starting to play a little better. Saint Bonaventure is trying to improve to 7-2 on the year and stay on the committee’s radar.
-LIPSCOMB AT TENNESSEE. This is a buy game, but it’s intriguing enough to highlight. Lipscomb is really on a roll since getting back to full strength, and Tennessee has cracked the rankings after pulling off some nice early season wins. This should be a fun inner-state matchup.
-NEBRASKA AT CREIGHTON. Creighton has dominated this series to the point that it’s difficult to even call it a rivalry. Nebraska is 7-3 on the year and is coming off a nice win against Minnesota, but they have no true road wins yet. If they can pull this one off then they’ll be on the committee’s radar. At least for now.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT TEMPLE (Big Five). Temple is 5-2 on the year with four nice wins away from home and another against Wisconsin. This win will help sustain what is actually a rather impressive early season profile.
-VCU AT SETON HALL. VCU has struggled early and has yet to cash in a win of this caliber. Seton Hall is off to a strong start and can improve to 8-1 on the year with a win today.
-PROVIDENCE AT UMASS. Providence has a solid 7-2 record, but is still looking for their first true road win.
-RICE AT STEPHEN F AUSTIN. SFA is coming off a really nice road win at Louisiana Tech and can improve to 9-1 on the season with a win today.
-FLORIDA GULF COAST AT UT ARLINGTON. UTA is coming off a really close loss on the road against a very good Northern Iowa team. They’ll have limited chances at statement wins the rest of the way, but they could put together a really solid record and at least end up landing in the committee’s discussion.
-WICHITA STATE AT OKLAHOMA STATE. Oklahoma State has not yet lost at home, but they’ve not yet played a team anywhere close to as good as the one they’ll be facing today. Wichita is on pace to end up as a protected seed.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT PENN STATE. Penn State has a pretty decent profile so far and shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a win over a GW team that’s struggled so far.
-MURRAY STATE AT ILLINOIS STATE. We haven’t talked much about the Racers, but they have just one loss and can pick up their second true road win today.
-VERMONT AT NORTHEASTER. Vermont is pretty much out of strikes. If they win out they should be inside the bubble, but anything sort of that and they’ll probably need the automatic bid.
-UAB AT AUBURN. Auburn has just one loss on the year and they take on a modest UAB team that comes in 6-3 against a rather weak schedule.
-COLORADO AT XAVIER. Both teams come into this game with just one loss, but Xavier has clearly been the much more tested team. Colorado has yet to win a true road game. This is a chance for them to pick up a signature win and really change the complexion of their profile, but that’s a task that is much easier said than done.
-CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO STATE. This is not a buy game, but chances are it will end up looking like one. Cal has been atrocious this year.
-CINCINNATI VS FLORIDA (Newark, NJ). Both teams are good, and chances are both will end up having big years, but you get the sense that both teams have a huge sense of urgency coming into this game. Florida is coming off back to back losses at home, which includes a blowout loss to rival Florida State, and Cincinnati was beaten handily by Xavier the last time they took the floor, which is the only quality team they’ve faced so far.
-PACIFIC AT WYOMING. Wyoming may be running out of strikes. They don’t have any really bad losses, but they are a long ways from anything resembling a good win yet either. If they fail to hold serve in games like this it could cripple their resume.
-OLE MISS AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Middle has just one loss on the year, and has some pretty good wins to go along with it. Ole Miss hasn’t looked nearly as good and could be in for a really long evening.
-MINNESOTA AT ARKANSAS. I think both of these teams will end up in the tournament and this is a chance for them to add a quality OOC win to their resume.
-NOTRE DAME AT DELAWARE. This is a nice showcase home game for Delaware against their former head coach. That being said, they appear to be way overmatched. This would be the second true road win of the year for the Irish if they’re able to pull it off.
-BOWLING GREEN AT OLD DOMINION. Both teams decent records and it should be an evenly matched game, but both need some high level wins if they want the committee to notice them.
-UTAH STATE AT UTAH. It’s a rivalry game, but Utah clearly looks like the superior team and should be able to hold serve in this one.
-ALBANY AT SIENA. Another rivalry game. Albany is trying to improve to a very impressive 10-1 on the year and pick up their fourth true road win.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT PITTSBURGH. The Backyard Brawl is back!!!!!! This is a bitter rivalry that is finally returning after a hiatus due to conference realignment. Unfortunately this is a huge mismatch and it may be more of a Backyard Maul than a Backyard Brawl.
-HOUSTON AT SAINT LOUIS. This Houston team really got my attention with their blowout win against Arkansas last week. They can improve to 8-1 on the year as well as pick up their second true road win. They haven’t played the toughest schedule in the world, but that is still a very solid profile.
-WASHINGTON STATE AT UTEP. Wazzu has looked awful in their last two games after starting out 6-0. They need to turn it around against a UTEP team that is in a bit of a crisis and who’s program is in the midst of a reboot.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT NEW MEXICO. This is the second leg of this rivarly. A win for the Aggies gets them to 7-2 with their second true road win of the year on their profile.
-BYU VS WEBER STATE (Salt Lake City, UT). This should be a fun matchup. BYU can pick up another win away from home and improve to 8-2 on the year.
-ALABAMA AT ARIZONA. A late tip between an up and coming Alabama team and an Arizona team with high expectations that struggled early, but that had a huge week and appears to have things turned around.
-FRESNO STATE AT CAL POLY. It’s not the most challenging of road games or of schedules, but a win for Fresno gets them to 8-2 on the year with two true road wins, which isn’t great, but isn’t bad either, especially when you consider they’ll have chances in conference play to build a good resume if they themselves are good enough.
-ILLINOIS AT UNLV. UNLV is better, but it’s hard to say whether they’re good enough to be considered an NCAA Tournament caliber team. Illinois comes in with a 7-3 record, but they’ve stumbled in some games (including their last game against Austin Peay that they barely won) and are still looking for their first true road win.
BUY GAMES
-William & Mary @ Ohio State
-Coastal Carolina @ South Carolina
-Youngstown State @ Butler
-Gardner Webb @ Maryland
-Bryant @ Memphis
-Southern @ UCF
-UMKC @ NC State
-Colgate @ Syracuse
-Coppin State @ UConn
-Canisius @ Evansville – a win for Evansville gets them to 8-2
-UMBC @ Towson – not a true buy game, but a win for Towson gets them to 10-1 on the year
-NC A&T @ Georgetown
-Samford @ Clemson
-Norfolk State @ Loyola Chicago
-Sacramento State @ Boise State
-Prairie View A&M @ Texas A&M
-North Georgia (nondiv1) @ Mississippi State
-Southern Utah @ Michigan State
-Randall (nondiv1) @ Baylor
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Rutgers
-Jackson State @ Louisiana Tech
-Tulsa @ Kansas
-Seattle @ Saint Mary’s
-Green Bay @ Missouri
-Pine Bluff @ Oregon State
