NEWS AND NOTES
-Yesterday, the WAC announced that they will invite current div2 powerhouse California Baptist to join the league, and Cal Baptist intends to begin transitioning up during the 2018-2019 season. In recognition of that, Chad Sherwood has highlighted their game against Concordia as today’s UTR Game of the Day. CLICK HERE to check it out
-For the second Friday in a row, a team from the Horizon League whom we believed to be good enough to earn an at-large bid suffered a surprising loss at home. Detroit, who is quite frankly awful, went into rival Oakland and pulled off one of the more surprising upsets of the year not just in the Horizon League, but in all of college basketball. That loss alone is so damaging that it probably means Oakland will now need the automatic bid to make the NCAA Tournament.
-Going back to Thursday night Purdue suffered a loss at Iowa, who isn’t all that strong overall, but is proving to be a very tough team to beat at home. It’s not that much of a setback for the Boilers, but it is a missed opportunity at a winnable conference road game.
-Utah absolutely ran over USC, who has now lost three of their last four. Utah is a team that we weren’t huge on coming into the year, but is looking better and better as the year has progressed.
-Clemson lost their third straight game when they went down at Georgia Tech. Close losses to Notre Dame and North Carolina weren’t all that surprising. Not being able to beat Georgia Tech kind of was. Clemson is still in good shape, but the sooner they snap this losing streak, the better.
SPOTLIGHT GAMES
-FLORIDA STATE AT NORTH CAROLINA. As great as Florida State has looked, this is the kind of win that could really cement them onto the #1 line. North Carolina isn’t out of the picture for a #1 seed themselves. It will be fun watching these two go at it.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
For the best TV and Streaming guide on the internet, Check out Matt Sarzniak’s site – HERE
-GEORGIA AT FLORIDA (SEC). The basketball version of the game formerly known as the Cocktail Party!! Florida is one of the better teams in the league and appears to be cruising toward the NCAA Tournament, and Georgia has quite a bit of work to do just to get into the discussion.
-MINNESOTA AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Minnesota is coming off a blowout loss against Michigan State, but overall is still in great shape and is still one of the surprise teams of the year. Penn State isn’t the easiest place to win, though, so it could be a bigger challenge than expected.
-VIRGINIA AT CLEMSON (ACC). It looked as though Clemson’s streak of frustration would end after two close losses, but on Thursday they suffered yet another loss, this time to Georgia Tech. This is a big game at home against a Virginia team that’s off to a bit of a slow start, but who I feel is still one of the better teams in the conference.
-DUKE AT LOUISVILLE (ACC). Both teams appear to be destined to end up as protected seeds, so this is a chance to add a high caliber conference win to their resumes.
-MIAMI FL AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Miami FL is squarely on the bubble (if they’re even that good) and needs to add some good things to their profile. Pitt is in slightly better shape, but there is certainly room for them to improve as well.
-DAYTON AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten). Dayton is coming off a rather disappointing and somewhat damaging loss to UMass. They can’t afford to make it two in a row. They really need to get it done today.
-SETON HALL AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Seton Hall is coming off an overtime loss to Marquette, but they’re still in really good shape and have a winnable conference road game today.
-VILLANOVA AT SAIN JOHN’S (Big East). Nova has the best overall profile in the country, and shouldn’t have too much trouble against the Johnnies today.
-TEXAS A&M AT MISSISSIPPI STATE (SEC). At 11-4 overall Mississippi State’s at-large hopes are not entirely dead, but they really need to finish strong in order to get the committee to notice them.
-NEBRASKA AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Both teams are squarely on the bubble and have a lot of work to do if they want to be feeling safe on Selection Sunday, so it’s a big game for both teams for that reason.
-NOTRE DAME AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). Notre Dame had a big win the other night, and will be tested against a Virginia Tech team who isn’t quite as good overall, but is a definite home court hero and looking like a solid NCAA Tournament team.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT KANSAS (Big Twelve). Oklahoma State is still looking for their first conference win. Chances are they will still be looking for it after today.
