Iowa 70, Indiana 67
Different coach, same result for the struggling Hooisers.
Purdue 84, Michigan 70
What's gotten into the bottom of the Big Ten lately?
Duke 96, Maryland 88
Another huge day by J.J. (35) sends Terps to fourth loss in five games. The Terps play four of their final six games on the road, and have to get to 9-7 in conference to feel safe.
Florida 71, LSU 62
Good bounce-back win for the Gators at home.
Arizona 80, Oregon State 58
Wildcats avoid loss No. 10 with an easy win over the Beavers.
Southern Illinois 74, Creighton 67
Huge win for the Salukis' at-large hopes.
N.C. Wilmington 69, Georgia State 57; Hofstra 89, N'eastern 78; VCU 80, ODU 74; George Mason 65, Towson 53
CAA might get two bids with the lack of quality at-large candidates in the big conferences.
George Washington 64, St. Joseph's 62
It's games like this that make sure wonder if GW is a lock to win the A-10 tourney.
Minnesota 69, Michigan State 55
Does anyone want to win this conference?
Utah 67, San Diego State 65
Can't lose MWC home games and get an at-large bid. Mountain West is looking like a one bid conference.
Vanderbilt 84, Kentucky 81
Another head-scratching loss for Kentucky, this time against a Vandy team that had lost four straight. Season sweep for Vandy puts them right back in the hunt for a bid.
Washington 70, UCLA 67
Huge home sweep over the LA schools for the Huskies will do wonders to their seed and shut up their doubters.
Alabama 64, Mississippi 50
Tide's seed will get a nice bump after a two-win week.
Tennessee 83, Georgia 78
Major opportunity blown by the Bulldogs.
Kansas 88, Iowa State 75
Terrible week for the Cyclones will likely leave them out of the field this week.
Colorado 66, Texas Tech 64
Buffs take care of business at home.
UConn 99, Seton Hall 57
Huskies seem untouchable right now, but they should get tested this week at 'Nova and WVU.
Missouri State 66, Northern Iowa 63
Bears get a huge road win and keep themselves alive for an at-large and the MVC alive for 5 bids.
UAB 72, East Carolina 64
Blazers have no room for error after loss to UTEP earlier on the week.
Arkansas 84, Auburn 64
Can't think of another team that has been in basically the same spot on the bubble in the past month like the Razorbacks.
New Mexico State 83, Utah State 77
Just a few hours ago we were talking about the Aggies' at-large chances. Now that conversation is moot since tourney teams don't get swept by NMSU.
Gonzaga 80, Stanford 76
Cardinal made a valient effort on the road but blew their opportunity this week to get a good road win. Don't count them out though because they have 4 of their last 6 at home and have chances to beat ranked teams (@ Wash., UCLA).
Georgia Tech 71, North Carolina State 67
First real bad slip-up for the Wolfpack this season.
Ohio State 69, Illinois 53
Streaking Buckeyes might be the Big Ten's highest-seeded team this week.
Syracuse 75, St. John's 60
Orange get back to .500 in conference with nice road win over the Johnnies. A sweep this week at home over Cincinnati and Louisville is still a must though.
Rutgers 91, Marquette 84
Would have been nice for the Golden Eagles to have this one with Georgetown and Pitt coming in this week.
17 comments:
So you still think 4 in for the MVC? Some of the power conferences look week ie. SEC/Ky Big10/ In and ACC/MD.
Will the MVC get more in than Big 12? Never would of thought this when I was at SIU 20 years ago and they got robbeb vs. Larry Bird and Ind. St.
MVC is looking real good for 4 bids right after this week with SIU beating Missouri State and Creighton. Like the Big 12 to get 4 as well and there is a better chance for the Big 12 to get 5 then there is for MVC (although I may eat these words as I see Missouri State is up 4 over UNI at the half). The BracketBuster will be huge for the MVC not only to determine how many teams the conference will get but for seeding.
Colorado has a good record but a terrible resume. How can you validate them making the bracket? Many of the teams they have beaten have losing records. The Big 12 only has 3 deserving teams. Politics is the only way they get 4.
Stanford is gonna need more than a win over a ranked team. Have you looked at their resume lately? They have 4 losses to teams outside of the top 100. Washington is their only win over the top 50. Do you think the selection committee will ignore all those bad losses?
Do you think the only way the WAC gets 2 bids is if Nevada loses in conference tournament? Nevada deserves an at large bid. They have road wins over NCAA teams Kansas & Pacific. It also can't hurt that Nevada has 3 NCAA tournament wins over the last 2 years.
