Our quick thoughts on Thursday's results:For Purdue to be considered a serious contender to win the Big Ten, the Boilermakers had to avoid getting beat a second time this season by Wisconsin. And that's exactly what they did Thursday night in West Lafayette, squeaking past the Badgers 60-57 to move to within a half game of Wisconsin for second place in conference. E'Twuan Moore led the way with 20 points for the Boilers, who have now won three in a row overall. With Georgetown losing, Purdue might be able to sneak onto the end of the 2 line with a win over Penn State on Sunday. Wisconsin doesn't play again until Tuesday's showdown against Michigan State at the Kohl Center, where they are a perfect 12-0 on the year.
Georgia Tech's name might not be at the top of the ACC standings, but no one has beaten more quality opponents in conference than the Yellow Jackets. They already had wins over Duke, Clemson, and Carolina under their belt, and on Thursday night they added the streaking Demon Deacons to that list, too. D'Andre Bell led five Yellow Jackets in double figures with 16 points and Tech held the potent Wake offense to just 32 percent shooting in a dominant 79-58 win. Next up for the Yellow Jackets is a tune-up against Kentucky State (why?) on Saturday and then a game in Cameron Indoor next Thursday. Wake Forest, meanwhile, is off until Tuesday when they face Miami at home. As disheartening as this loss might be to Demon Deacon fans, they can rest well knowing that of all the tourney-caliber ACC teams, they might have the easiest schedule of the bunch left. They're done with Duke, their remaining road games aren't all that tough (at FSU on March 3 might be the toughest), and they have GT, Carolina, and Clemson coming in.
Virginia Tech was down 10 points with less than four minutes to go at Virginia, but the Hokies stormed back to steal a huge road win, 76-71 in OT. VT scored 13 unanswered points after being down 62-52 with 3:44 left and almost won the game in regulation, but Sammy Zeglinski hit a 25-footer right before the buzzer for Virginia to send the game to overtime. The loss knocks the Cavaliers out of the bubble discussion for the moment, and keeps the Hokies in line for a bid next week if they can win at Miami on Sunday. VT also has Carolina and Clemson coming in next week, which gives them even more chances to prove themselves bid-worthy.
Mississippi State might have played its way out of the field by losing at Arkansas. The Bulldogs were a somewhat generous 9 seed this week, but after a second straight road loss - this time to a Razorbacks team that was 8-11 overall and 1-2 in the SEC coming in - their resume isn't looking very attractive at all. Considering the schedule they have coming up next week (games at Vanderbilt and at Florida), it might be time to bail on the Bulldogs even if they take care of business against LSU at home this weekend.
Cal's win at Arizona State may not seem like much given that the Pac-10 is a one-bid league right now, but it's results like this that may help the league get two bids when all is said and done. The Bears are now 6-2 in conference and have won five of their last six overall. If they can continue this roll and get finish 14-4 or maybe even 13-5 in conference, they'll be in a good position to get an at-large if they slip up in the Pac-10 tourney.
Of note: Gonzaga erased a 14-point halftime deficit to win at Santa Clara; Pittsburgh beat St. John's at home; Seton Hall lost at South Florida; Mississippi won at Auburn; Xavier beat Duquesne at home; Old Dominion beat Georgia State at home; St. Mary's won at Pepperdine; Siena won at St. Peter's; Oakland lost by 24 at IUPUI; Charleston lost at Davidson; Northern Colorado lost at home to Montana.
18 comments:
How do you think the committee will view Wisconsin due to Jon Leuer's injury? So far they are 3-2 without him but one of those losses was at Purdue. It's not much of a stretch to say Wisconsin would have won last night at full strength.
If they continue to win the games they are supposed to (@ Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern) and win one of the coin flip games (Michigan St., @ Minnesota) I think they should still be considered for a 3 seed ahead of Purdue and hopefully a spot in Milwaukee.
one conference that get little mention is the Summit league but they have a good race going. Oakland, South Dakota St, Oral Roberts, and IPFW all look capable of winning the conference tournament. North Dakota St. is having a decent year despite losing so much from last years team. Michael Tveidt is one of the most underrated players in the country. It should be a great tourney in Sioux Falls! Who does B101 like in the Summit league?
DOnt forget about iupui. They hammered oakland last night.
I saw IUPUI play in person when they played K-State in KC. They were a good, physical team but realistically I don't see them making any noise come March.
