Wednesday's Tournament Previews

Pretty awesome night of hoops last night.  Kentucky, Kansas, and Villanova all rallied back from deficits to help preserve their high seeds (well Kentucky would be ok regardless), Iowa and Ole Miss probably punched their tournament tickets with road wins at Indiana (who is suddenly in a little bit of trouble) and Alabama, and NC State survived a maybe must win at Clemson.  On the downside, Texas A&M's loss at Florida doesn't kill it because Florida is still Florida at home, but it didn't help.  Both the top seeds advanced in the Atlantic Sun, which is a positive as well.

Four more tournaments kick off today, including day action in the Big South (take Longwood -2 and Gardner Webb -6 to win money), and there's a huge game for seeding in Louisville vs. Notre Dame.  Should be fun.  Here's your previews:

AMERICAN EAST:
The American East hasn't done much in the tournament since Vermont knocked off Syracuse way back when (which was awesome), but a big part of that problem has been the regular season champ hasn't won the conference tournament and this is a clear one-bid league.  Each of the last three year's the regular season champ could have challenged a high seed, but got knocked off and two of those three years the American East representative was relegated to the First Four (they went 2-0).  The bad news this year is the conference doesn't look to have a powerhouse team, even if there's a clear favorite.

FAVORITE:  Albany.  The Great Danes blew through the league at 15-1 after representing winning the conference tournament each of the last two seasons, but I say they aren't a powerhouse because their kenpom ranking is outside the top 100 and not even in tops in the conference (that's Vermont).  That's not the definitive word, of course, and 15-1 is awfully impressive especially adding in a sweep of that Vermont team.  The Great Danes placed four players on the three All-Conference teams including two on the First Team and one who also made the All-Defensive team.  All four are either a junior or senior, so they'll be looking to win their third straight American East tournament.  I take it back, maybe this is a juggernaut.

SLEEPER:  Stony Brook.  The only team to beat Albany in league play this year, the Sea Wolves weren't slouches, finishing tied with Vermont for 2nd place after closing out the year on a six game winning streak.  The also have the conference's player of the year in Jameel Warney (second straight year), who also tacked on defensive player of the year.  He averaged 16.3 points per game (led conference), 11.4 rebounds per game (led conference and fifth in nation), and 2.4 blocks per game (led conference).  He's one of only 17 players averaging a double-double this year, and 20 double-doubles was best in the nation.  Wow.  DraftExpress ranks him as the 39th best junior in the country.  Yes, he's only a junior.  Feel like I should pay attention to this guy.

THE PICK:  Albany.  Despite the lowish kenpom number which I was all talking about and stuff earlier, further research leads to me to believe this team dwarfs most of the conference in talent.  They may not have a Warney, but four guys with big game experience, NCAA experience, and award winning talent should be enough to take this one.  Home court advantage throughout helps.

BIG SOUTH:
The Big South has managed to raise its profile this year, ranking 24th by kenpom, it's top conference ranking since 2005 back when Winthrop had Gregg Marshall and was a low major power.  Though there's no Winthropian power, there are five teams between 132 and 185 in kenpom's rankings, and seven teams finished with a record over .500 in league play.  Charleston Southern had a season opening win against Ole Miss, Gardner Webb knocked off both Purdue and Clemson, and the conference's top tier held it's own against similarly ranked teams (three teams have 20+ victories) to help raise the league up.  So, basically, it's going to be a complete mess to sort this one out.

FAVORITE:  High Point.  Charleston Southern actually won the #1 seed via tiebreaker, but High Point is ranked higher at kenpom but about 40 spots and Southern gets no special advantage (games are played at the Coastal Carolina home court) so High Point it is, especially since they lost the tie breaker after losing to Southern in a Triple OT road game.  The Panthers have impressive balance with four players averaging 9.8 points per game or better, including 3-time all league selection John Brown.

