NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Well, last night was certainly a hell of a night! There are only four teams that are ranked in the top four. It’s true! I counted them, and there are only four. Last night, three of those four teams played, and all three of them lost.
-Marquette is having quite a week. They started off by picking up a road win at Creighton, and at the time we all felt it was a big win, but that it also had a big asterisk given that it was Creighton’s first full game without Watson. Well, there is no asterisk by last night’s game. Villanova took a double digit lead into the half and by all accounts were cruising toward another road win. Marquette shot the lights out in the second half, but Nova still held on to their lead until the final few minutes when Marquette finally drew even, then went ahead, and then ultimately won the game when Nova missed what would have been a game tying shot in the final seconds. The fans stormed the court, and Marquette has stormed inside the bubble.
-Kentucky losing at Tennessee was probably the biggest surprise. Tennessee isn’t a tournament team, but they have had some showcase moments this season, including a big one last night. They pretty much led for the entire second half and although Kentucky did tie it late, they couldn’t quite get over the hump.
-West Virginia taking down Kansas in Morgantown was easily the least surprising of the “upsets.” Considering that West Virginia is a likely protected seed, I don’t think you can even call it an upset. Whenever a protected seed wins at home, even if it’s against the #1 ranked team, it is not an upset. It’s not like Kansas went to Indiana State and lost. That would be an upset.
-Virginia went into Notre Dame, and although it was close for much of the game, they absolutely ran away from them down the stretch. I still like this Virginia team. I picked them to win the league at the beginning of the year, and although Florida State has beaten them at home and also gone through the toughest gauntlet of ACC play, I still like the Hoos chances of finishing in first place. This is their second true road win against a likely protected seed. That’s a remarkable profile!
-Louisville won at Pitt. That’s not really noteworthy, but the final score was 106-51. That’s noteworthy. Even people who believe everyone should get a participation trophy would be against giving one to Pitt after last night’s game.
-Purdue picked up a really nice road win at Michigan State. Michigan State is still inside the bubble, but you get the sense that they’re beginning to lose their grip.
-And last but not least (or perhaps it is least), Arkansas picked up a win at Vanderbilt last night. The win was against a Vandy team that will likely miss the NIT, and the win came in a rather ridiculous fashion after Arkansas looked very unimpressive for the first 39-and-a-half minutes and then looked unbelievably lucky for the final thirty seconds. But, they did get the win. Everyone else at Hoops HD thinks of Arkansas as being a tournament caliber team. I’m the outlier here. I still feel that I’m right and everyone else is wrong, but I cannot deny that Arkansas’s paper looks better than the rest of the teams around them that are hovering around the bubble. They now have three true road wins, and although none came against tournament teams, they did get one against the same Tennessee team that just beat Kentucky, and Vandy and Texas A&M who are a combined and respectable 14-7 at home. That’s not great, but nothing on their profile really makes you hold your nose. Still, if they want to land in the field, then I think they actually have to beat someone that’s better than just an NIT team, which they have yet to do. I know they have some wins against some good UTR teams, but good UTR teams are not tournament teams without the automatic bid and in some cases aren’t even NIT caliber teams without the automatic bid. But, nevertheless, for now I’d probably have them in my field if I did my new seed list today.
And Chad is NOT right about them!! HE’S JUST LUCKY!!!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MEMPHIS AT TEMPLE (American). Memphis is actually in my field right now, although barely, and I have them in there thinking that they would not be in the real committee’s. That being said, I do think they have a chance to make a run at the bubble, but that will require a very strong finish where they avoid losses in games like this.
-SMU AT UCF (American). UCF seems to have slipped entirely out of the picture, but they’re still one of the better teams in the league and it would be a nice road win for UCF if they’re able to pick this up.
-MINNESOTA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Minney has lost three straight games and needs a win not just to shore up their profile, but to swing the momentum back their way. Ohio State hasn’t been the best team this year, but they are at home and it is a game that they’re capable of winning.
-FLORIDA STATE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). Florida State has just one loss in conference, and some pretty big wins. Winning at Georgia Tech isn’t easy this year, but FSU is coming off a six game stretch against ranked teams and they were 5-1 in that stretch, so this team is certainly battle tested. They’re still in play for a first place finish and a #1 seed in the Big Dance.
-CREIGHTON AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Every game is a big game for Creighton because they need to show the committee that they’re still capable of holding serve without Maurice Watson.
-TEXAS TECH AT BAYLOR (Big Twelve). Baylor still has just one loss on the season and given the carnage from yesterday they are in a position to jump a couple spots in the polls (for whatever that’s worth). Texas Tech has some nice wins and should be okay if they hold serve, but if they could somehow pull this one off they’ll be a lot more than just okay.
-RHODE ISLAND AT RICHMOND (Atlantic Ten). It’s possible that Rhode Island can play their way back onto the bubble, but they’ll really have to thunder down the stretch to do it. That would mean winning games like this one tonight, and they haven’t been the best road team this year.
-BUTLER AT SETON HALL (Big East). Butler has a very good overall profile, but one area where they’ve struggled this year is in true road games. They needed overtime to get by DePaul on the road in their last game. Seton Hall should make the field, but adding a win like this to their resume would help a ton. So, there’s something to be gained by both teams in this one.
-ALABAMA AT GEORGIA (SEC). If Georgia is going to get things turned around and make a run at the NCAA Tournament, they better start running now. They cannot afford to lose this one.
