Princeton at Yale, 8:00 PM Eastern, espn3
For our latest Bracket Rundown video podcast, CLICK HERE.
Gonzaga. Vermont. Princeton. Entering play tonight, only three Division I teams remain undefeated within their conferences. The Zags have three games left before the WCC tournament, with the toughest test probably being a home game against BYU. Vermont has two games left before the conference tournament, both of which are at home, though against the second and third best teams in the America East (Stony Brook and Albany). Princeton’s road to finishing undefeated is the longest, with six regular season games left plus the Ivy League tournament. The next four of those are all on the road, and probably the toughest of that group is tonight’s Under the Radar Game of the Day. Tonight, the Tigers travel to New Haven, Connecticut to take on the Yale Bulldogs.
Princeton enters play today at 8-0 in the Ivy and 15-6 overall. They Tigers’ win streak is now at 11 straight, one of the longest in the nation. Steven Cook led the way last weekend in a two point home win over Columbia (a game that Princeton let the Lions charge back into late after building a big lead) with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Myles Stevens was the star player with 19 points in the Tigers’ earlier home win over Yale. Also, you can never overlook Spencer Weisz, who had scored 20+ points in 3 of his last 4 games before Columbia held him to a season low 4 last time out.
Yale currently sits at 14-7 overall and 6-2 in the Ivy League, tied with Harvard for second place. The Bulldogs fell at home to Harvard last time out despite 20 points off the bench for Alex Copeland and a double-double from Sam Downey. Copeland was also Yale’s leading scorer in the first matchup with Princeton, scoring 21 points (as a starter in that game). Yale certainly has the ability to knock off the Tigers tonight, and in fact are predicted by kenpom.com to win the game by 2. If, however, Princeton is able to secure this win and a win tomorrow at Brown, they will have taken a huge step towards having that perfect conference season.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-KENT STATE AT AKRON (MAC). There are a lot of good rivalries in the MAC, but this is probably the best one. Akron’s chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament without winning the automatic bid are probably below fifty percent, but they are definitely above zero. If they win out they’ll get a serious look, and may even get selected.
-VALPARAISO AT OAKLAND (Horizon League). Valpo probably has even less of a chance of getting an at-large bid without the automatic bid than Akron does, but they do have a chance. They’re also playing on the home court of one of the few teams that beat them tonight, so if they pick this one up it’ll be one of their better wins of the season on their resume.
-VCU AT RICHMOND (Atlantic Ten). Richmond is too far outside the bubble to reach it, but they have done well in A10 play, and this is a rivalry game, so it should be fun. VCU has a challenging stretch of games coming up that will either solidify them as a tournament team, or land them in the NIT.
-CALIFORNIA AT STANFORD (Pac Twelve). This is a rivalry game between a Stanford team that’s struggled, but that has shown signs of life at home, and a Cal team that could really use a road win.
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Feb 16th
NEWS AND NOTES
-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between UTEP and North Texas, which I’m sure he had his reasons for picking – CLICK HERE
-Duke picked up what is probably their biggest win of the year (at least on paper) with the win at Virginia. Virginia has now lost four out of six, but since it’s been against such strong competition they still appear to be safe for a protected seed. Just not a #1 seed like I had previously thought.
-SMU was so excited about beating Cincinnati that they forgot to show up for the first half for their game against Tulane last night. They trailed by 15 at the break. They completely dominated the second half and ended up winning by 5, but that was a close call.
-Seton Hall picked up a home win over Creighton that they desperately needed. They’re close to the bubble as it is, and are now 6-7 in league play, which is a lot more palatable than 5-8 even though it’s just a one game difference. Creighton is still safe, but their slow backwards slide is continuing.
-Arkansas got a big win at South Carolina. I have not been on the Razorbacks’s bandwagon at any point this season, but with the bubble being what it is and with them picking up such a big road win I can’t help but think that they’ve currently played their way inside the bubble.
-Maryland picked up a really nice road win against Northwestern. Had Northwestern not picked up such a huge win at Wisconsin, we’d be talking about how they’re losing their grip and falling toward the bubble. They’ve lost three out of their last four, and the one game they didn’t lose was by far the hardest game out of those four to win. Their next two are at home against Rutgers and Indiana. They need to win both of those, or to be more accurate they really need to avoid losing both of those.
-Xavier fell at Providence. Xavier continues to hold serve, but do little else other than that.
-Oklahoma State picked up another nice road win at TCU, and the complexion of their profile continues to improve.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Wiscy is coming off a rather surprising loss to Northwestern, but is still in great shape to finish atop the Big Ten and likely earn a protected seed. This would be another nice road win. As for Michigan, a win makes their place inside the bubble a little more safe.
-UNC WILMINGTON AT NORTHEASTERN (Colonial). UNCW’s chances of landing inside the bubble and getting in if they lose in the conference tournament are bad at best, but they are not completely gone. If they lose another game they probably will be, though.
-ARIZONA AT WASHINGTON STATE (Pac Twelve). Arizona has just one conference loss and could end up as high as the #2 line. They can add another road win to their profile tonight.
-UTAH AT OREGON (Pac Twelve). Utah is outside the bubble and this is the win that could go a long way toward helping them land on the right side of it. Oregon appears to be a solid protected seed and will land there if they hold serve.
-SAN FRANCISCO AT GONZAGA (West Coast). San Francisco is actually one of the better teams in the WCC this year, but they have little to no chance of knocking off Gonzaga at Gonzaga.
-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT WESTERN KENTUCKY (Conference USA). Middle Tennessee still has a chance to make the NCAA Tournament without winning the automatic bid, but it’s only a chance, and they’ll have to win out and at least avoid a loss in the quarterfinals in order to even have a chance.
-LMU AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). Saint Mary’s should end up in the top half of the bracket and wearing white in the Round of 64 if they hold serve the rest of the way, which in their case basically means not losing to anyone other than Gonzaga.