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: Monday, Jan 5th
Below is a rundown of tonight’s action, as well as a quick look back at last night.
NEWS AND NOTES
-For the most recent Hoops HD Report Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-This is not hyperbole. I don’t know how many college basketball games I watch each year, but it’s a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was close to 1000. Maybe more. Last night’s Oklahoma v Kansas game was one of the best games I’ve seen in three or four years. It was an exciting game between two really good teams that played really well. For 55 minutes. Kansas won, but I don’t penalize Oklahoma at all for not beating one of the two best teams on their floor. In fact, to have a lead against them after 54 minutes is quite remarkable. #1 seeds almost never lose at home. the four #1 seeds may lose a combined total of one or two games a year if it’s even that many. Most #1 seeds don’t even beat other #1 seeds on the road. Oklahoma is still in amazingly good shape, especially if they can take advantage of future games against Kansas and Iowa State both in the regular season and in the conference tournament.
-Virginia Tech picked up a big home win against rival Virginia. This is big in terms of building momentum and giving their fans a feeling that the program is turning around. They still have a long way to go, but they appear to be on the right road. This has always been a difficult game for UVA, and they just weren’t able to pull it out last night.
-North Carolina picked up their first true road win at Florida State, which was a good one because the Seminoles came into that game unbeaten at home.
-A quick UTR note, Grambling is 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 1994 with their win at home against Alabama State!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MERCER AT CHATTANOOGA (Southern) – CLICK HERE For Chad’s UTR GOTD write up on this game
-SOUTH CAROLINA AT AUBURN (SEC). South Carolina is unbeaten on the season with several decent wins, but no really good ones. This will be a test going on the road against an improving Auburn program.
-WISCONSIN AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Indiana hasn’t been the top fifteen team that we were expecting, at least not yet, but they’re still a solid tournament team and will remain in somewhat decent shape if they can hold serve at home.
-MARQUETTE AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Providence is looking more and more like a protected seed with a strong record and some really big wins. Marquette has a lot of work to do. An upset win isn’t likely, but it would go a very long way to help them.
-VCU AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten). Saint Joe’s is a very surprising 11-2, whereas VCU is a somewhat disappointing 9-5. Joe’s can play their way into the NCAA Tournament if they keep it up.
-AKRON AT BUFFALO (MAC). At 11-2, Akron has an outside shot at best at landing inside the bubble, and they’d pretty much need to win out to do it.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT BAYLOR (Big Twelve). Baylor was absolutely crushed by Kansas over the weekend, and is suddenly in a situation where their profile needs some meet on it. Oklahoma State’s profile could use some meet as well. In short, both these teams have work to do if they want to end up being in the discussion.
-KANSAS STATE AT TEXAS (Big Twelve). Texas has been inconsistent this year, but that’s a lot better than being consistently bad. Every game is a big game when you’re trying to make the NCAA Tournament. K State has been better than what we thought, and they can keep that up with a big road win tonight.
-CLEMSON AT SYRACUSE (ACC). Syracuse needs to win their home games against non tournament teams, which is what Clemson appears to be right now.
-BUTLER AT DEPAUL (Big East). Butler is off to an 0-2 start in league play and needs to rebound with what should be one of their more winnable road games at DePaul tonight. If they lose they don’t necessarily need to panic, but they will really need to get it together.
-KENTUCKY AT LSU (SEC). LSU has looked better in their last couple of games, but they still have a ton of work to do if they want to play their way back into relevance. Beating Kentucky, who still looks like a protected seed, would certainly help.
-VANDERBILT AT ARKANSAS (SEC). Vandy has been very disappointing this year, and has yet to win a true road game. They need to win against teams that aren’t tournament teams, and that means winning on the road at Arkansas tonight.
-NEBRASKA AT IOWA (Big Ten). Iowa is suddenly looking like one of the best teams out there with wins over Michigan State and at Purdue. Throw in a close loss at Iowa State earlier this year and you’ve got three very impressive showings against top notch competition. This is a winnable conference game against a Nebraska team that has struggled on the road.
-GEORGETOWN AT CREIGHTON (Big East). Georgetown has been all over the map this year. They’ve looked amazingly good in close losses at Maryland and against Duke, and they’ve looked pathetic in home losses to Radford and UNC Asheville. The opportunities will be there for them to get statement wins, but they have to win the games against non-tournament teams as well, which includes Creighton.
-BOISE STATE AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West). In order for either of these teams to get any attention from the committee at all they basically need to win out.