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.
Throwback Thursday: 1992 NCAA Tournament
Click here for Chad Sherwood’s Under The Radar Game of the Day (Hofstra at College of Charleston)
Click here for Chad and David’s weekly Under The Radar Podcast
1992 represented a major checkpoint in the evolution of the NCAA Tournament in many ways. This would be the 2nd time that CBS would garner “tip to trophy” coverage in the words of Greg Gumbel. UNLV finally began their postseason ban after coming short in the previous season’s title defense. A group of freshmen known as the Fab Five congregated in Ann Arbor, Michigan and gradually became one of the better stories of the season. Duke would finally play the role of the hunted throughout the course of the season.
The East regional featured a pair of heavyweights in Duke and Kentucky. While Duke came in as the favorite to win the region, Kentucky would finally be eligible for NCAA Tournament play for the first time under Rick Pitino. The Wildcats actually won the SEC regular season title the season before in 1990-91, but they were not eligible to play beyond that point. UMass and John Calipari made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years and would offer up a sneak preview of their A-10 dynasty of the 1990s. Seton Hall also had a solid team out of the Big East and would offer up an eventual matchup in the Sweet 16 between the Hurley brothers – Bobby Hurley at Duke and Danny Hurley at Seton Hall. Even La Salle and Fordham qualified for the NCAA Tournament that season – the Explorers out of the MAAC and the Rams out of the Patriot League. While La Salle did offer the Pirates a scare in the opening round, chalk held up for the most part going into a legendary regional final between Duke and Kentucky. With a game featuring numerous lead changes, Christian Laettner and Duke would get the final word with the NCAA Tournament’s most signature moment in its brief history. Click here to watch the game in its entirety courtesy of the NCAA On Demand channel.
In the West regional, the top three seeds (UCLA, Indiana, and Florida State) would advance to the regional in Albuquerque. The fourth party-crasher, to the horror of hometown New Mexico fans, would be their archrival New Mexico State Aggies. The Aggies would upset DePaul and Oklahoma to earn their spot in the Sweet 16. The Aggies did give an inspired effort in their game against UCLA before losing 85-78 to the Bruins. Indiana would defeat Florida State and set up a rematch of UCLA-Indiana; the Bruins won the season opener between the two teams. Bob Knight had caused a stir in one of his pregame press conferences earlier in the week when he brought a whip to practice; however, it was UCLA who would feel the wrath of Knight and the Hoosiers this time around. Click here for game footage of Indiana’s 106-79 blowout win; the best moment comes at 1:28:45 when Calbert Cheaney turns the tables on Bob Knight for his whipping antics earlier in the week.
The Midwest regional can best be described as the Region of Misfit Seeds. Of the top 4 seeds (Kansas, USC, Arkansas and Cincinnati), only the Bearcats would even advance to the Sweet 16 in Kansas City. The first party crasher in this region was Texas-El Paso under the leadership of legendary coach Don Haskins; their win over Kansas vaulted them to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 25 years and was their greatest win since their historic win over Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA Championship game (when they were called Texas Western). Memphis State was responsible for taking out Arkansas in the Milwaukee subregional; the locals were also treated to a classic in the following game between Georgia Tech and USC. (Click here for this tournament’s 2nd most famous buzzer beater and Al McGuire’s legendary call of James Forrest’s game winner.) And as we noted in last week’s Throwback Thursday column, Cincinnati would afvance to the Final Four after defeating UTEP and Memphis State for a 4th time that season.
In the Southeast, it looked like Ohio State was well on their way to Minneapolis after blowout wins over Mississippi Valley State and UConn in the Cincinnati subregional. North Carolina offered a little more resistance to the Buckeyes in the Sweet 16, but the Tar Heels were a year away from their own memorable championship run. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the elephant in the room came in the form of the Michigan Wolverines. The Fab Five opened their tournament with wins over Temple and East Tennessee State (who upset Arizona in Round 1) and would defeat Oklahoma State to set up a memorable rematch with the Buckeyes in the Elite 8 in Lexington. After the Buckeyes missed a potential game winner in regulation, the Wolverines had all the answers in overtime and would avenge their two earlier losses to Ohio State with a 75-71 win; click here to view this forgotten classic. This game also denied the Buckeyes to meet up with Cincinnati for the first time since losing to the Bearcats in the 1962 NCAA Championship.
When the Final Four convened in Minneapolis, Michigan would defeat Cincinnati in the opener 76-72. Duke and Indiana offered up what turned out to be the best game of the weekend; they would jump out to a big lead before Indiana would mount a furious comeback late in the game. Click here to see the pupil Mike Krzyzewski finally defeat his teacher in Bob Knight; Duke’s 81-78 win would be a painful one for Indiana that would linger until the Hoosiers would get their revenge a decade later in the post-Bob Knight era. When Monday night came around, Michigan would actually outplay Duke in the first half, but the Blue Devils were too much to overcome and ended up with a 71-51 blowout win. The Blue Devils won back-to-back titles for the first time since UCLA won back-to-back in 1972 and 1973. Duke’s accomplishment would not be matched until Florida won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 against UCLA and Ohio State, respectively.
And finally, click here for the One Shining Moment montage.