NEWS AND NOTES
-For our final Under the Radar Video Podcast of the season – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, which involves a New Orleans team who’s having a storied season – CLICK HERE
-Butler picked up what I believe is the single most impressive win that any team has this year with their win at Villanova. Nova had not lost at home all year, and their loss to Providence at home last year was their only one in the last three years. Last night was Nova’s first loss at the Pavilion in over four years. The top of Butler’s resume is incredible. They’ve beaten Arizona and Villanova twice and now have nine wins away from home, including six true road wins. That’s certainly the resume of a solid protected seed.
-Kansas clinched at least a first place tie in the Big Twelve for the thirteenth time in thirteen years with their win over TCU last night. TCU remains on the bubble, and Kansas remains atop the Big Twelve.
-Oregon was getting blown out of the place at the beginning of their game against Cal, which was a game the Golden Bears really needed to win. Oregon came back and hit a game winning three at the buzzer to keep their first place hopes alive, as well as keep them on pace to end up as a #2 seed. Cal, on the other hand, remains squarely on the bubble and is currently on the wrong side of it.
-Louisville stayed with North Carolina for about 30 minutes before UNC built up a reasonably comfortable lead. The game doesn’t hurt Louisville at all, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they still ended up on the #2 line. North Carolina continues to look like a #1 seed.
-Syracuse beat Duke with a banked three point shot at the buzzer. This is the second year in a row that when February started I was pretty sure Syracuse was dead, and they’re once again gaining steam late in the year. If they do make the NCAA Tournament, which it’s looking like they will, they’re tough to play against for teams that aren’t familiar with them because of their defense. Duke is still in really good shape, especially with the rest of the ACC schedule and the conference tournament after that. I still think they’ll end up on the #2 or #3 line.
-Providence picked up a huge road win at Creighton, which moves them closer to the bubble, and perhaps even inside of it. I’ll be curious to see where they end up on our bracket show tonight. They have certainly improved as the season has gone alnog.
-Minnesota picked up a very impressive win against Maryland, and made what was an already good looking resume look even better.
-Tennessee lost at home to Vanderbilt which really hurt what looked like a legitimate chance to play their way inside the bubble. With that being said, let’s take a quick look at Vanderbilt. They’re 6-2 in their last eight games with wins at Tennessee, at Arkansas, and at home against Iowa State. They do have a rather dumbfounding loss to Missouri, but other than that they’ve been playing very well and beating teams that are either on the bubble or inside the bubble. Their RPI is now in the top 50, their overall schedule strength is 3rd, and their OOC SOS is #1. We have not discussed Vanderbilt all year long, but those are all earmarks of a tournament team. They have games remaining at Kentucky and at home against Florida. If they can win their next one against Mississippi State, and then pick up just one of those last two, I think the Dores are in.
-Michigan picked up a true road win against Rutgers. That’s noteworthy because it doubles the number of true road wins this team has on the season.
-And, Xavier’s tailspin continues. They’ve now lost four straight, and quite frankly haven’t looked particularly good in any of those four losses, at least for not more than a half. They have a big home game coming up against a Butler team who is smoking hot right now. If they don’t win that one, and there is a good chance that they won’t, they may be falling out of first ballot range and into the bubble range.
-Oklahoma State keeps winning, and keeps looking impressive when they win. After an 0-6 conference start they’ve now won 8 of their last 9 conference games, and 9 out of 10 overall. They ran away from Kansas State on the road last night to add yet another good road win to a profile that just keeps getting better and better.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-GEORGIA AT ALABAMA (SEC). Alabama is right on the fringe of the bubble, and if they finish strong they can make the field. Every game has a pivotal feel to it and they really can’t afford to lose at home in a game like this.
-NEBRASKA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State is relatively safe if they hold serve, which means winning at home against non-tournament teams.
-MEMPHIS AT CINCINNATI (American). Cincinnati actually has a chance to win 30 games before the end of the conference tournament. I still don’t see them ending up as a protected seed, but they can make quite a bit of noise in the tournament.
-TOWSON AT UNC WILMINGTON (Colonial). I think UNCW has a chance of making the tournament even if they don’t win their conference tournament. I’d be disappointed if they win out and the committee doesn’t end up taking them. They may be tested today as Towson is one of the better teams in the league, and has been playing well lately.
-WISCONSIN AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Wisconsin is in a race for first place in the Big Ten and has a decent shot at ending up as a protected seed, but they’ll need a strong finish and a good showing in the conference tournament in order to make that happen. Picking up this win on the road would certainly help.
-UCLA AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve). UCLA appears to be a solid protected seed, and is in a three way race with Oregon and Arizona for first place in the conference.
-USC AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve). Arizona has just one conference loss and currently has the strongest profile in the Pac Twelve. If the season ended today I think they’d be at least a #2 seed. USC is solidly in the field and has an opportunity to give their tournament resume a huge boost.
-GONZAGA AT SAN DIEGO (West Coast). Gonzaga can win their 29th game today. I’ll be surprised if they don’t win out and end up on the #1 line.
-SAINT MARY’S AT PEPPERDINE (West Coast). Saint Mary’s will end up in the top half of the bracket if they can hold serve the rest of the way.
