Tuesday 11/9
Kansas 87, Michigan St 74
Duke 79, Kentucky 71 - my take remains the same on these games year in and year out - they don't have as big an impact on seeding as you'd think at first. All these teams will pile up plenty of signature win chances this season. The one exception may be Duke, as the ACC might be down. So this could be a useful resume win
Most of the rest of the results fit the general category of catastrophic loss, or near-disaster miss. I really won't get into the near-losses, like Houston or Ohio St barely holding on....in the end we've seen the committee treat wins as wins and that's that.
disasters:
Navy 66, @Virginia 58
UC San Diego 80, @Cal 67
UC San Diego 80, @Cal 67
Citadel 78, @Pitt 63
Miami(OH) 72, @Georgia Tech 69
Nicholls St 62, @Northern Iowa 58 - Nicholls might be good, but still
SEMO 99, @Missouri St 94 - this was a dumb opening night for the MVC
Western Illinois 75, @Nebraska 74
@Chicago St 77, St Thomas 72 (OT) - yes, your first D1 game ever, and you lose on the road in overtime, and it counts as a disaster
@Chicago St 77, St Thomas 72 (OT) - yes, your first D1 game ever, and you lose on the road in overtime, and it counts as a disaster
Northern Illinois 71, @Washington 64
The question: Do any of these teams that pull off early upsets have bubble hopes? We've seen year after year, a couple mid-majors gain traction in the bubble discussion, but it almost always wears off by March. Many of the teams that get upset early end up being actually not good, which kills the at-large resume of the mid-major. And the mid-major itself will inevitably take a couple dumb losses. We'll see if anyone in this list matters in March, but I'm not hopeful.
interesting games:
@Ohio 92, Belmont 80 - two teams that oughta be pretty good. Belmont has history with flirting with the bubble, so they know their chances for quality wins are very rare. This as a road win would've been one
@Ohio 92, Belmont 80 - two teams that oughta be pretty good. Belmont has history with flirting with the bubble, so they know their chances for quality wins are very rare. This as a road win would've been one
Wednesday 11/10
What nerds play the 2nd day instead of the 1st? I see no actionable results here.
Thursday 11/11
Vermont 71, @Northern Iowa 57 - given how bad AEast usually is, this might be worth a seed line (16 to 15)
UC Riverside 66, @Arizona St 65 - the bottom of the Pac-12 might be bad again
Friday 11/12
@UCLA 86, Villanova 77 (OT) - see my comment about the big matchup on opening night. I don't see myself changing outlook for either of these teams. But maybe if the Pac-12 bottom is going to be trash, then this might help UCLA's seed by a line or so
Virginia Tech 77, @Navy 57 - worth noting because Navy picked off Virginia, and this was a true road game for VT
@BYU 66, San Diego St 60 - really important game for both teams' at large hopes. Quality win chances aren't very frequent in their conferences
disasters:
Utah St 85, @Richmond 74 - a bit surprised here, even more so because USU punted a home game to UC-Davis earlier in the week. Bad look for the A-10
Furman 80, @Louisville 72 - here comes the SoCon again. Strong conference the past couple of years, and this is the type of road win you hope you can build an at-large resume around. Of all the early upsets, Furman's the one team that I'd project to matter in March
Oakland 56, @Oklahoma St 55