SLEEPER:  Gardner Webb.  There towards the bottom of that mix of 7 teams over .500, but it's hard to ignore any team who picked up early season wins over both Purdue and Clemson.  That early season promise maybe didn't hold up, but of their eight losses only one came to a sub-.500 conference team.  Serious concerns exist over the Bulldogs' defense, one of the worst in the country, and that they fell far enough in the conference standings to miss out on a first round bye (top 5 get a bye).  They like to chuck a whole bunch of threes, and making a bunch is how they managed those two big wins (14-25 vs. Purdue!).  They'll have to do that for four straight games to make up for that defense.

THE PICK:  Coastal Carolina.  Home court comes into play once again, but the Chanticleers are legit at 12-6 in the conference with a sweep of High Point, a non-conference win over Auburn, and competitive games vs. UCLA and Ole Miss.  Just last year the Chanticleers came into the Conference Tournament without the #1 seed and won it on their own floor before falling by 11 to Virginia.  Most of that same team is back.


NORTHEAST:
Both of the last two years Robert Morris has been the regular season champ, #1 seed, and clear best team in the conference.  Both of the last two years, Robert Morris got upset by Mount St. Mary's in the tournament and didn't get to go the NCAAs. Both of the last two years the NEC rep failed to advance past the First Four.  Not exactly how it's supposed to go.  Morris lost their grip on the #1 seed, but they'll still be in the mix.

FAVORITE:  St. Francis (NY).  The Terriers 15-3 NEC record put them a comfortable three games past RMU and Bryant, though splits with those two teams probably make St. Francis less of a prohibitive favorite than a 3 game margin usually would.  They have the likely conference player of the year in forward Jalen Cannon, and he's teamed up with an excellent guard in Brent Jones to give a nice inside/outside punch.  The Terriers regular season finale was a loss to Bryant in which Cannon played just 10 minutes though, however it looks like a coach's decision rather than an injury or anything.  Still weird.

SLEEPER:  Mount St. Mary's.  Considering they knock off the #1 seed every year, why not?  They finished fourth in the NEC at 11-7, boast the league's #1 defense in conference play this year, and own a win over both Bryant and St. Francis NY this season.  They're actually a really terrible offensive team who is completely reliant on the 3-ball even though they shoot just 33% as a team, but let's be honest pretty much every team in this conference is terrible on either side of the ball.  Whoever gets hot, wins.

THE PICK:  Robert Morris.  I've already spent far too long trying to look for a compelling reason to pick anyone, so I'm going Robert Morris because after missing out two straight years they deserve a shot which it turns out is not how they actually decide these things but I'm rolling with it.  Also if you go to their leaders page on ESPN and look at their top two scorers, rebounders, and assisters it encompasses four different guys.  This means they are balanced.  The End.


OHIO VALLEY:
For a good long while, back in the Popeye Jones days, Murray State pretty much dominated the Ohio Valley.  That success continued into the 2000s with the Racers making the NCAA Tournament five times including first round victories over Vanderbilt in 2010 and Colorado State in 2012.  Then Belmont moved over from the Atlantic Sun, won two straight regular season titles and one conference tournament title (Eastern Kentucky won last year) and Murray State was out of the limelight.  Well, they're back.

FAVORITE:  Murray State.  Steamrolled through the league at 16-0, but are battle tested as well with a couple of overtime wins and a handful of other close games.  The Racers are 26-4 overall and would be a possible at large team if they either had a better overall non-conference schedule (#258, barf) or had managed to grab a marquee type win though really their only chance was a road game at Xavier (lost by 19) since the schedule really was truly horrid.  Sophomore guard Cameron Payne won the OVC Player of the Year award and is young enough and good enough to end up in Popeye Jones/Isaiah Canaan territory.  Take a point guard like that (20.2 points, 5.7 assists per game) and team him up with a big man who also made OVC All-First Team (Jarvis Williams, 15.4 points, 8.3 rebs per game) and that's how you go undefeated.

SLEEPER:  Tennessee-Martin.  They finished second in the OVC East to Murray State at 10-6, and though the Skyhawks weren't one of the teams to take the Racers to OT they did play them tight twice - a three point loss on the road and a six point loss at home.  They also boast a killer offense who can shoot the lights out, and two second team all conference guards.  Guards in March are key, which makes Mister Jennings alma mater a danger.