News, Notes and Highlighted Games – Friday, February 24
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Oakland and Green Bay – CLICK HERE.
For the weekly Bracket Rundown Podcast where the Hoops HD staff builds a seed list live on tape delay – CLICK HERE.
We are only 3 days away from the annual fortnight of conference championship games that decide who advances to the NCAA Tournament and who will have to wait until Selection Sunday to hear their fate on national TV. Last night, the regular season was finished in the Atlantic Sun, and you can click HERE to see the bracket for their conference tournament. 12 other conferences will wrap up regular season play this weekend, and on Sunday night we will have our season premiere of Championship Week video podcasts starring Chad, the Puppet, and myself (and other occasional guests).
– It has been a very turbulent couple of weeks for Maurice Watson Jr. While we’ve covered his ACL tear on numerous occasions, that is the least of his problems right now since he has been suspended from Creighton University. He has since been charged by authorities in Omaha with sexual assault and is expected to return from Philadelphia (his hometown where he had his ACL surgery) to turn himself in to authorities.
– Gonzaga set a record for most lopsided road win by a #1 team last night; they waxed San Diego 96-38 last night. Should they beat BYU tomorrow night, they would be the 5th team to clinch a perfect regular season since Indiana won the 1976 national championship with a perfect record. Other teams to run the table in the regular season were UNLV in 1991, Saint Joe’s in 2004 (before the A-10 Tournament), Wichita State in 2014 and Kentucky in 2015.
– Both Arizona and UCLA won to set up a very pivotal matchup at Arizona over the weekend. An Arizona win would put the Wildcats in the driver’s seat for the regular season title, but a UCLA win puts the Bruins squarely back into the race for the top spot in the Pac-12.
– While Cincinnati and Saint Mary’s won with relative ease last night, the only Top 25 team to fall victim to an upset was Wisconsin taking a bath at Ohio State. The score will show the Buckeyes won by 10, but they had an easier time winning that game than the score would indicate. It was not a good in-state homecoming for Badgers Vitto Brown and Nigel Hayes.
– The Big South now has a 3-way tie between UNC-Asheville, Liberty and Winthrop. I suspect that the Liberty-Asheville game tomorrow will be a leading candidate for Chad’s UTR Game of the Day.
– Mount St. Mary’s failed to clinch the NEC outright last night after falling at home to Long Island-Brooklyn. It was the first time all year the Mountaineers lost at home in NEC play. The Mount clinches the top NEC seed either with a win against St. Francis-Brooklyn or a loss by LIU-Brooklyn against Wagner. However, the Blackbirds could clinch the top seed if The Mount loses against SFBK and if they beat Wagner.
– If New Mexico State wasn’t finished after losing games at Bakersfield and Grand Canyon, a home loss against archrival Utah Valley was another nail in the coffin (at least as far as the regular season is concerned).
– New Orleans and UNC-Wilmington were other UTR teams to hold serve last night.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
– SIENA AT MONMOUTH (MAAC, 7 PM – ESPN2). Tonight is Senior night for Monmouth – notable Hawks to be honored include Justin Robinson, Josh James, Je’Lon Hornbeak, Zac Tillman and Chris Brady. We would be remiss if we didn’t include other members of the Hawks’ Nest like Collin Stewart and Greg Noack, though.
– PRINCETON AT COLUMBIA (Ivy, 7 PM – Ivy League Digital Network). While Princeton has been cruising towards the Ivy League regular season crown, they will have to complete the job in the Ivy League Tournament in two weeks. Columbia has really struggled of late and are now battling with Penn for the 4th and final spot into the tournament.
– PENN AT CORNELL (Ivy, 7 PM). And speaking of the Quakers, they will be going to upstate New York tonight to take on the Big Red. They have won 4 straight games after an 0-6 start to Ivy League play.
– YALE AT HARVARD (Ivy, 7 PM – ESPN3/WatchESPN). While there are still 4 games left in the Ivy regular season title, it’s hard to imagine that Harvard would finish anywhere other than 2nd and Yale would finish anywhere other than 3rd. As it stands right now, this would be one of the semifinals for the inaugural Ivy League tournament.
– VALPARAISO AT WRIGHT STATE (Horizon, 7:30 PM – ESPN3/WatchESPN). Chad has already highlighted Oakland/Green Bay as his UTR Game of the Day, but there are still high stakes to this game if Valpo wants to hold onto their spot as leaders in the Horizon. A Valpo win AND an Oakland loss clinches the top seed in the Horizon League Tournament.
– DAYTON AT DAVIDSON (A-10, 9 PM – ESPN2). This is one of 2 games tonight involving power league teams – the Flyers are looking to avoid stubbing their toes in a trap game that precedes their rematch with VCU next week. Davidson did beat VCU earlier this season, but they are in a slump in which they’ve lost 4 of 6 games (including losses at home to URI and an improved George Mason team).
– OREGON STATE AT CALIFORNIA (Pac-12, 11 PM – FS1). Cal has already endured a tough loss to Oregon earlier this week. They absolutely must win this game tonight and likely need to sweep the Utah/Colorado roadie next week to feel comfortable about their bubble chances on Selection Sunday.