3 Most Important Results from Tonight
Indiana 73, Michigan 71 – At this point, killing Indiana under a barrage of 3's would be recommended in Bloomington. Don't do that and Indiana will figure out a way to win the game. The Hoosiers still need to prove these results can be had on the road, but there is no doubt the program is back to where it needs to be.
DePaul 84, Pittsburgh 81 – I don't think DePaul is an at-large contender, but neither is Pittsburgh at this point. The Panthers have suffered some bad losses and have now lost four in a row with little value in the non-conference to fall back on (Tennessee and Oklahoma St. are far cries from their recent solid selves). Now, Pitt must win against Rutgers or risk having this turn into an 8-game losing streak with at Marquette, at Syracuse and Louisville coming up.
Oregon 78, Stanford 67 – Ugh. Pac-12 hoops. At this point, it would be merciful to just say one-bid league and be done with it after the top four teams in the league all lost tonight (well done Cal, Arizona and Washington)
Worst Loss from Tonight
Penn St. 65, Purdue 45 – Strike Purdue from the at-large list. The profile just won't be there if games like this show up on the resume, especially with the loss to Xavier rapidly deteriorating and an ugly loss to a bad Butler team on the resume.
10 Biggest Games of the Weekend
Syracuse vs Marquette – When things aren't going well, this is not a trip that one wants to see on the schedule. For Marquette, with its biggest wins (Ole Miss, Washington and Wisconsin) losing value and having lost three out of five, things aren't going well.
Kansas St. vs Missouri – Another day, another test for undefeated and depthless Missouri. Eventually, the lack of depth in the front court is going to catch up with the Tigers. This game is a good possibility as Kansas St. has a pretty good front court.
Iowa vs Ohio St. - Which Iowa is the real Iowa. Is it the one that beat Wisconsin and Minnesota on the road over the last week, or is it the one that lost badly to Creighton, Campbell?!?, Clemson, Northern Iowa and Iowa St.? The Hawkeyes don't necessarily have to beat Ohio St. to prove its the former, but getting blown out wouldn't be good, especially at home.
West Virginia vs Georgetown – Georgetown continues its run through the top of the Big East. A win here on the road would confirm the Hoyas as the second choice behind Syracuse. For West Virginia, big home games like this are the ones needed for at-large bids.
Arkansas vs Mississippi St. - Is Arkansas for real? The Razorbacks have piled up a gaudy record against some awful opponents, losing bizarrely at home to Houston and getting torched on the road against UConn and Oklahoma. If the Razorbacks are for real, it beats a talented but vulnerable Mississippi St. team at home.
Temple vs Dayton – Temple and Dayton are the top two teams in the A-10 pecking order after their big wins on Wednesday and collapse of Xavier. The winner here is a the conference front runner and almost certain to get an NCAA bid barring a major February collapse.
Providence vs Seton Hall – A huge chance for Providence to get a big win after Seton Hall disemboweled UConn earlier this week. For the Pirates, its a chance to solidify its status as the most underrated team in the country (RPI 4, no bad losses, truckload of decent wins and a blowout win over UConn).
Michigan vs Wisconsin – Wisconsin needs to stop the bleeding. Yes, there is a big win over UNLV and a win over BYU on the resume. Not much else right now and already carrying two home losses, the Badgers can ill afford to fall to 1-3 in Big Ten play.
Minnesota vs Purdue – Huge game between teams trying to stay on the bubble. At this point, the loser can probably kiss all hopes goodbye.
NC State vs Maryland – Ditto. The difference being the much weaker ACC as opposed to the strong Big Ten Minnesota and Purdue play in.
Final Thought on the night in College Basketball
Where are the bids going to come from? As of right now, I have no idea and that means some undeserving teams in the field come March. Part of the problem: the Pac-12 is historically awful and the ACC is way down. Normally, those leagues can realistically shoot for 10 bids between them. This year, it looks like there will six at the most. Worse yet, the other power conferences (besides the Big Ten) look unable to pick up the slack. Then, when delving further, there are not a lot of strong mid-majors. The Mountain West, WCC, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley and Conference USA all look poised for the usual. The rest are all one bid this season. Where are the bids coming from?
Instead of hearing from some bubble teams saying we are as good as they are, this year we will be hearing "we are not bad as them..."
ReplyDeleteThe lower conference champs might be able to beat some big names this year as slots are going to get filled with some real pretenders...
Ala Pac 12 number 2...