Menu

News, Notes and Highlighted Games for Tuesday, 2/20

News, Notes and Highlighted Games for Tuesday, 2/20
Feb 20, 2007, 02:02 am
NEWS AND NOTES

-The latest bracket projections were posted yesterday. Be sure and check them out in the Bracket Express section of the site and read the artcile, which is directly below this in my blog page, if yu haven't already.


HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NORTHERN IOWA AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley). Bradley is right on the bubble, and really needs a strong finish to the season if they want to make the dance. They pretty much need to win out. They have a good RPI, but nothing else about their resume is all that outstanding. They are also just 9-7 in conference and need to win their final two games.

-CREIGHTON AT ILLINOIS STATE (Missouri Valley). Creighton is coming off a dissapointing home loss to Drexel in the Bracket Buster, which was a bit of a knock to their resume, but not something that they can’t overcome. They need to win this game to avoid adding another loss to their resume, as well as keep them in a solid position to finish second in the league. Illinois State is just 13-14, but they have won their last two games, so Creighton can’t just overlook them.

-LSU AT KENTUCKY (SEC). Kentucky has lost three straight and this is an opportunity for them to turn it around. They are still a solid tournament team, but there is definitely room for improvement. A strong finish to the season would really help their seed. LSU is pretty much out of the picture completely and would have to win the SEC Tournament in order to get a bid.

-WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan State really needs a big win in order to get off the bubble and be safely in the tournament. Taking down a team that is a solid #1 seed would really do wonders for their resume, and could play a deciding role in whether or not they get a bid. Wisconsin has a big one this Saturday at Ohio State, so they don’t want to overlook a Michigan State team that will really be gunning for them in this one. They pretty much have a good seed locked up already, but in order to get a #1 they need to keep winning like they have been.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West). San Diego State still has somewhat of a case for an at-large, but they probably need to win out until the championship game in the conference tournament in order to secure it. They had been playing excellent basketball, but they really stubbed their toes against Wyoming in their last game. One more loss may be too many, but all of their remaining games are winnable.

-DE PAUL AT NOTRE DAME (Big East). De Paul has won their last three games, one of which was against Notre Dame. They have some other good wins this season as well, and a strong finish could and probably would get them into the discussion for an at-large. Notre Dame has a pretty strong case, but they haven’t quite locked up their bid yet. They still have a little work to do, and a win tonight would really help them out. The first meeting between these two was a thriller, and it should be another good game tonight.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). West Virginia has a solid case for the tournament right now, but there ticket hasn’t been officially punched yet either. They should be fine so long as they don’t go into the tank, but there is certainly still some room for improvement. They have managed to win a few road games, but if they could win a few more, they’d be much better off in terms of seeding. Providence needs to go on a run between now and the end just to get themselves into the picture.

-TEXAS TECH AT TEXAS (Big Twelve). Texas Tech could really use this road win. They’ve played very well in their last few games, and are on a two game winning streak, but this would make their resume much more solid, which is important considering they’d lost five straight prior to winning their last two. Texas won the first meeting between these two, which is one of their better wins of the season. They’ve won three in a row, and have been very tough to beat at home. This would be another good win on their resume, which could play a role in improving their seeding.

-AIR FORCE AT UNLV (Mountain West). This is a hugely important game in the conference. Air Force is still playing for a spot in the pod system, and both of these teams are in the conference race. Air Force won the first meeting, but it was a relatively close game on their home court. It won’t be so easy this time around, but if they could pull it off it would be one of their best wins of the season, and really help them secure a good seed. As for UNLV, they could use a quality win to improve their resume as well. It would also bring the Rebels into a tie for second place with Air Force in the conference standings. Both teams are chasing BYU, but appear to have better resumes even though they’re behind them in the conference standings.

-MISSOURI STATE AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley). Missouri State has lost two straight games, and needs to rebound from that and win their final two conference games. If they can do that, they should have a bid pretty much locked up. It’s never easy to win at Wichita State, so they’ll have their work cut out for them, but this is one that Missouri State desperately needs.

-HIGH POINT AT WINTHROP (Big South). Winthrop is right in the at-large mix, but any loss between now and the end would be such a bad loss that it could knock them right back out. They have a two game lead over High Point in the conference standings, who is the second place team, and with a win tonight Winthrop can clinch home court advantage throughout the entire conference tournament.

Recent articles

Twitter @DraftExpress

DraftExpress Shop