THE PICK:  Murray State.  How could I not?  There are some conferences where it's like, who really cares who wins.  Then there are others like the OVC, where there is one team that needs to win to get in, and if they do get in they can cause some bracket damage.  That's what makes things fun, and that's why I'm picking Murray State.  The tournament needs this.

More tomorrow.

Defensive issues aside, Gophers win 82-72 over Chanticleers

Well we might as well start with the obvious - the defense was atrocious last night.  Facing their most skilled and most athletic opponent of the season so far (and in fairness, I didn't see this coming) the press got shredded and the half court zone wasn't much better.  The Gophers did manage to cause enough havoc to win, forcing 20 turnovers by the Chanticleers, but if they weren't getting a turnover that probably meant one of Coastal Carolina's capable guards was penetrating the lane to either score or find a teammate for an open shot.  Allowing 52% shooting to a Big South team is not something that's supposed to happen, although it fits with the season long trend of allowing opponents to shoot 51% on 2-point attempts, which ranks 216th in the country.

Therein lies the problem with a pressing team, because by throwing so much of your defense into your opponent's back court it leaves holes if they get by the front line.  You can solve this with perfect technique and rotations (although only partially), great athletes who are faster than most opponents, or with great interior rim protection and ideally you'd want some combination of the three.  The current Gophers lack all of these.  I expect they'll get better with their rotations as the season goes on and they get more experience, but at this point there's not much you can do with the athletic ability on the team (they're not exactly unathletic, just not as quick as they need to be right now) and unless Mo Walker changed more than I thought they aren't magically going to get a rim protector.  This is going to lead to some ugly losses and some long nights.

But hey, a win is a win, and after getting to see Coastal Carolina last night I expect they'll likely win the Big South and could conceivably beat Clemson in a couple weeks.  The three headed guard monster is turning out to be very good for the Gophers, and although I just spent two paragraphs talking about their poor defensive showing, the 20 turnovers is very good especially because they only gave it away 10 times themselves. 

We saw some flaws, exposed more than they had been yet this year by a better team than the Gophers had seen, but even so the Gophers remain undefeated.  Hopefully they can tighten up their rotations and post broken press defense with more practice and experience, and if not Pitino doesn't strike me as the type of coach who will just stick with something because it's what he wants, even if it doesn't work with his personnel.  Or at least that's the hope.

Bring on Wofford.

Game Preview: Gophers vs. Coastal Carolina

Excellent win for our Golden Gophers over the weekend, beating Richmond 74-59 on the road.  Winning a road game against a quality opponent.  I'm not sure where exactly where Richmond will land this year - currently in the top 100 in RPI (mostly meaningless right now) and they did beat Belmont who just beat North Carolina (although the transitive property is mostly worthless outside of math).  In any case, beating a decent mid-major on the road is always a positive sign, and closing with a 19-2 run after trailing in the second half is an excellent sign for a team that wasn't known as the type of team that often battled back when the chips were down in the past.  I won't comment on individual players since the game conveniently wasn't on TV, but it's nice to see that Malik Smith hit a few threes (3-7) and the Hollins brothers are just pure studs.

Up next is Coastal Carolina, and although the ratings say they're pretty terrible (kenpom has them at 242) they've played a couple of decent teams pretty tightly this year and they do present a new type of challenge to the Gophers than they've seen so far.  The Chanticleers (mmmmm......pizza) are 1-2 so far with their sole win over non D-I Guilford, but their two losses were both close games to teams with tournament aspirations (72-63 vs. Akron, 72-70 vs. Ole Miss).  It's a tough team to get a true read on right now - are they an upper tier low-major squad or just more schedule fodder - but they will present a new challenge:  defense, and big men.

So far every team the Gophers have played has the same basic profile: decent guards, zero big men with experience/skills, slow paced, and middling or worse defense.  Coastal Carolina lost both their excellent guards from last year's team, has plenty of returning size, is known for their defense, and is always looking to speed things up.  Should be interesting.  Maybe.

