Menu

Tuesday, November 13th Highlighted Match-ups

Tuesday, November 13th Highlighted Match-ups
Nov 13, 2007, 02:45 am
-The most recent Bracket Projections are posted below.


SPOTLIGHT GAME

-ALABAMA AT MERCER. Mercer is coming off a huge win against USC. They didn’t just win, but dominated. Now they get to come home and face Alabama. Has there ever been a bigger home game for Mercer?? I don’t know. When writing up the USC vs Mercer game, I said that I thought OJ Mayo could win the game on his own. I was very very wrong. Alabama is in for a battle tonight against a team and a fan base that will be playing with a ton of confidence. This is a chance for Mercer to pick up a second huge out of conference win, and that will get the attention of the selection committee. I know we aren’t used to saying that about Atlantic Sun teams, but that will definitely be the case for Mercer if they pull off a win tonight.


EXEMPT TOURNAMENTS

PRESEASON NIT

-SIENA hung tough with SYRACUSE for a good portion of the game, and the Orange didn’t put it away until the end, but Syracuse managed to win and advance. SIENA looks as if they’ll be a force in the Metro Atlantic based on how they played last night, but as expected Syracuse is the team that won and advanced. They will be facing SAINT JOSEPH’S, who returns quite a bit of experience and talent from last season and is looking to make a splash on the national scene and prove themselves as an NCAA Tournament caliber team. SJU blew out FARLEIGH DICKINSON in their first game and would love to knock off Syracuse on the road.

-OHIO STATE struggled early on against WISCONSIN GREEN BAY, but that didn’t last too long. They wound up winning easily and will face COLUMBIA, who defeated DELAWARE STATE in the opening round.

-The eight teams on the other side of the bracket begin play tonight. WASHINGTON is hosting NJIT, and they’ll face the winner of UTAH and HIGH POINT. HIGH POINT is a Big South favorite, and UTAH returns a ton of experience and is a Top 25 caliber team in the minds of some of the voters. That makes that match-up somewhat interesting. NJIT is still going through the transitional period, and shouldn’t be much of a match at all for Washington.

-TEXAS A&M hosts ORAL ROBERTS tonight, and I don’t see that being much of a contest. ORU won the MidCon (currently the Summit) a season ago, but lost their two best players and shouldn’t be much of a match for TAMU tonight.

-The winner of that game will face the winner of UTEP vs TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI. TAMUCC should be a factor in the Southland, but I don’t see them making the postseason without the automatic bid.


CBE CLASSIC

-CENTRAL MICHIGAN stayed with MISSOURI for awhile, but the Tigers opened up a comfortable lead in the second half and advanced to the second round. They will face FORDHAM, who knocked off CENTRAL MISSOURI STATE in their game. FORDHAM is an experienced team with a significant amount of senior talent. I’d say they’re a long shot for the NCAA Tournament, but winning at Mizzou and advancing to the semis of this tournament would catapult their season. Mizzou is fighting for a tournament spot themselves, and a win here would help them out because it would give them a chance to advance to the semis establish themselves as contenders early on. Regardless of what happens, Mizzou will get their chance in conference play, but for a team who hasn’t sniffed the tournament in quite some time, making a statement like this early on would help them out.

-HAMPTON is a team to watch for this year. They return quite a few contributing players from last season, and should be in the mix for the MEAC Title. They blew out Tulsa in their first game, and nearly beat MARYLAND on the road yesterday. That win would have given them a quality road win that would have impressed the committee, and would have also given them a shot at a few more in the semis. They ended up falling short, and MARYLAND moves on, but it was still an impressive showing from a pretty good HAMPTON team. They’re out of the CBE Classic, but their season is far from over. MARYLAND has advanced to the semis.

-UCLA blew out YOUNGSTOWN STATE in the opening round of the tournament. That’s not a surprise, but WEBER STATE’S loss to CAL STATE SAN BERNADINO is. WEBER STATE is coming off a big win against Utah State in a game that was outside of this tournament, and a win would have given them a shot at a Final Four caliber team, but they ended up falling to a nondiv1 team.


HIGHLIGHTED MATCH-UPS

-WASHINGTON STATE AT BOISE STATE. Boise State won their season opener, and has a chance to make a major statement at home against a highly ranked team. They’ll likely get a much, much tougher game out of Wazzu than they did out of Utah Valley State.

-XAVIER AT MIAMI, OH. This is the season opener for Miami, and they have a chance to knock off what looks to be an NCAA Tournament caliber Xavier team. The two schools are about a half-hour apart and have a long running series. Xavier has owned it recently, but this is a good Miami team who should be up for this one on their home floor. It would be a nice road win for Xavier, and a nice quality win for the Miami.

-VANDERBILT AT TOLEDO. Toledo had a big win against Missouri State in their opener. Vanderbilt looks to a be a team that could contend for a spot in the NCAAs, and winning on the road against Toledo certainly wouldn’t look bad on their profile. It would be the second significant win for Toledo if they can pull it off as well. A win for either team would elevate their status.


BUY GAMES

-NORTHERN ARIZONA AT ARIZONA. The Wildcats have struggled with Northern Arizona before, and they have quite a few new players. They should win, but it may not be as easy as many think.

-KENNESAW STATE AT AUBURN. I don’t know how Auburn managed to lose to Tulane as handily as they did, but they do not want to drop their second straight game tonight.

-NORTH GREENVILLE (nondiv1) AT GARDNER WEBB. Gardner Webb is probably wishing they hadn’t scheduled this. They have to go to New York to play in the semifinals of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic tomorrow. Losing to a nondiv1 team the night before would really kill some of their momentum, not to mention blacken their resume.

-CLEVELAND STATE AT GEORGE MASON. George Mason is trying to improve to 2-0 with a win tonight.

-IDAHO AT GONZAGA. I thought Montana would give the Zags a game, but didn’t. Gonzaga should really win big tonight.

-UIS (nondiv1) AT ILLINOIS CHICAGO. Illinois Chicago had a nice win against Bradley in their opener. This should be a walk in the park.

-SOUTH ALABAMA AT MISSISSIPPI. Ole Miss won their season opener, and was a team that exceeded all expectations last year. This wouldn’t be a signature win, but it will get them to 2-0.

-STETSON AT UAB. UAB looked dominant in their first game and should win tonight…but they are facing a team from the Atlantic Sun.

-DIXIE STATE (nondiv1) AT UNLV. UNLV should have no problems staying unbeaten on the year.

-ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF AT WICHITA STATE. Wichita State should be able to kick things off with a win tonight in their opener.

Recent articles

Twitter @DraftExpress

DraftExpress Shop