-VCU AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten). VCU appears to be inside the bubble at the moment, but a somewhat weaker Atlantic Ten really limits their margin for error.
-XAVIER AT BUTLER (Big East). This is a conference rivalry of sorts that features two teams with reasonably good profiles, but who are both coming off blowout losses and could a big conference rivalry win to rebound from that.
-DEPAUL AT MARQUETTE (BIG EAST). Marquette is squarely on our bubble. They need to hold serve at home in what may be their most winnable remaining game.
-EASTERN MICHIGAN AT OHIO (MAC). If Ohio wins out, which is a real long shot but not a complete impossibility, the committee will take a long look at them and perhaps even take them if they fall in the conference tournament.
-AKRON AT MIAMI OH (MAC). Same with Akron, they need to win out if they want any shot at all at an at-large bid.
-AUBURN AT KENTUCKY (SEC). Kentucky is good enough to run the table in the SEC, which would almost certainly land them on the #1 line. Auburn’s ceiling is currently looking like the NIT. They’d need to pull off a highly improbable win in a game like this in order to get that turned around.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT TEXAS (Big Twelve). West Virginia hasn’t been the strongest road team, but they’ve been good enough and have a very good profile. Texas hasn’t been the best home team, so this is a winnable conference road game for the Mountaineers.
-BOSTON COLLEGE AT SYRACUSE (ACC). BC has been much better than expected, and Syracuse has been much worse, but the Orange seem to have fixed what was wrong and if they keep it up their season isn’t quite over yet.
-WASHINGTON STATE AT CALIFORNIA (Pac Twelve). Cal has a lot of work to do, and losing this game would mean they would have infinitely more work to do.
-HOUSTON AT UCF (American). Both teams are on the outside looking it, but for a time it looked like UCF could challenge for a spot in the dance, and Houston is close enough to the bubble to play their way in if they can knock off one of the top teams and hold serve against everyone else.
-BAYLOR AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve). Kansas State is coming off two very close losses against good teams that would have really bolstered their profile. Baylor, who’s profile is still #1 seed worthy, is coming off a blowout loss against West Virginia and is looking to rebound.
-UT ARLINGTON AT TROY (Sun Belt). If UT Arlington wins out but loses in the conference tournament I think they have a reasonably good shot at getting selected, but anything short of that and they’ll need the automatic bid.
-IOWA STATE AT TCU (Big Twelve). Iowa State has a decent profile, but it’s lacking in quality wins and although TCU is just a bubble team beating them on the road would help a lot. On the flip side, TCU is currently a bubble team, so a win in a game like this helps them as well.
-MISSOURI AT ARKANSAS (SEC). Arkansas is back peddling and cannot afford a home loss to a very weak Mizzou team.
-MARYLAND AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Maryland has a bloated record with a smattering of good wins. Illinois is squarely on our bubble and although they’ve been playing better they still have a lot of work to do. A win for either team would give their current resumes a nice and needed boost.
-UCLA AT UTAH (Pac Twelve). Utah wasn’t expected to do much this year, but they’ve been rather impressive and if they pick up a win in a game like this we have to start thinking of them as a possible tournament team. They’re at home, but UCLA has been strong on the road so far and is looking like they could end up on the #1 line.
-NEVADA AT WYOMING (Mountain West). Nevada is on the outside looking in, but if they win out the committee will strongly consider them.
-OLE MISS AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). South Carolina appears to be in reasonably good shape and will remain that way so long as they hold serve in games like this.
-HOFSTRA AT UNC WILMINGTON (Colonial). UNCW is good enough to run the table in the regular season, and if they do I think they make the NCAAs regardless of what happens in the conference tournament.
-WICHITA STATE AT ILLINOIS STATE (Missouri Valley). We really like this Illinois State team, and feel they have a chance at winning this game, and if they win this game we feel they have a shot at landing inside the bubble come Selection Sunday. It’s a big test for Wichita State as well, and an important game seeing as how it is probably the win that would impress the committee the most out of all their remaining games.
