Sunday, February 5, 2017

2/4 recap

ACC:
Louisville 90, @Boston College 67
@Syracuse 66, Virginia 62 - I have no idea what to do with Syracuse's resume.  Or Virginia, for that matter
@Duke 72, Pittsburgh 64 - Pitt's last best hope to get back near the bubble goes by the boards.  13 teams in the ACC remain in at-large contention
Miami 84, @NC State 79 - NCSU isn't dead...but they're close.  Such an important road win for Miami.  As I said earlier, when it's two bubble teams (more or less) playing, road wins count way more than you think, and home wins are just holding serve
@Wake Forest 81, Georgia Tech 69 - like here.  Not really motivated to change either team's outlook based on this one

Big 12:
Kansas St 56, @Baylor 54 - K-State has been teetering on the edge for awhile...signature road wins will cure a lot of that ill.  Baylor's still on the 1 line, but it feels like it's a matter of time before an ACC team emerges to take that spot from them
Iowa St 92, @Kansas 89 (OT) - ISU had been in limbo, but now they're firmly in the field.  Signature road wins cure all ills
Oklahoma St 82, @West Virginia 75 - OSU was dead a month ago and in the field today.  Go figure
@TCU 78, Texas 63
@Texas Tech 77, Oklahoma 69

Big East:
@Villanova 92, St John's 79
Xavier 82, @Creighton 80 - X's seed had been slipping a bit, so a quality road win will help make up for that.  They were getting close to the 8/9 range, and the bubble isn't far behind that.  Creighton is still a bit of a seeding wildcard
Seton Hall 68, @Georgetown 66 (OT) - road wins are never trivial, especially when you're on the wrong side of the bubble.  G'town had been creeping back into the picture, but home losses like this are pretty killer
Marquette 92, @DePaul 79

Pac-12:
@Oregon 85, Arizona 58 - Arizona/Oregon/UCLA is an interesting trio to seed....they're all pretty close together right now
UCLA 107, @Washington 66
@Stanford 81, Utah 75 - this is why road wins matter; it's going to be tough to envision Utah doing enough to get in
Arizona St 81, @Oregon St 68
USC 86, @Washington St 77

B1G:
Purdue 73, @Maryland 72 - Purdue's seed was slipping, so this helps.  Maryland is a difficult case of their own; both of these seeds are going to be lower than you think in March
Rutgers 70, @Penn St 68 - NIT bubble game!
Minnesota 68, @Illinois 59 - road wins are never trivial
Ohio St 70, @Michigan 66 - I think the net result is just that both teams are solidly in the NIT at this point

SEC:
@Florida 88, Kentucky 66 - this helps firm up Florida's seed, they needed the resume heft.  So did Kentucky, who's probably headed to the 3 line
@South Carolina 77, Georgia 75 - and Georgia is just about dead
Ole Miss 81, @Vanderbilt 74 - road wins are never trivial
@Mississippi St 64, Tennessee 59 - this is why road wins are never trivial.  Tennessee has to steal a couple games like this to make the field
@Missouri 83, Arkansas 78 - what an awful loss
Auburn 82, @Alabama 77 - road wins are never trivial, and home losses when you're on the wrong side of the bubble definitely aren't trivial
Texas A&M 85, @LSU 73

AAC:
@Cincinnati 82, UConn 68
@UCF 72, Memphis 57 - just in case you had Memphis near your bubble, don't
SMU 76, @Tulsa 53 - SMU is way under the radar, winning all the games it should.  That matters

A-10:
@Dayton 90, Duquesne 53
@Richmond 84, George Washington 75
VCU 83, @St Bonaventure 77 (OT)

WCC:
@Gonzaga 90, Santa Clara 55
St Mary's 71, @San Diego 27 - lol

elsewhere:
@Ohio 85, Akron 70 - in case you were thinking of Akron....this is probably the one mulligan they're allowed to have
@Green Bay 86, Valparaiso 69 - and Valpo has definitely expired their at-large candidacy
@Wichita St 86, Illinois St 45 - if you're a bubble team, don't get blown out by 40 on the road when quality road wins is a problem
@UTEP 57, Middle Tennessee 54 - our first slip-up from MT.  The question is how many more they get

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