News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Jan 16th

Posted on January 16, 2016 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between Texas Southern v Jackson State  – CLICK HERE

-Dayton and George Washington were close for most of the game before the Flyers finally pulled away in the final minutes.  Both teams appeared to be in somewhat of a tailspin so it was a nice win for the Flyers.

-Monmouth picked up another road win as they gave Iona their first home loss last night.  The game was back and fourth for about the first thirty minutes, but Monmouth could not miss and opened it up in the second half for a high scoring 110-102 win.  It’s another impressive road win on an already impressive profile.  But, what could also end up playing a role is what happened after the game.  As the teams were shaking hands a scuffle broke out with several players shoving each other, and at least one player (Iona’s Jordan Washington) throwing and landing a punch (or perhaps more of a slap, but still against the rules).  I would expect that there will be suspension over this, but cannot say for sure what players or for how long, but it could negatively impact both teams, which is not a good thing to happen to a team that’s trying to stay inside the bubble.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT MEMPHIS (American).  Memphis has a long way to go.  They pretty much need to win out just to get to the point of being in the discussion.

-CINCINNATI AT TEMPLE (American).  Temple won at Cincinnati earlier this year, so this is a big chance for the Bearcats to pick up a road win and offset that loss.  They really need to take care of business in games against non tournament caliber teams from here on out.

-SYRACUSE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  Syracuse is in such a tailspin that it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to come out of it.  A win at Wake would be a huge step in the right direction, though.  Wake has kind of hit a slump of their own and could use a win to build up some momentum.

-OHIO STATE AT MARYLAND (Big Ten).  Maryland is still high in the rankings, but even though their record is bloated they don’t have a lot of huge wins yet.  Ohio State has been playing better, but they still have a long way to go before they can feel safe.

-NC STATE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC).  This is a bitter rivalry, but this year it appears to be a very big mismatch.  UNC should easily end up as a protected seed, whereas NC State doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to the field.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT BUTLER (Big East).  This is a winnable conference home game for Butler.  Slipping up in this one would be a bad thing.

-INDIANA AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten).  Indiana has a bloated record, but they still don’t have much in the way of big wins.  This certainly wouldn’t qualify as a big win, but it is a rare winnable conference road game for the Hoosiers.

-MISSOURI AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC).  Missouri has yet to win on the road and it isn’t likely that South Carolina will drop this one today.

-VILLANOVA AT GEORGETOWN (Big East).  Nova can pick up their fourth true road win and remain a frontrunner in the Big East.  They are a very strong team with a chance to end up on the #1 line.

-FORDHAM AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten).  We have Saint Joe’s just outside our bubble, so they still have a shot at making the field.  They can’t afford slip ups in games like this, though.

-TEXAS A&M AT GEORGIA (SEC).  TAMU has looked like one of the best teams in the SEC, if not the best.  They have a chance to contend for the title and to end up as a protected seed.  Road wins are always good for the profile, and this is a winnable road game.

-TCU AT KANSAS (Big Twelve).  There aren’t many mismatches in this league, but this is one of the few.  Kansas should roll at home.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC).  Pitt is coming off a loss to Louisville, but shouldn’t have too much trouble rebounding today.

-NOTRE DAME AT DUKE (ACC).  Notre Dame is right on the bubble, and although Duke hasn’t been quite as good as many of us were expecting this year, they’re still unbeaten at home.  This is the kind of game that could really boost the Irish’s resume, but winning at Duke is far easier said than done.

-MIAMI FL AT CLEMSON (ACC).  Clemson is red hot all of a sudden with wins against Syracuse, Louisville, and Duke.  They still have a long way to go, but if they keep it up they’ll play their way into the tournament.  They have another tough test today despite being at home.  Miami is coming off just their second loss of the year, which was a close game at Virginia.

-XAVIER AT MARQUETTE (Big East).  Marquette has been playing great lately, and this is a chance for them to really build up some momentum.  Xavier comes in highly ranked, but given how well Marquette has been playing recently this may be one of Xavier’s toughest tests to date.

-WILLIAM & MARY AT UNC WILMINGTON (Colonial).  William & Mary picked up a nice win at Charleston earlier this week.  Their profile is good enough to where they can end up inside the bubble, but only if they run away from the rest of the Colonial.  UNC Wilmington currently has just one home loss, so like a lot of games this one won’t be easy.