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE (Conference USA). Middle Tennessee is good enough to run the table in CUSA, and if they do I think they’re in the NCAAs regardless of what they do in the conference tournament.
-TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA (Big Twelve). Texas Tech has two really good wins at home and has played their way onto our bubble, but what they really need is road wins, and this is a winnable conference road game for them.
-CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD AT NEW MEXICO STATE (WAC). I don’t think New Mexico State makes the NCAAs without the automatic bid even if they run the table, but the committee will at least strongly look at them if they do.
-SAINT MARY’S AT GONZAGA (West Coast). This is the biggest rivalry within the conference, and it’s a game that can bolt SMC into the protected seed discussion if they can somehow pull it off. The two teams are a combined 31-1 coming into this game, and aren’t likely to lose any of their remaining games that aren’t against each other.
-OREGON STATE AT OREGON (Pac Twelve). This is a conference rivalry, but it is also an unbelievably huge mismatch.
-TRUMAN STATE (nondiv1) AT CREIGHTON. Why??
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Jan 15th
NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-All and all it was a pretty chalky Saturday with the teams that were expected to get the wins got the wins. UCLA held on to win by a single point at Utah. The thing to take away from that game is probably how well Utah played. It was a missed opportunity at a huge win, which their profile needed, but there will be other opportunities for them in the future and given how they’ve been playing it looks like they’ll pick up the wins they need to impress the committee.
-Louisville took down Duke and North Carolina took down Florida State. Both won as lower ranked teams, but they weren’t ranked lower by much and they were at home, so it’s not all that surprising that they picked up the wins.
-Xavier and Butler went back and forth in a top fifteen match up that, unlike the games from earlier in the week, was actually very exciting. Butler held on to pick up the win at home, which is their fourth against teams that are currently in the rankings. They also have wins over Indiana, Northwestern, and Utah, which are impressive. Xavier, while good, is still looking for a signature win so you can’t help but feel that they missed a huge opportunity yesterday.
-Minnesota failed to pick up a road win at Penn State. The Gophers are still in relatively good shape for now, but not as good of shape as they were at this time last week.
-Miami FL picked up what was clearly their most impressive win yesterday when they went into Pitt and absolutely blew them out. It was probably the most noteworthy result of the day that involved likely tournament teams.
-Seton Hall lost their second straight road game when they fell to Providence. The Pirates are still okay, but perhaps aren’t as high up the seed list as they would have been had they won at least one of those games.
-VCU fell at Davidson. VCU is in trouble. Their margin for error, which was already small, is now smaller.
-TCU picked up a nice home win against Iowa State, and actually looked pretty solid. Slowly but surely, TCU is growing their profile and making a stronger case for themselves. They still have some work to do, but their resume no longer consists only of a bunch of home buy wins.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-RUTGERS AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Indiana has fallen backwards a little bit and needs to take advantage of what is perhaps their most winnable remaining game.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State has improved a ton, whereas Ohio State keeps falling backwards and at this point would have to string together several big wins just to get back into the discussion.
-CINCINNATI AT EAST CAROLINA (American). Cincinnati clearly looks like the class of the league and should take care of business on the road today.
-SMU AT TULANE (American). SMU is coming off a close loss at Cincinnati and should be able to rebound with a very winnable road game today.
-GEORGIA TECH AT NC STATE (ACC). Both teams have a lot of work to do to play their way into the discussion, but I suppose it is still within the realm of possibility that one or both of them could do it.
-IOWA AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Iowa has improved as the year has progressed, and Northwestern is perhaps having their best season in school history, which is to say it looks like they’ll make the NCAA Tournament this year. Iowa really needs a road win if they want to start making some noise, and Northwestern really needs to hold serve at home.
-USC AT COLORADO (Pac Twelve). USC has hit a skid and could use a road win to pull themselves out of it. If they don’t pick this up you have to start wondering if they’re in a little bit of trouble.