11/30 preview

Games of the day:

Orlando Classic final:  Kansas vs. Michigan St - obviously

Texas at UConn - a big game on paper, it obviously does not have bubble impact, but could be worth a seeding line in March to either team

Providence at Kentucky - Provi gets a house money chance at a signature win.  UK's not getting that many quality win chances in the SEC...can't drop too many of these games if they can help it

Other games:

Richmond at Northern Iowa

Stanford at DePaul

Iona at Arkansas

USC at New Mexico

California at Fresno St

Tournament action:
Final day of the Wooden Legacy.  UTEP/Washington for the 'ship, Xavier/LBSU for 3rd

Tennessee/Marquette for 3rd in Orlando, Rhode Island/Georgia Tech for 5th and might actually be more important

11/29 recap

Barclays Center Classic:
Virginia 45, Rutgers 26 - FINAL.  Bennettball!
Vanderbilt 68, LaSalle 55

Emerald Coast Classic:
Ole Miss 66, Cincinnati 54 - actually a nice tourney for Ole Miss.  This and Creighton are two wins with value.  By default, they're your #4 SEC team.  Not good for Cincy, though
Creighton 57, Middle Tennessee 47

Great Alaska:
Colorado St 65, UC Santa Barbara 63 - CSU leaves Alaska with 3 wins and a darkhorse at-large candidacy
Pacific 55, Mercer 48
Washington St 89, Missouri St 84 (OT)
Alaska-Anchorage 65, Rice 54 - this isn't helping CUSA

Corpus Christi:
TCU 61, Mississippi St 52 - neither of these teams are good, please don't fall into the record trap and assume TCU is good because 7-0
St Louis 60, Bradley 57

Non-tourneys:
@Old Dominion 73, VCU 67 - and there's the mild upset I was anticipating.  This is no real knock against VCU, this loss will only be a problem if it's followed with more losses.  ODU enters the at-large conversation for the time being, if only on the periphery
@Harvard 75, UMass 73 - critical win to help offset the loss to Holy Cross for Harvard.  I'm still not sure how high a seed they can get.  As for UMass, they still have a ridiculous amount of quality road games (LSU, Provi, BYU) in the non-con, so this doesn't hurt.  Yet
@Wichita St 75, Tulsa 55 - Wichita is good /analysis
@Seton Hall 58, George Washington 54
@Wyoming 78, New Mexico St 75
Belmont 83, @Ohio 81
@BYU 90, Eastern Kentucky 76

11/29 preview

Some of the tourneys are now over, or are waiting until Sunday to finish instead of today.  Among the few going today:
Emerald Coast Classic finals:  Ole Miss/Cincinnati
Great Alaska Shootout finals:   Colorado St/UCSB
Barclays finals:  Virginia/Rutgers

Non-tournaments:
VCU at Old Dominion - not a trivial road win if VCU gets it.  Tough game
Massachusetts at Harvard - UMass has built up some early-season resume equity.  This would be a big one.  It's even bigger for Harvard, who needs to add some beef to their own resume
Tulsa at Wichita St - house money chance for Tulsa
George Washington at Seton Hall - yet another game where both teams are around the periphery of the bubble.  Big for both
New Mexico St at Wyoming - Wyoming is hovering in the vicinity of the bubble, they need to get every game like this in the win ledger

11/28 recap

Orlando Classic:
Kansas 82, Tennessee 67
Michigan St 79, Marquette 68 - We get the KU/MSU matchup we were waiting for
Rhode Island 66, Santa Clara 44
Georgia Tech 61, Rider 54

Battle 4 Atlantis:
Wisconsin 69, Oklahoma 56 - Wisky got their 3 wins, and OU has their UCLA win in their hip pocket.  Win for everybody
Butler 64, Georgetown 58 - Quality tournament for Butler.  Butler/G'town play twice more this season, remember.  The Big East.  Who's in it?  Anyways, Butler also has their UNC win in their hip pocket.  G'town lost to Wisky (no sin) and Butler (minor sin), and we'll have to see how their Florida win holds up.
North Carolina 75, Florida 64 - UF is in real trouble, all of a sudden.  Got nothing of value on this trip
UCLA 88, UAB 76 - UCLA is also the other team with nothing of value on this trip

NIT:
Gonzaga 73, St John's 66 - Remember, this is at the Garden.  This is a true road win for Gonzaga
Minnesota 66, Georgia 62 - S-E-C!  S-E-C!