-VCU AT RICHMOND (Atlantic Ten).  This is a big rivalry game, and it’s an important one for a VCU team that’s been playing very well these past few weeks.  They had some struggles in December, but right now VCU is looking as strong as anyone else in the conference.

-BAYLOR AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve).  Texas Tech has proven themselves to be home court heroes, and up until recently so had Baylor.  Both teams have a lot of room for improvement, especially Texas Tech who needs to keep holding serve at home, but also has to eventually beat someone on the road.

-KENTUCKY AT AUBURN (SEC).  Kentucky is safely inside the bubble, but they still have some work to do if they want to end up as a protected seed.  They have just one true road win, and this is a very winnable road game for them so they need to take care of business.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT OKLAHOMA (Big Twelve).  West Virginia is coming off an impressive home win against Kansas, but winning on the road against what looks to be the #1 team in the country is even a much taller order.  This is probably the singular toughest challenge of the year for the Mountaineers.

-IOWA STATE AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve).  Iowa State needs some true road wins if they want to end up on one of the top four lines.  K State has just one home loss, and the Cyclones have just one true road win, so this would help boost their resume quite a bit.

-JAMES MADISON AT HOFSTRA (Colonial).  These look to be two of the better teams in the Colonial, but anything short of running away from the league won’t be enough to even get them in the discussion.

-SETON HALL AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Seton Hall has been playing a lot better lately, but this is an extremely tough test for them.  Providence has lost two games, and although one of them was at home in a rather surprising result against Marquette, it’s not something they’re in the habit of doing.

-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon).  Chattanooga needs to win out in order to feel safe.  Anything short of that and they’ll be sweating.  They may be sweating even if they do win out.

-BYU AT PORTLAND (West Coast).  BYU is coming off a big win against Gonzaga, and there may be room for them inside the bubble if they can dominate the rest of the way, but anything short of that probably won’t be enough.

-ALABAMA AT VANDERBILT (SEC).  Vandy has been a big disappointment this year, whereas Alabama has been a big surprise.  They blew out South Carolina earlier this week and if they can pick up this road win they’ll add yet another win of note to their resume.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT TEXAS (Big Twelve).  Texas has been very strong at home, but not so much on the road.  Still, we’re projecting them just into the field right now, and it’s important that they avoid losses to sub tournament teams at home.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten).  I don’t know if the Bonnies will be there in the end, but they’ve won eight of their last nine and if they pick up yet another conference road win they’ll continue to inch closer and closer to contending for the tournament.

-UAB AT CHARLOTTE (Conference USA).  UAB is coming off their biggest win of the year with their road win at Old Dominion.  I still don’t think they’ll have enough quality wins on their profile to be in position to get an at-large, but if they win out they’ll probably at least be in the discussion.

-WASHINGTON AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve).  We have both these teams right on our bubble, so it’s a big game for both teams since both need to improve their resumes.

-FLORIDA AT OLE MISS (SEC).  This is another match up between two bubble teams who have a lot of work to do if they want to end up on the right side of it.  Ole Miss has played well at home this season, and has a brand new arena to go along with it, so if the Gators could pull this off it would be a huge win for them.

-SAN DIEGO AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  Gonzaga is coming off a home loss to a non tournament team, and seeing as how they don’t have a lot of big wins on their profile they could be in trouble if they don’t blow through the league.  They appear to be undermatched today, though.

-GREEN BAY AT VALPARAISO (Horizon League).  If Valpo wins out, which they are definitely good enough to do, they should be safely in the field.

-ARKANSAS AT LSU (SEC).  LSU has continued to improve, especially at home, but they still have quite a bit of ground to make up.  Having said that, they do finally appear to be heading in the right direction.

-PENN STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten).  I personally am not as big on Northwestern as the rest of the people at Hoops HD, but at 15-3 they need to at least be on the radar, even if none of their wins are against anyone that’s all that good.

-HAWAII AT CAL STATE FULLERTON (Big West).  Hawaii hasn’t played many road games this year, and they’ll need to pick up wins in the remaining chances that they have if they want any shot at being in the discussion for an at-large.

