Below is a rundown of all of tonight’s action, and a quick look back at what was an eventful day yesterday…
NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between NJIT and Yale – CLICK HERE
-Kentucky fell big on the road to an LSU team that is certainly improving, but still has a lot of ground to make up. Still, last night’s win will go a long way toward helping LSU. Kentucky isn’t looking anything like a #1 seed right now, and may need to step it up just to land on one of the top four lines.
-Marquette picked up a huge road win at Providence, which catapults them into the NCAA Tournament picture. Going into the game they had no true road wins. They now have one against what appears to be a top ten Providence team.
-Butler picked up their first conference road win, but they kind of needed to sweat it out against DePaul. Judging by how Butler has looked in Big East play they may struggle the rest of the season.
-Temple got another big road win in the AAC as they won at UConn. They now have two huge road wins, but those will probably prove to be more harmful to UConn and Cincinnati than helpful to Temple. Temple still has a very long way to go before having the kind of resume that the committee would consider.
-Saint Joseph’s lost at home to VCU after leading for most of the game. It’s not a crushing loss, but when a team looks like they’re a bubble team every game has a pivotal feel to it.
-Syracuse fell at home to Clemson. Syracuse is starting to look like they may not be there at the end.
-Vanderbilt fell at Arkansas. They were a popular sleeper pick. It has come to fruition! All season long Vanderbilt has looked as if they were asleep.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MISSOURI AT GEORGIA (SEC). Georgia needs to start winning if they want the committee to think they’re relevant. They’ve gotten off to a sluggish start and I keep waiting for them to snap out of it, but the more time that goes by the less I think it’ll happen.
-FLORIDA AT TENNESSEE (SEC). Florida continues to look extremely bubblelicious, which means every game has a somewhat pivotal feel to it right now.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). GW should be okay so long as they avoid losses against the weaker teams in the league, and SLU is definitely included in that category.
-GEORGIA TECH AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Pitt is in decent shape, but their bloated record consists mostly of cupcake wins. Georgia Tech is somewhat decent, but it’s still the kind of home game that a team like Pitt should be expected to win.
-DUKE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). Wake is a solid team that appears to be getting better and better as the year progresses. They’re coming off a loss at Louisville, but they played really well and it’s not the kind of loss that should end up hurting them. Duke’s only true road game of the season was at Boston College. It’ll be a test for them as well as this is the first time they’ve been in a hostile environment against a good team in a true road game.
-RUTGERS AT MARYLAND (Big Ten). Maryland should roll. This is one of their more winnable conference games.
-SETON HALL AT VILLANOVA (Big East). Seton Hall is off to a very strong start, and can make an absolutely huge statement if they’re able to knock off Nova at Nova. This is the kind of win that can not only land them inside the bubble, but result in them wearing white in the Round of 64. That being said, it’s much easier said than done.
-DUQUESNE AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten). Both teams have more work to do than they’re probably capable of doing when it comes to making the NCAA Tournament, but as of this moment it still isn’t entirely impossible.
-UMASS AT DAYTON (Atlantic Ten). Dayton is in solid shape and will remain safe so long as they hold serve at home in games like this.
-EVANSVILLE AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley). This is a huge game between two teams that are good enough to land inside the bubble, but need very strong showings in conference play to do it, and they need to take advantage of opportunities at notable wins in games like this. I almost did a spit take when I saw this wasn’t Chad’s UTR GOTD.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT MISSOURI STATE (Missouri Valley). Northern Iowa has two huge notable wins, but they have far too many losses to teams that are nowhere near being relevant when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. They need to beat everyone in this league that’s not Evansville or Wichita, and they need to win at least two of the four games they play against those two in order to feel safe.
-TEXAS A&M AT MISSISSIPPI STATE (SEC). TAMU is in great shape and can add another road win to an already strong profile.
-AIR FORCE AT WYOMING (Mountain West, Front Range). Air Force may be an NIT team, but nothing more. We highlight this game only because we love the Front Range!!
-TEXAS TECH AT IOWA STATE (Big Twelve). Texas Tech has a good record, and they’ve actually beaten some good teams. The thing is that their next win outside of Lubbock will be their first, and this is actually their first true road game. No game they’ve played this season comes close to resembling what it’s like to play on the road against a top ten team. We’ll certainly learn something about them tonight.
-OHIO STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). A lot of people here at Hoops HD really like this Northwestern team. To me, they’ve racked up a big record against bad teams and I’m not convinced. I’ll feel better about them if they’re able to win tonight against an Ohio State team that’s looked a lot better in recent weeks. This is a big game for the Buckeyes as it would be their first true road win, and because they’ve got a lot of ground to make up.
-XAVIER AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East). The Johnnies have been decent at home, but this is still one of the more winnable Big East road games Xavier will play and they need to take advantage of it if they want to remain safely on the top four lines.
-CALIFORNIA AT OREGON (Pac Twelve). Both teams are good, but both still have work to do. A win in this game would go a long way.
-UNLV AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West). UNLV is probably the only team other than Boise State that can get into the NCAAs as an at-large, and they’ll have to not only finish first, but blow through the league to do it.