Wooden Legacy:
UTEP 77, Xavier 73 - Reference this score in March
Washington 80, Long Beach St 70
San Diego 75, Princeton 65
Western Michigan 79, San Jose St 60

Great Alaska Shootout:
Colorado St 75, Pacific 64
UC Santa Barbara 65, Mercer 60 (OT)
Missouri St 55, Alaska-Anchorage 51
Washington St 76, Rice 74

Barclays Center Classic:
Virginia 64, LaSalle 56
Rutgers 68, Vanderbilt 65

LVI:
Illinois 62, Baylor 54 - UI walks out of this tourney with 2 useful wins
Memphis 72, Indiana St 62

Emerald Coast Classic:
Cincinnati 69, Middle Tennessee 51
Ole Miss 75, Creighton 68 - Creighton was a bit too overachieving early, this balances out a bit.  Surprised a SEC team did this, though

Corpus Christi:
Mississippi St 75, St Louis 50
TCU 57, Bradley 49

Non-tourneys:
@NC State 60, Boise St 54 - I do like that Boise is challenging itself, and the committee will pay attention to that

Among those holding serve in non-tourney action, or in lesser tourney bracket action:  Maryland, Syracuse, Miami, Clemson, Florida St, SFA, LaTech, Nebraska, Arkansas, Indiana, Utah
Among those who didn't:  Wake Forest loses at home to Delaware St

11/28 preview

Tournaments, tournaments everywhere!

Battle 4 Atlantis:  Oklahoma gets a signature win chance against Wisconsin.  Butler/Georgetown in a bit of an oddity.  North Carolina/Florida in the losers' bracket, both can salvage their trips with a win.  The big loser is UCLA, with losses to OU and UNC, and a useless game against UAB next

Orlando Classic:  Tennessee/Kansas and Michigan St/Marquette semis

Wooden Legacy:
UTEP/Xavier is a nice little matchup.  Semis here

NIT:
Minnesota/Georgia for 3rd, St John's/Gonzaga for the title.  Big chance for the Johnnies, and Georgia needs to salvage something here

Las Vegas Inv'l:
Illinois/Baylor for the title.  Winner gets a modest bubble bump

Emerald Coast Classic is underway, Cincy/MTSU and Ole Miss/Creighton (who is re-juvenated)

Great Alaska Shootout continues, and you shouldn't care.  Random tournaments at the Barclays Center (Virginia should roll) in NY and Corpus Christi shouldn't be on your radar either

Non-tournaments:
Holy Cross @ Syracuse and High Point @ Clemson...both smell funky to me...
Boise St @ North Carolina St

11/27 recap

Battle 4 Atlantis:
Oklahoma 59, Butler 46
Wisconsin 68, Georgetown 65 - Wisky/Oklahoma for the title (UW not quite getting the signature win chance they were hoping for).  Butler/G'town get to play 3 times this season now
North Carolina 78, UCLA 56
Florida 56, UAB 47

Orlando Classic:
Tennessee 64, Santa Clara 57
Kansas 76, Rhode Island 60 - rough break for URI to go to the bad side of the draw in this tourney
Michigan St 77, Rider 45
Marquette 72, Georgia Tech 70 - that's not a good loss for GT

Wooden Legacy:
UTEP 62, Princeton 56
Xavier 82, San Diego 71
Long Beach St 73, Western Michigan 55
Washington 78, San Jose St 56

Las Vegas Inv'l:
Illinois 88, Indiana St 62
Baylor 71, Memphis 47 - Memphis is in trouble this year

Great Alaska Shootout:
Mercer 77, Rice 71 (OT)
UC Santa Barbara 71, Washington St 43

11/27 preview

Every game today is part of a holiday tournament.

Battle 4 Atlantis, Day 2:
Wisky/G'town and Butler/Oklahoma on the good side
UCLA/UNC and UAB/Florida on the bad side.  Impact games everywhere

Orlando Classic:
Kansas/Rhode Island - not a trivial game for Kansas.  Michigan St/Rider better be trivial for MSU.  Marquette/Georgia Tech, GT's gotta have this one

Las Vegas Invitational:
Illinois/Indiana St and Baylor/Memphis

Wooden Legacy, day 1.  Princeton/UTEP, San Diego/Xavier, LBSU/WMU, SJSU/Washington

Great Alaska Shootout began yesterday, and continues henceforth.