Does Old Dominion have a realistic shot at an large? Or do they have to win the automatic bid?
you all have a terrific blog here, thank you. i had a couple of questions. why do some bracketologists have Villanova at Buffalo instead of Providence? Buffalo is over 100 miles farther from the Nova campus than Providence is. Some mock brackets have St. Johns in their field. Do you all see St. Johns making it to field of 65? thanks and keep up the great work!
what do you make of the Atlantic 10? Can they get 5 teams in? Temple, Rhode Island, Richmond, Xavier, Dayton, and Charlotte all are trying to make a case. How do you currently rank the A 10 teams and their at large chances?
Georgia Tech playing Kentucky State... mystery solved!
http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-tech/ex-jacket-on-the-286967.html
Quicks hits...
We can't answer questions for other bracketologists as to why they have Villanova in Buffalo, but as of right now it makes a lot more sense to send 'Cuse to Buffalo and 'Nova to Providence. St. John's isn't even on the bubble right now.
ODU has a great chance at an at-large. If they can win at Northeastern this weekend they will have a good chance to win out or lose just one more conference game with the way they have been playing. A 16-2 conference mark should be good enough for an at-large.
Leuer's return is very up in the air for Wisconsin. If he is able to return for the tourney then they may consider it if the Badgers struggle. If he is unable to return, then the committee may look more at what they did without him rather than with him.
We don't think the A-10 can get 5 bids. Things would have to break absolutely perfectly throughout the college bball universe for that to happen.
Quote: "Cal's win at Arizona State may not seem like much given that the Pac-10 is a one-bid league right now, but it's results like this that may help the league get two bids when all is said and done. The Bears are now 6-2 in conference and have won five of their last six overall. If they can continue this roll and get finish 14-4 or maybe even 13-5 in conference, they'll be in a good position to get an at-large if they slip up in the Pac-10 tourney".
I don't feel any love for the quest of the Arizona Wildcats to keep the streak alive. They destroyed ASU in Tempe, and will beat Cal on Sunday. Not bad for one of the youngest teams in Div I. Also, according to kenpom, this batch of freshmen, led by Derrick Williams, has played the toughest schedule in the country.
After they beat Cal on Sunday, it will be time to ignore their youthful, early season losses, acknowledge a road-early schedule skew, and give 'em some props.
Coming home, they have only four road games left.
I think Sean Miller might just keep the streak alive.
We still like Oakland to come out of the Summitt. Despite their blowout loss at IUPUI on Thursday, Oakland still has the inside track on the 1 seed in the conference tournament because they have an easier remaining schedule. The 1 seed would be huge for Oakland (or IUPUI), because it would mean potentially avoiding a dangerous Oral Roberts team until the final.
B101, Oakland only beat South Dakota St. by 2 and the tournament will have a lot SDSU fans there. Oakland and Oral Roberts would be unwise to overlook other teams. I would be very surprised if Oakland-Oral Roberts is the matchup in the Summit League final. There are at least 5 teams capable of winning it.
I have a question about Michigan State. The Spartans looked bad against a mediocre North Carolina team but have been beating everyone in conference play. Is this an indicator of how much stronger the ACC is than the Big 10?
We're not sure we agree with that argument. The Michigan State-UNC game was almost two full months ago and each team has gone in very different directions since then. We wouldn't make too many claims based off of that one game.
In terms of conference strength, the ACC is deeper in terms of NCAA-caliber teams (they could get up to 7 bids), but the Big Ten is much stronger at the top. MSU, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Ohio State are all worthy top-five seeds, while the ACC only has two teams - Duke and Wake/GT (take your pick) - that are worthy of that high a seed.
Would a loss to UMass take Charlotte out of the bracket?
A key to todays game is which Duke defense will show up. The one that challenges and tries to block shots? or the one that flops to the floor and hopes to pick up cheap offensive fouls on the opponents? But hopefully the officiating crew does not fall for their flopping.
What will be the big upset of the day? Marquette over Uconn?
Syracuse is off to another slow start today. Depaul leads by 12 points. Louisville led WV 70-59 but couldn't hold the lead yet again. This was a flashback to the Louisville loss at Pitt. Is Connecticut still going to be ranked next week? The ESPN poll loves the Huskies.
east,
duke did not play any defense today. georgetown got layup after layup. duke surely does not play the quality of defense that a typical top 10 team normally does. the acc is weak if duke is really the top team.
b101
Big East question for you folks. Do you think Louisville or Connecticut has a better overall resume?
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