-UTAH VALLEY AT GRAND CANYON (WAC).  The Team of the People is back in action!!!  They can improve to an amazing 16-2!!  I know they’re schedule has been weak, but for a transitional program what they are doing is absolutely amazing!  #LopesWaiver!!

-WASHINGTON STATE AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve).  Arizona has had a rather rough week, so a winnable home game like this is probably a very welcome site.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West).  Boise is a somewhat impressive 13-4, but they don’t have much in the way of quality wins, and unfortunately their conference doesn’t provide them with many opportunities.  They need to continue to absolutely dominate this league in order to get any sort of consideration at all.  San Diego State was a team we really liked coming into the year, but they’ve been disappointing this season.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, January 16: Texas Southern at Jackson State

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Chad

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Texas Southern at Jackson State, 6:30 PM, free streaming at jsutigers.com

It will be hard to top last night’s UTR Game of the Day as Monmouth picked up another huge road win at Iona in a very intense game that ended with an altercation from which suspensions are sure to be handed down — in other words, an intense rivalry game that helps make college basketball the amazing sport that it is (do you hear me Utah???).  Today, the UTR Game heads to Jackson, Mississippi for what may prove to be one of the more important regular season games in the SWAC this season, as the Jackson State Tigers host the Texas Southern Tigers.

As we have chronicled here at HOOPS HD, the SWAC had one of its best non-conference seasons in recent memory this year, picking up more true road wins against D1 teams than the league has since the early 90’s.  Jackson State helped contribute to those wins with a 16 point road victory at in-state rival Southern Miss.  The Tigers came close on a couple of other occasions as well, falling in overtime at Tennesee Tech and in double overtime at Louisiana Tech.  They are currently 8-9 overall and off to a 3-1 conference start.  The JSU Tigers are led by Paris Collins (20+ points seven times ths season), Chace Franklin (24 points last time out against Southern) and Raeford Worsham (4 double-doubles on the year).  If they can hold serve at home today, JSU will bring their overall record up to the .500 mark and move into sole possession of first place in the conference.

Standing between Jackson State and first place is Mike Davis’ Texas Southern Tigers.  Heading into conference play, just looking at Texas Southern’s 1-11 overall record would not have made one think they were going to be a contender.  However, a closer look reveals that their entire non-conference slate was played away from home (TSU’s home opener for the season was not until January 2 after an earlier non-conference home game had to be cancelled due to weather issues).  Texas Southern has represented the SWAC in the NCAA Tournament each of the last two years.  Now that they are playing SWAC competition and getting home games, we fully expected this team to begin winning games, and at 3-0 so far in league play, they have done exactly that.  Chris Thomas and Malcolm Riley are the senior leaders of this team, but keep an eye on freshman Derrick Griffin.  Griffin has only played 9 games so far this season, and has already pulled down five double-doubles (and just missed a sixth in a 20 point, 9 rebound effort against Syracuse).  A road win in Jackson today will certainly send a message to the rest of the SWAC that Mike Davis’ team’s non-conference record does not matter now that conference play has arrived.

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Hoops HD Bracket Rundown: January 14th

Posted on January 15, 2016 by David Griggs

Chad acts as arbitrator as he, David, and John hash out this week’s Hoops HD Bracket Rundown.  Just as a reminder, this is what the HOOPS HD STAFF thinks the bracket SHOULD look like if the season ENDED TODAY.  This is not an attempt to guess what the real committee is going to do in March.  The show begins with David and John disagreeing about who should be on the #1 line, and the debating never stopped.

The Final Bracket is posted below….but you’re not allowed to look at it until you watch the show!!

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, and other notable games being played on Friday – CLICK HERE

 

 

 

Here is the final bracketed version of the seed list.

***NOTE**** Due to time constraints on the individual staff members, this was recorded prior to the end of both the Stanford vs California and BYU vs Gonzaga basketball games.  Therefore, those results were not taken into account.  Obviously, it would have effected the placement of both of those teams. 

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And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show….

