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Highlighted Games for Thursday, 1/11

Highlighted Games for Thursday, 1/11
Jan 10, 2007, 11:29 pm
SPOTLIGHTED GAME

-HOFSTRA AT DREXEL (Colonial Athletic). Hofstra has yet to lose in conference play, and just got a nice win against Old Dominion. Expectations were high for them coming into the year, but they began the year 0-3 and although they’ve played like a tournament team at times, they don’t quite have a tournament resume. This is a chance to really change that. Drexel has a solid profile. They’ve won at Villanova and at Syracuse, and have won their last nine games. This would be a quality road win for Hofstra if they can pull it off. It would be a good win for Drexel as well. This is a strong conference that could end up sending multiple teams, but there is still a somewhat small margin for error due to the fact that there are fewer opportunities to get big wins. That’s what makes this game so important.


OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-OREGON STATE AT ARIZONA (Pac Ten). Arizona lost their last game in overtime at Washington State, but they are still in excellent shape and have as good a chance to end up a #1 seed as anyone. They are at home against an inferior opponent and should win big.

-OREGON AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Ten). Oregon just won a huge game at home against UCLA. They haven’t played too many games on the road, but Arizona State crowds haven’t been all that rabid this season, so it may not be much of a factor. ASU has lost five in a row and has yet to win a conference game. Oregon has just one loss on the season and the win against UCLA indicates that they are good enough to challenge for a spot in the pod system.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT CALIFORNIA (Pac Ten). Washington State is coming off of their biggest win in quite some time, which came against Arizona. It established them as a strong NCAA Tournament candidate, but they can’t stay in the clouds for too long. They face a talented California team on the road who desperately needs a big win in order to play their way into the mix. They are just 10-5 on the year, but their last four games have been away from home. A win in this game would be a big step forward for Cal because it would be a conference win against a quality team.

-XAVIER AT FORDHAM (Atlantic Ten). Xavier has a pretty decent profile and is probably in better shape than anyone else in the league to be a candidate for an at-large, but they haven’t done a whole lot away from home. Although Fordham hasn’t played all that tough of a home schedule, they have yet to lose a home game, so they could give Xavier some trouble. If XU is going to be in the mix, they must dominate conference play.

-FRESNO STATE AT HAWAII. Fresno State is 13-2 on the year so far and is playing some pretty strong basketball, but they’ll have to finish at or very near the top of this league in order to make themselves a strong candidate. Their RPI and SOS are rather poor, but that is mainly because three of the teams they’ve played are some of the worst in div1. Had they played someone remotely mediocre, their numbers would be better. This is a big game for them because it’s a conference road game against a team that doesn’t lose at home all that often. If they can pull this off, it would be a big step forward as far as improving their resume goes. Despite being 13-2, they still need to have a sense of urgency and win games such as this in order to get the attention of the committee.

-MEMPHIS AT HOUSTON (Conference USA). Houston has been somewhat of a dissapointment this season. They have talent, but are just 5-7 and aren’t exactly the tournament caliber team some thought they would be coming into this season. Memphis is playing very well and looks to be a big step above the rest of the teams in the conference. If they win out or come close to it they will end up with a very solid seed.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT IDAHO (WAC). This is one of the best teams in the conference taking on one of the worst. This would be the eleventh straight win for New Mexico State, but most of that has come against substandard competition. It’s important that they keep winning because any loss would be damaging, but they aren’t going to be able to make a strong case for themselves until they face teams like Fresno State and Nevada.

-WASHINGTON AT STANFORD (Pac Ten). Stanford just got a very nice road win against Virginia, but still has some work to do in conference in order to make themselves a tournament team. They played tough against Arizona on the road earlier this year and are capable of playing well, but they need to begin cashing in some quality wins. Washington does have a nice road win against LSU, but they need to begin cashing in some quality wins themselves. They are 1-3 in the league with their only win coming against Arizona State. They have also not won on the road this year, which is really hurting their resume as well. This is a big game for both teams because both need to improve their resumes.

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