-FLORIDA AT LSU (SEC). Florida needs a conference road win to rebound after two straight losses, the most recent one being a rather surprising home loss to Vandy.
-BOSTON COLLEGE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). It’s quite simple Miami is currently on the bubble and cannot afford a loss in a game like this.
-UCLA AT USC (Pac Twelve). This one should be fun. UCLA is coming off a loss at home to Arizona that may have been damaging as far as making the #1 line goes, but they’re still in very good shape. USC is having a good year, but a win in this game will make it much better, as well as give their resume a bit of a boost. It’s a rivalry game between two tournament caliber teams, so it should be fun.
Throwback Thursday: The Crosstown Shootout
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Robert Morris and Mount St. Mary’s – CLICK HERE.
For David Griggs’ News, Notes and Highlighted Games besides the Shootout – CLICK HERE.
For the latest weekly Under The Radar podcast (along with a bonus Mark Fox update) – CLICK HERE.
Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati are separated by about 3 miles within the city of Cincinnati, and since 1928 they have played each other in the annual Crosstown Shootout. UC leads the series 49-34, although Xavier has had the upper hand in recent memory (winning 14 out of the past 20 meetings).
This rivalry has included coaches like Chris Mack, Mick Cronin, Sean Miller, Thad Matta, Bob Huggins, Skip Prosser and Pete Gillen. Only Ed Jucker has gone on to win two national titles – he was the head coach for Cincinnati during their 1960s heyday that saw 2 national titles and multiple Final 4 appearances. Famous players in recent memory include Sean Kilpatrick, Semaj Christon, Lance Stephenson, Derrick Brown, Lionel Chalmers, Jason Maxiell, David West and Kenyon Martin.
After the early days of the rivalry saw Cincinnati hold a slight 12-10 edge in the series, UC would win a whopping 22 out of 24 games from 1957 to 1979. Xavier would win 6 out of the next 10 Shootouts under the leadership of Bob Staak and Pete Gillen.
Cincinnati also had a second heyday in the early to mid-90s after Bob Huggins took over a dormant UC program that struggled throughout the Tony Yates era. (Yates’ teams did have one shining moment – a Joe Stiffend buzzer-beater at then-Riverfront Coliseum gave UC a 75-73 win over a Xavier team that would advance to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.) After Huggins lost his first Shootout to Xavier in a 90-88 OT thriller at the Cincinnati Gardens, the Bearcats would win 5 out of the next 6 Shootouts. Xavier’s only win in that stretch was an 82-76 win in overtime that was hotly contested; Gillen and Huggins had what can best be described as a contentious postgame display over the behavior of the coaches and benches during the game. This was also a time in which UC went to the Final 4 in 1992 and also to the Elite 8 in 1993 and 1996.
A funny thing happened in the 1996-97 season – UC was ranked #1 in the preseason. They couldn’t even get to Thanksgiving undefeated thanks to Lenny Brown’s legendary buzzer-beater (click here for the shot) to give Xavier a 71-69 win at what was then the Shoemaker Center for the first time. That would not be the only time Cincinnati would come in to the Shootout with a #1 ranking – history would repeat itself 3 seasons later. UC was #1 in the country (including a thrashing of North Carolina in a made-for-TV game in Chicago) and had an excellent core of players in Kenyon Martin, Kenny Satterfield and DerMarr Johnson. Xavier had a couple of veteran players and a superb freshman (David West) – they would win the final Shootout played in the Cincinnati Gardens by a 66-64 score.
Since that time, Cincy’s most notable win was in 2002 when they blasted Xavier 75-55 thanks to Steve Logan’s leadership. Xavier fans will say that West was injured in that game, but that Cincinnati team would go on to dominate Conference USA en route to an eventual #1 seed. However, they were sent to Pittsburgh (a place where top seeds like South Carolina in 1997 and Villanova in 2015 were upset early) and ended up losing to UCLA in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.
Another milestone win for Xavier was in 2004 – after a shot by Lionel Chalmers in the final 10 seconds of the game gave Xavier a 71-69 win at the Cintas Center, Xavier went from 10-9 to a team that would become white-hot along the way, winning all but one game up to an Elite 8 appearance. They blasted then-#1 Saint Joe’s en route to an A-10 title, and would also beat Louisville, Mississippi State and Texas in the NCAA Tournament.
There were not as many games that caught the eye of the nation until the 2011-12 season. After a slightly contentious win by UC in 2011, Xavier was on their way to a blowout win the following season. After some initial words were exchanged, a major brawl ensued at the end of the game that ended up with multiple players being suspended – UC had Yancy Gates, Cheikh Mbodj and Ge’Laun Gwyn suspended for 6 games apiece and Xavier would have Dez Wells, Mark Lyons, Landon Amos and Tu Holloway suspended for multiple games (except Holloway) as well. Strangely, a struggling UC team would go on a run of their own to the Sweet 16 that year, but a Xavier team that was dominant went through a very turbulent season afterward until getting a last-second NCAA Tournament invite of their own (along with a Sweet 16 appearance of their own).
The next two games were played downtown at USBank Arena as a result of the melee, but moved back to both campuses beginning with the 2014-15 season. Tonight, as David Griggs alluded to in his daily writeup, another chapter will be written in this rivalry. Will Cincinnati finally hold serve at home and launch themselves closer to a top NCAA seed, or will Xavier turn a sagging season into another memorable one with a road win?