-STANFORD AT OREGON STATE (Pac Twelve). If Oregon State wants to be there at the end, they need to keep the momentum going that they’ve built up. They’re at home against a non tournament team. If they’re a tournament team themselves, then this is the kind of game they need to win.
-CAL POLY AT HAWAII (Big West). Hawaii can play their way into the picture, but they’ll have to absolutely blow through the Big West. Winning at home isn’t their issue. Winning away from home will be.
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Jan 7th
NEWS AND NOTES
-We’ve got all kinds of important links for you! Make sure you read all of them!!
-For the latest in John Stalica’s Throwback Thursday feature, which focuses on the 1992 NCAA Tournament this week – CLICK HERE. The 1992 Tournament was a huge deal as it featured one of the greatest games ever played between Kentucky and Duke, as well as one of the most popular teams in college sports history (not just basketball, but all college sports) with Michigan’s Fab Five.
-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between Hofstra and College of Charleston – CLICK HERE
-We will be recording our first Bracket Rundown Podcast of the season tonight, where we will collectively build a seed list. If you read this site, you know that there are a lot of things that we don’t agree on, so it should be a lively debate.
-As far as last night’s games go, we had a lot of excitement, but nothing too crazy happened. After seeing Texas Tech fall way behind at Iowa State and then claw their way back into the game, I’m starting to believe in them. It just really sucks that Chad was the first one to argue that he thought they were good because I just don’t like it when Chad is right about things.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-UTRGV AT GRAND CANYON (WAC). To say that the Lopes are the best team in the WAC, at this point, is kind of like saying out of the months of January, May, June, and August, January is the coldest. No one else has looked even remotely good in this league, and it really is a shame that the Lopes aren’t eligible. But, keep believing!! Keep the movement going!! #LopesWaiver
-WILLIAM & MARY AT DREXEL (Colonial). At this point, saying that it’s a longshot for William & Mary to land inside the bubble is being kind. They’d have to absolutely run away from the league from this point on.
-CINCINNATI AT SMU (American). SMU is still unbeaten, and Cincinnati is still in decent shape, but this is one of their last chances to boost themselves back up to being in terrific shape. This is their toughest remaining test. It’s a road game against an unbeaten team that they won’t see again in the conference tournament due to SMU being ineligible. They do face each other again in the regular season finale, however – could SMU be unbeaten at that point in time?
-NOTRE DAME AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC). Notre Dame needs to pick up the winnable conference road games.
-MICHIGAN AT PURDUE (Big Ten). People still aren’t as excited about Michigan as they were at the beginning of the year, but the Wolverines are 12-3. If they’re able to pull off this win tonight it would completely change the complexion of their profile and their season.
-LOUISVILLE AT NC STATE (ACC). Louisville had a big win this past Sunday when they beat Wake Forest, which is the first team they’ve beaten that appears to be anywhere close to the NCAA Tournament. Tonight they’re going after their first true road win of the season, which adds something else to their profile that they need to have.
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT IUPUI (Summit league). If South Dakota State can win out then they’ll be considered for an at-large. Anything short of that and they’ll probably need the automatic bid.
-UT ARLINGTON AT APPALACHIAN STATE (Sun Belt). We are currently projecting UT Arlington as being right on the bubble. If they can blow through the conference they can should be in shape to get an at-large bid if they need it.
-LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE AT LITTLE ROCK (Sun Belt). Like UT Arlington, we are projecting Little Rock to be just inside the bubble. If they avoid losses to teams that are outside the tournament picture, which is pretty much the entire conference, they should be inside the bubble come March.
-ALABAMA AT OLE MISS (SEC). Both teams have shown signs of being good this year, and Alabama has been somewhat surprising, but both still have a ton of work to do. Like we say, when a team looks like they’re near the bubble, every game has a pivotal feel to it, and that’s where both these teams appear to be.
-ILLINOIS AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State is still in strong contention for a #1 seed and even if they’re shorthanded should take care of Illinois at home. Valentine is expected to return this weekend, but will not play tonight.
-ARIZONA AT UCLA (Pac Twelve). UCLA has lost just one home game, but their profile has taken a huge hit with how poor they’ve played away from home. Beating Arizona would certainly help, but they need to win some games on the road if they really want to feel safe. Having said that, they are a strong team at home and if Arizona pulls off the win they’ll get quite a bit of credit for it.
-OLD DOMINION AT LOUISIANA TECH (Conference USA). If LA Tech can run the table or come close to doing so, which they’re good enough to do, they should be inside the bubble come March. Old Dominion has been disappointing out of conference and still hasn’t won a true road game yet.
-SAINT MARY’S AT LMU (West Coast). When a team beats non tournament teams at home, that doesn’t indicate that they’re a tournament team themselves no matter how many times they do it. That’s how I feel about SMC. We’re watching them, but I won’t actually be taking them seriously until they pass a true road test. LMU is unbeaten at home, so if they get this one I may sit up and take a little bit of notice.
-ARIZONA STATE AT USC (Pac Twelve). Both teams are good, but both teams still have work to do. It’s one of those games that has a somewhat pivotal feel for both teams.