Not to say the Chanticleers don't have any guards, given that their top 3 scorers so far this year are perimeter players in freshman Elijah Wilson (15.0 ppg), returnee Warren Gillis (11.0 ppg), and Juco transfer Josh Cameron (9.3 ppg).  Coach Cliff Ellis usually ends up with an offense dominated by guards, and despite the new faces this year is no exception.  The three dominate the shot attempts put up by the team, although none of them shoot the ball particularly well.  None of the three have an effective fg% greater than 44%, and combined they've shot 9-35 from three this year.  Expect these three to shoot early and often, but as you could imagine when your three main shooters are not very good at shooting, Coastal Carolina's offense has been downright putrid this year (ranked #317 in offensive efficiency).

Where the Chanticleers can make things interesting is on the defensive end.  They like to play a 1-2-1-1 full court defense that creates turnovers, and it's something that works - they rank 75th in the country in creating turnovers this season after ranking 61st last year.  They have four players ranked in the top 330 in the country in steal percentage, so it'll be imperative the Gophers take care of the basketball and probably that Maverick stays off the floor altogether.  The Gophers have done well taking care of the basketball so far this season, a welcome change, but this will be their first true test against a team looking to create turnovers.

One major advantage the Gophers have had against their opponents this year is rebounding, as they've basically been crushing teams on the boards.  That may change against CC, who held their own with Akron and actually out rebounded Ole Miss, which isn't easy to do when you're throwing up a whole mess of bricks when you try to shoot.  The Chanticleers rebound hard as a group, with five guys averaging 4.7 boards per game or more, and what's more interesting to me is that there are several big guys who get limited minutes but manage to put up decent rebounding numbers.  Against a bigger team like Minnesota, these guys may get more of a chance.  6-10 El Hadji Ndienguene (7.3 rpg) and 6-5 Michael Enanga (5.3 rpg) are the main big guys, but look for 6-5 Colton Ray-St. Cyr (5prg in 18 mins), 6-7 Tristian Curtis (5.0 rpg in 13 mins), 6-8 Uros Ljeskovic (3.0 rpg in 10 mins), and 6-10 Kyle Buffkin (2.0 rpg in 9 mins) to all get some run.  Ndienguene (6.3 ppg) and Enanga (9.3 ppg) are the only real offensive threats out of the group and both shoot a very high percentage, although they don't get a chance to shoot much.  Enanga can step out and hit the three.

It's an interesting match-up and a fun one, just because this game should look significantly different than any of the others the Gophers have played.  Both teams will look to speed the game up and create turnovers, and both are capable, but the main difference is Carolina turns the ball over a ton all on their own, while the Gophers have handled themselves well this year.  I expect the difference in turnovers will more than make up for any loss of extra rebounding possessions due to the Chanticleers size, and unless those three guards suddenly get hot the Gophers should be able to handle this game without too much difficulty, and it should be fun to watch.

Minnesota 90, Coastal Carolina 68

BRING ON CIRCUS BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gopher 2013-2014 Basketball Schedule Revealed

The Gopher hoop non-conference schedule was revealed Tuesday.  And here it is.  Rankings are from last year.

11/8 vs. LEHIGH  (RPI 107, kenpom 96):  A possible top 100 team is always a solid way to kick-off the new year, however the Gophers are a year too late.  The players responsible for that awesome Lehigh win over Duke in the NCAA Tournament two years ago have graduated, with C.J. McCollum in the NBA and Gabe Knutson probably like, filing taxes or something since Lehigh is a nerd school.  Nerds and wrestling I think.  Definitely not basketball. 

11/12 vs. MONTANA (RPI 74, kenpom 160): Hey an NCAA Tournament team last year!  Let's rock and roll!  Actually the Grizzlies have a nice little program going with back-to-back Big Sky Championships and despite losing two of their top three scorers Montana is the most likely non-conference home opponent to end up in the NCAA Tournament this season.  Yes, that is correct.  I'm serious.  No you shut up.