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Under the Radar Game of the Day (and Highlighted Games) – Friday January 15: Monmouth at Iona

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Chad

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Monmouth at Iona, 9:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU

It may be the Game of the Year in the Metro Atlantic tonight.  Heading into the season, the Iona Gaels were the pick to win the conference.  By the time non-conference play ended, the Monmouth Hawks, with their always-entertaining bench, became the clear favorite.  Tonight, the two teams meet in New Rochelle, New York, for a game that could have major implications on the MAAC regular season championship — and on Monmouth’s chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Monmouth enters tonight’s game with a record of 12-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play.  They have won a very impressive 7 true road games and 9 times overall away from home.  Their wins include UCLA, USC, Notre Dame and Georgetown.  Unfortunately, their resume is tarnished by a pair of road losses — at Canisius and at Army.  If the Hawks had been able to win those two games, they would be looking like a lock, at this point at least, to make the Big Dance.  They would probably even be flirting with the Top 25 nationally.  Here at HOOPS HD, we are still projecting Monmouth as a tournament team, regardless of whether or not they win their league’s automatic bid.  However, they probably will need to find a way to win the MAAC regular season title, and falling two games behind Iona with a loss tonight would not help that cause at all.

Iona currently sits at 9-6 overall, but in first place in the MAAC at 6-0.  The Gaels struggled during the non-conference portion of their schedule, losing disappointing games to UC-Santa Babara and Akron during a trip to Las Vegas.  However, they were also without their star player for those two games.  A.J. English is back healthy now, and proving he can dominate a game.  He scored 24 points in each of his team’s last two games, and came close to a double-double both times with 7 assists against Rider and 8 against Marist.  If the Hawks do not find a way to contain him tonight, they may not be heading back to New Jersey with a win, and will have very little margin for error left the rest of the season.

 

Other Highlighted Games

– George Washington at Dayton: This may be one of the top games this season in the A-10.  Both teams looked like solid tournament locks about a month ago, but some questionable road losses have made things more dicey.  GW lost at DePaul and at Saint Louis while Dayton has a bad loss at La Salle.  The winner of tonight’s game will have another nice feather in their cap as we move towards the end of January.

– Evansville at Illinois State: The Aces are still on the radar for an at-large bid, but cannot afford any missteps the rest of the way.  That makes wining the game tonight, on the road against a solid Illinois State team, almost a must-win.

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Throwback Thursday: A March To Madness (Part 1)

Posted on January 14, 2016 by John Stalica

Click here for David Griggs’ News and Notes for January 14, 2016

Click here for Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Fort Wayne (IPFW) and South Dakota State; also click here for Chad and David’s weekly UTR Podcast

Finally, click here for Joby Fortson’s latest installment of the Nitty Gritty Rankings

Last month, I had reviewed John Feinstein’s The Last Amateurs documenting the 1999-2000 season in the Patriot League; today we take a look at his earlier book A March To Madness which detailed the ACC in the 1996-97 season. The Atlantic Coast Conference has historically been the most consistently strong conference from top to bottom; this season was no exception. This was a season in which Tim Duncan took an expected victory lap for his senior season at Wake Forest; Dean Smith would coach North Carolina for the final time (although this wasn’t known until his retirement just before the beginning of the next season), and Mike Krzyzewski in essence rebuilt Duke’s storied program for the 2nd time.

While North Carolina got off to a slow start in ACC play (they were 3-5 in the first part of the season with home losses to Maryland and road losses at Wake Forest, Virginia, Florida State and Duke), they got red-hot in the 2nd half of conference play and would not lose again until they reached the Final 4 in Indianapolis. This also represented a time when Dean Smith would pass Adolph Rupp on the all-time victories list after beating Colorado in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament in Winston-Salem. With a star cast that included Vince Carter, Antwain Jamison, Ademola Okulaja, Ed Cota and Shammond Williams, the Tar Heels would win 15 straight games en route to a #1 seed in the East Region and East Region championship before losing to Arizona.

Clemson was in Year 3 of the Rick Barnes era, and began their season with a flourish with a win on a neutral floor against Kentucky in their season opener. Their other signature wins included a win at home over Duke and a regular-season sweep over Maryland (although the Terps got the last laugh in the ACC Tournament). While Clemson did falter down the stretch in the regular season, they got a new lease on life when they were assigned to the Midwest Region as a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They defeated Miami-Ohio and Tulsa in the Kansas City subregional before losing a double-overtime thriller to Minnesota in the Sweet 16 in San Antonio – click here to watch this classic.

