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NEWS, NOTES, AND LINKS

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-Oklahoma beat Baylor at home last night.  Now, if you missed it, you’re probably wondering what was so noteworthy about that.  The reason is that Oklahoma had a 26 point lead in this game in the first half, and then late in the second half had to come from behind (albeit barely) to win the game.  It was quite remarkable.

-Georgia Tech needed a win at Louisville to really make a strong and relevant case for themselves, and came up just short after missing a shot that could have tied the game.

-Indiana picked up what was their most impressive and most meaningful game at Iowa last night.  It gives them their best road win, their best paper win, and it clinched an outright first place finish.  Not to take anything away from Indiana, because they look like a very good basketball team anyone who does not think of them as such just isn’t paying attention, but Iowa has now lost four in a row, and is just 1-5 in their last six games.  They’ve gone from looking like a #1 seed to not even looking like a protected seed.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TEXAS TECH AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve).  Texas Tech is looking like they’re going to be in on the initial ballot, and they keep improving as the season continues.  West Virginia is ranked in the top ten, and could end up as high as the two line.

-PITTSBURGH AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Pitt turned things around in a big way with their win over Duke this past weekend, and now needs to pick up a road win to help to continue to strengthen their profile.  VA Tech isn’t anywhere near the tournament, but it’s a decent road win for a team that has room to improve the way Pitt does.

-MIAMI FL AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  Miami is within striking distance of first place in the ACC, but the one thing they really haven’t done is pick up a road win as big as this one would be.  Notre Dame has a good profile and depending on how strong they finish a protected seed isn’t completely out of the question, but they got blasted at Florida State over the weekend and need to rebound from that.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten).  This should be the easiest road win of the year for the Spartans, who are also within striking distance of a #1 seed.

-DAVIDSON AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  VCU is the first place team in the A10 and should land inside the bubble so long as they win the games they’re supposed to win the rest of the way.  That would certainly include this one.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT SAINT BONAVENTURE (Atlantic Ten).  Saint Bonaventure won the first meeting between these two, and right now that is arguably their signature win of the season.  They are right on the bubble and need a strong finish in order to end up inside of it.  Saint Joseph’s is fairly safe, largely because they’ve been outstanding away from home this year.  They’re actually 12-2 away from home, and 12-3 at home.  This would be another nice win for their profile if they’re able to pick it up.

-SETON HALL AT BUTLER (Big East).  Seton Hall is one of the hottest teams in the conference right now as they’ve won eight of their last nine, including a decisive win against Xavier over the weekend.  Butler has been playing better recently as well, and actually won the first meeting between these two, which is the one loss Seton Hall has suffered in the last nine games.  Both should land inside the bubble, but both could still really use this win.

-ARKANSAS AT ALABAMA (SEC).  Right now we have Alabama outside the bubble, but it’s still not out of reach.  They’ll need to finish strong, though, and that means avoiding home losses to non-tournament teams.

-WISCONSIN AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten).  Wisconsin is playing really well right now and shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up yet another Big Ten road win.

-CREIGHTON AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Providence has some big wins, but they’re in a bit of a tailspin having lost five of their last seven games.  This is a home game against a non-tournament team, and they really need to pick this one up in order to get things turned back around.

-OREGON AT UCLA (Pac Twelve).  Oregon is looking like a solid protected seed, and perhaps the best team in what is a very good Pac Twelve conference.  It’s never easy to win on the road, but this is the kind of game a protected seed should be able to win despite UCLA being 11-4 at home.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT WASHINGTON (Pac Twelve).  Washington is outside the bubble, and losing at home to a team as weak as Wazzu would likely be a death blow to their at-large chances.  Losing to a big rival would make things that much worse.

-OREGON STATE AT USC (Pac Twelve).  The biggest weakness with Oregon State’s profile is their lack of road wins.  They’ve had a great season and chances are they’ll make the field, but getting just one or two more road wins would greatly improve their resume.  USC has had a great year as well, but they’ve lost five of their lsat six and come into this with a sense of urgency.  With their final game of the season being against Oregon, they don’t want to be heading into the Pac Twelve Tournament having gone 1-7 in their last eight, and being just 8-10 in conference.