Colorado is going to be a real tough call this week. Their record is nice, but their complete lack of a resume makes them very unattractive. The one problem with leaving Colorado out at this point, though, is finding someone else to put in. With the A-10, C-USA, MAC, MWC, WAC and WCC all looking like one-bid leagues, big conferences stand to benefit this year, and teams like Colorado might be able to sneak in with a weaker-than-normal resume. The Buffs also have an edge in that they have a few games left (Oklahoma, @ Kansas, Iowa State) that could really help thier case, while many mid-majors only have one big conference game or their Bracket Buster game left to get a big win.
It's kind of unfair to say that Stanford needed to win at Gonzaga, but in reality they did. They have so many terrible losses, and only two good wins (Washington and Cal). Nine losses and a 76 RPI are also big negatives. Their game at Arizona this week is make-or-break for the Cardinal if they have any prayer of making it, especially considering they have games left at Washington and at home against UCLA.
The only way the WAC will get two bids at this point is if Nevada loses the conference tournament. They have played very well of late, have a couple of good wins on their resume, and have creeped up to 37 in the RPI. Right now, they are playing like everyone expected them to play at the beginning of the year, and they have a very good chance at an at large. Their previous tournament history won't hurt them either come Selection Sunday.
UAB would go in before Colorado. Uab & Temple at least have some quality wins. Remember in 2004 when Colorado missed the NCAA despite a 10-6 conference record? They had no resume just like this year. Why do you guys think Colorado deserves a bid? Their weak non conference slate? Their lack of quality wins?
We agree that Colorado looks pretty unattractive right now, but it's going a bit too far to say UAB and Temple are in over the Buffs. UAB has zero Top 50 wins and is in third place in a very weak C-USA. Their SOS is worse than Colorado's (137 to 131) and their most "impressive" win was against Nebraska. It's especially hard to justify the Blazers after their embarrassing performance against second-place UTEP this week.
Temple, meanwhile, has three good wins over Maryland, Alabama, and Miami(FL), but have enough bad loses to cancel those out. They have had their chances to crack the bracket a couple of times this season, but have gone out and lost very winnable games each time (see at LaSalle). The Owls are sixth right now in an A-10 that looks very much like a one-bid league. We give Temple some credit for a good non-conference schedule, but their losses ave piled up and they are buried in the A-10 standings. The only way they get a ticket is by upsetting GW in the conference tournament.
How far do you think NC State will drop after what can only be considered a "bad" loss against GA Tech?
NC State was our last four seed last week, and even with their loss at Georgia Tech they shouldn't fall much past the end of the five line this week.
What would happen to Miami if they lose their next 3 games? Do you guys think Indiana will make the tournament? They will have a tough time going 3-3 in their last 6.
Miami really needs to beat UNC tonight at home or else things do not look good for them. Indiana has to go at least 3-3 in their last 6 games and it won't be easy especially with the way they are playing. Anticipate them being either last 4 in or last 4 out when our bracket comes out later tonight
If Georgetown hangs on to beat West Virginia (as I write this they are up 8 at half), how much of a factor to the conference standings become when you are looking at ranking them in relation to Pittsburgh. Although Pittsburgh has a higher RPI (I figure GU's will be 13 or 14 if they win), it's going to be hard to justify placing Pitt higher in the bracket IMO. GU would hold a one game (loss column) lead over Pitt, plus the head to head win, and it's fairly hard to see how Pitt can make that up (with GU's relatively easy finish). It's hard to say Pitt has a better OOC resume (their best win over Wisconsin at Pitt). What do you think?
We agree. G'town needs to win first though.
Pitt and Georgetown are an interesting case. They have pretty much the same resume, in my book. I've seen both teams play, and both are pretty evenly matched (it's not like the GT-Pitt game was a blowout - Pitt lost a big lead, on the road, to a red-hot Hoya team, and lost by three, when they had a makeable three at the buzzer to send it into OT).
I foresee Pitt getting maybe one seed line higher, if the following occurs: a) both teams win out, and b) Pitt beats WVU again, on the road, giving them the season sweep (as GU lost to WVU earlier this year).
Of course, the Big East tourney will probably have a lot to say about this. I'd be a great rematch to see Pitt and GT again, this time on a neutral court, playing for a three seed.
Oh, I forgot to add that that loss to Vandy earlier this year for GT is only looking better. They've got a strong case, if they meet the conditions as I said above.
Indiana would only be 16-11 if they went 3-3. But its a moot point anyway, they will lose at least 4 of those remaining games...
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