Duke was 2 years removed from a disastrous season in which Mike Krzyzewski was sidelined with a back injury and would miss the bulk of ACC play from the bench for the Blue Devils. They got a signature win at Villanova (at what was then the debut of the First Union Center) before entering ACC play. After seething over a close loss at Maryland in which he felt his team had settled for a moral victory, Coach K figuratively and literally drew the line in what was an intense week of practices leading up to their annual rivalry with North Carolina. He debuted a smaller lineup featuring Chris Carrawell, Steve Wojciechowski, Trajan Langdon, and Jeff Capel; the Blue Devils would win a thriller at home en route to a regular season championship in the ACC. The Blue Devils would be upset by Providence in the 2nd round in Charlotte (Southeast Region), but reinforcements were on the way to Durham for the following season.

Wake Forest had the highest expectations in the preseason, and early on the Demon Deacons were looking like a sure bet to advance to the Final 4. They beat #1 Kansas AND #2 Missouri at separate points in the nonconference schedule, and also had decisive wins over UNC and at Duke (the only home loss for Duke all year) in the first half of ACC play. After losing a pair of heartbreakers at home to Maryland and NC State (click here for the NC State game – note the ending of this particular game), the Deacons seemed to lose their mojo in the 2nd half of ACC play. Duke, North Carolina and even Florida State would avenge earlier losses to Wake. While they ended up with a #3 seed in the West, they would be upset by the Stanford Cardinal in the 2nd round in Tuscon. (And yes, the Pac-10 incidentally had all 4 teams who qualified for the NCAAs advance to the Sweet 16, to say nothing about eventual national champion Arizona).

Maryland was another reclamation project in the ACC; when Gary Williams took the job for the 1989-90 season, he inherited a program that would be NIT bound in his debut season before getting hammered with a ban on NCAA Tournament play AND TV coverage for 2 seasons for transgressions committed in the Bob Wade regime. Keith Booth was the star for the Terrapins; they began the season unranked and would climb into the Top 10 in January. Only Wake Forest was able to beat the Terps in the 1st half of ACC play; they would limp to 5th place in the conference at the end of the regular season. They beat Clemson in the opening round of the ACC Tournament but failed to take advantage of Duke being upset by NC State the previous day. They would lose to the Wolfpack and ultimately were upset by College of Charleston in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.

The only team in the ACC that had to sweat out Selection Sunday were the Virginia Cavaliers; they were a team that advanced to the Elite 8 under Jeff Jones only 2 seasons earlier. However, going through the turmoil of off-season arrests and Jones’ own divorce would take an emotional toll on the Cavaliers. They did beat North Carolina and Maryland at home; they fell short at home against Duke in a very controversial ending (click here for game highlights) involving a clock malfunction and a failure by officials to allow a substitution by Virginia after a made free throw late in the game. While the Cavs were shipped west in the NCAA Tournament, they were blown out by Iowa in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Cinderella story in the conference this season was the North Carolina State Wolfpack. In Herb Sendek’s first season as head coach, the Wolfpack began conference play 0-8 while losing one heartbreaker after another. In the 2nd half of conference play, they would actually finish 4-4 with home wins against Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech and at Wake Forest. Their 4-4 record was better than Maryland and Clemson and equal to that of Wake Forest. In the ACC Tournament, they beat Georgia Tech in the 1st round (aka the Les Robinson Game) before upsetting Duke in the quarterfinals and Maryland in the semifinals. Even North Carolina struggled to finish State in the ACC Championship; it would represent the first time since 1979 that the ACC runner-up would be relegated to the NIT. Even that was a huge step up for State fans given their decline after the late Jim Valvano resigned earlier in the decade (and may be the only time a program’s own fans would chant “NIT” after their first 3 wins in the ACC Tournament).

Florida State was another program that had been in a decline after their first 2 seasons in the ACC yielded a Sweet 16 appearance in 1992 and an Elite 8 run in 1993. There were whispers about the fate of Pat Kennedy after he had interviewed for other jobs in the offseason the year before; they grew louder as Florida State slumped to a 6-10 record in ACC play. They did beat Wake Forest and North Carolina at home, but their only notable road win was at Clemson. Still, they did advance to the finals of the NIT before losing to Michigan in the championship game at Madison Square Garden.

