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Sun, Nov 25th Highlighed Match-ups

Sun, Nov 25th Highlighed Match-ups
Nov 25, 2007, 03:54 am
NEWS AND NOTES

-It has been a crazy week. Just yesterday Butler won the Great Alaska Shootout, North Carolina struggled with BYU but held on to win the Las Vegas Invitational, and Xavier upset Indiana to win the Chicago Invitational. A complete rundown of all of last week’s action will be included with the next Bracket Projection. Due to conflicts with the Thanksgiving Weekend, and the fact that some of tomorrow’s important games won’t be over until after 2am in the East, the new bracket won’t be posted until Monday afternoon at the earliest, which is a day later than usual.


EXEMPT TOURNAMENTS

ANAHEIM CLASSIC

-MIAMI, OH has a big game against MISSISSIPPI STATE in the third place game. The Redhawks of Miami hung in with USC, and actually led for a fair portion of the game, but just couldn’t pull off the win. Mississippi State fell rather handily to SOUTHERN ILLINOIS in the semifinal and could have trouble again tonight.

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS VS USC is the championship game. USC has struggled in most of their games this year, but they do look like they’re getting better. It will be interesting to see what USC’s talent can do against Southern Illinois’s defense. The Salukis almost always show up to play when they’re facing teams from major conferences.


OLD SPICE CLASSIC

-GEORGE MASON is facing SOUTH CAROLINA in the third place game, which is really a game George Mason needs to win in order to help verify how good they are. They already picked up a huge quality win against KANSAS STATE, and although they played well against VILLANOVA, they came up short. George Mason doesn’t have too many more opportunities at big wins this season, so they need to take care of business in games like the one they’re playing today.

-VILLANOVA will face NORTH CAROLINA STATE. Although NC State advanced to the finals, they struggled against teams that aren’t expected to be much of a factor in March. They are talented, and should be playing better than what they have so far. A win in a game like this against a solid Nova team could give their season the jumpstart that it needs.


OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-ARIZONA AT KANSAS. Kansas’s football team has had a great year, but they lost the biggest game in school history to bitter rival Missouri. This is a big home basketball game, but the fans may not have the kind of zip that they normally do after last night. However, Kansas looks a lot better than Arizona and should be able to win. Zona should be able to compete, though, and itt would be a huge boost for the Wildcats if they pull off the upset.

-AIR FORCE AT WASHINGTON STATE. Air Force fell to Montana yesterday, which takes away from some of the momentum they’d built coming into this game. Wazzu has basically blown out everyone, but faces a well disciplined Air Force team tonight. It should be a good game because although neither team is overly athletic, both play tough defense, rebound well, pass well and shoot well. If AFA were to pull the upset, it could be a defining road win and go a long way in terms of building up their postseason credentials. For Wazzu, it would be their best win of the year so far and continue to solidify the fact that they are for real.

-MISSOURI STATE AT WINTHROP. This is the return game from last year’s Bracket Buster match-up and it’s a game between two teams who are presently trying to establish themselves. Winthrop comes home after an impressive showing in the Paradise Jam where they earned a victory against Georgia Tech. Missouri State is a tournament caliber team that looks like a bubble team at this early juncture in the season. This would be a nice win on the road for them. It’s important for Winthrop as well because they play in a weak conference and this is a chance for them to improve their profile.


BUY GAMES

-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT DUKE. Duke is unbeaten on the year, and even though EKU looks like one of the better teams in the OVC, they shouldn’t be any match for Duke. This is the first game for the Blue Devils since winning the Maui Invitational.

-WESTERN ILLINOIS AT MISSOURI. Mizzou should be able to improve to 5-1 with a win tonight.

-VMI AT OHIO STATE. VMI loves to push the pace, but they don’t appear to have much of a shot at a win today. Ohio State was blown out in the finals of the NIT and needs a game like this to help them recover and get back in stride.

-FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON AT SAINT JOHN’S. A win for Saint John’s will get them to 3-0 on the year.

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