Only Georgia Tech would not qualify for any postseason in 1996-97. It was the first time at Tech that Bobby Cremins would finish last in the ACC since his first season in 1981-82 when he inherited a program in ruin. What really hurt the Yellow Jackets was Cremins’ inability to have a point guard ready to play when Stephon Marbury had declared for the NBA Draft last season. This was a program that went from Lethal Weapon III in 1990 (Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott and Brian Oliver) to Travis Best to Stephon Marbury. Tech still had a star player in Matt Harpring (or “Hopping”, as Feinstein noted on Cremins’ pronounciation) but not nearly enough complimentary pieces to hope to compete in the ACC that season.

Next week, we focus more on the coaches of the ACC and some of their back stories (i.e. Which coach had to agree to coach women’s soccer as a condition of becoming a top assistant coach in men’s basketball). Stay tuned!

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Jan 14th

Posted on January 14, 2016 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For our most recent Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-Joby’s Nitty Gritty Rankings have been updated.  To check them out – CLICK HERE

-The story last night was Clemson, who won their third straight ACC game, and their second game in a row against a ranked team.  It doesn’t get any easier for them, but in a way that’s good because if they keep knocking off tournament caliber teams then they’ll become a tournament team themselves.

-USC became just the second team this season to win at UCLA, and they did so decisively.  The Trojans are now looking like they could be wearing white in the Round of 64.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-WESTERN CAROLINA AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon).  Every game from here on out will have a do or die feel to it for Chattanooga, but if they are a legitimate tournament team then they should be able to win out.

-JAMES MADISON AT NORTHEASTERN (Colonial).  These are two of the better teams in the Colonial, but unless one of them can run away from the league (which is possible but not very likely), then they’ll end up needing the automatic bid.

-CONNECTICUT AT TULSA (American).  This is a road win that UConn really needs to pick up.  Tulsa is an average team that should be better, but isn’t.

-IOWA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Iowa won the first meeting, but they were at home and Michigan State was not at full strength.  If Iowa can pull off the upset in this one, then it definitely demonstrates that they are worthy of a protected seed.  If Michigan State can avenge the loss, then it definitely demonstrates that they are a #1 seed caliber team when they are at full strength.

-UAB AT OLD DOMINION (Conference USA).  Old Dominion has been a pretty big disappointment this year, but they are still unbeaten at home.  If UAB, who has won nine straight, can pick up this one then it would probably end up being their best win of the year.  It probably still won’t be enough, but if they run the table then they should at least get a look for an at-large.

-WILLIAM & MARY AT CHARLESTON (Colonial).  William & Mary probably has the best shot at an at-large if they can run away from the Colonial.  They’ll be tested tonight against  a Charleston team that has just one home loss.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve).  Arizona State still has some work to do and can’t afford to lose to sub tournament caliber teams at home.

-MILWAUKEE AT VALPARAISO (Horizon League).  If Valpo wins out, which they are definitely good enough to do, then they should be safely inside the bubble.

-APPALACHIAN STATE AT LITTLE ROCK (Sun Belt).  This is one of many conference games that Little Rock will play where they need to avoid a bad loss.  If they do that they should be fine.

-UT ARLINGTON AT TROY (Sun Belt).  Same comment as above.  UT Arlington needs to avoid bad losses.

-BYU AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  If BYU wants any hope at landing inside the bubble then I think they need to win this game.  They won’t have an opportunity at another win this good for the rest of the year.  Gonzaga doesn’t have too much meat on their schedule and needs to avoid losses to sub tournament teams if they want to be wearing white in the Round of 64.

-PITTSBURGH AT LOUISVILLE (ACC).  Right now, I’d say these are two good teams who’s profiles aren’t quite so good.  The pressure is on both of them to win games like this if they want to end up safely in the field with a good seed.

-WASHINGTON AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve).  Arizona is reeling somewhat and needs to rebound.  Washington is kind of bubblish and a win in a game like this would do wonders for them.

-OREGON AT UTAH (Pac Twelve).  Oregon has yet to win a true road game, so this would improve their resume a ton if they’re able to pull it off.  Having said that, Utah hasn’t lost a home game.

-CALIFORNIA AT STANFORD (Pac Twelve).  California is looking better and better, and a road win against a conference rival would help them a ton both on and off paper.

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