11/16 @ RICHMOND (RPI 91, kenpom 83):  The back half of a home-and-home started by Tubby Smith, Richard Pitino honored the commitment so the Gopher will face the Spiders in their only true home game of the non-conference schedule.  Richmond brings back three starters from last year's totally mediocre team, and not only might this be a road game but is likely to be the toughest Gopher opponent this year outside of the Maui Invitational.  Richmond plays at a pretty slow pace under Chris Mooney so I really like this one as a test to see if the Gophers can impose their will and influence tempo in a tough environment.  Could be a pretty good barometer for the entire season, although I believe it's pronounced thermometer. 

11/19 vs. COASTAL CAROLINA (RPI 259, kenpom 226):  Not really the Gophers' fault they got stuck with these guys as their "first round mainland opponent" in the Maui Invitational, but they weren't good last year and lost their starting back court so I'm guessing they aren't going to be good this year either.  On the bright side, you can count on at least one member of the Twin Cities' sports media to bust out an article about what a Chanticleer is (besides tasty, terrific pizza).  I predict Reusse, especially if the Gophers lose the previous game at Richmond.  He loves that condescending shit, too bad he doesn't do it well.

11/21 vs. WOFFORD (RPI 250, kenpom 256):  Wofford has really fallen off since the great Noah Dahlman brought the Terriers to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments (and near wins against Wisconsin and BYU), but at least they are bringing some firepower back from last year's terrible team.  Plus they got a guy named Indiana Faithfull which is pretty fricking crazy.

11/25 vs. SYRACUSE (RPI 14,  in Maui, kenpom 8):  The jewel of the schedule without a doubt, because Syracuse should be in the mix to be a top 10 team again this year.  Also, earlier when I wrote about this match-up I mentioned it would be the great back court of the Gophers vs. the great front court of Syracuse, but it turns out I forgot about Michael Gbinije.  He's a combo guard who transferred to the Orange after one year at Duke.  He was the #29 recruit in the country coming out of high school.  He's also 6-7 and should play at the top of the most wing-spanny zone I've ever seen, which could have all five guys at 6-7 or taller at times.  As that weird creepy witch said in the Robin Hood with Kevin Costner, "We're doomed."

11/26 vs. ARKANSAS (RPI 95/kenpom 71)(CAL (RPI 54/kenpom 56) in Maui:  Cal should be the better match-up here with both teams saw their top player leave school early to enter the NBA Draft (Cal = Allen Crabbe, first round pick; Arkansas = B.J. Young, undrafted - ha ha!) because Cal brings back Justin Cobbs (back in more ways than one) and most of their team from last year while Arkansas also loses Marshawn Powell, the team's second leading scorer, who left the team to go play in Europe or something.  This will either be an addition by subtraction year for Arkansas or subtraction by subtraction and probably that second one.  Hope for Cal.

11/27 vs. Team 3 in Maui, anywhere from Gonzaga (RPI 6/kenpom 4) to Chaminade (not in D-I):  Other options are Baylor (RPI 70/kenpom 26) and Dayton (RPI 114/kenpom 67).  Obviously the better the opponent the better the potential results, but seeing as how it's not a random draw for each game you need to win to continue getting quality opponents.  Syracuse will be tough, but losing to them and then beating Cal and Baylor or something would still be an outstanding result.  Most likely results are a loss in round 1 and then a win over both Arkansas and Dayton.  Not bad, but not great.  Like a night with your mom.

12/3 vs. FLORIDA STATE (RPI 84/kenpom 124):  Andrew Wiggins screwed up everything by choosing Kansas over the Seminoles and now this game is more yawn than not yawn.  Last year was one of the worst year's these guys have had under Leonard Hamilton, and with Michael Snaer gone the question is if they'll be worse.  Most the rest of the team is back and guys like Okaro White and Terrance Shannon could certainly take a leap, and there's a nice freshman coming in but Snaer was the do-everything team leader type that's tough to replace.  Although given how little that mattered last season maybe it turns out chemistry is overrated after all.  Don't tell Gardy. 

12/7 vs. NEW ORLEANS (RPI 346/kenpom 346):  Now things get really, really ugly.  You could probably talk yourself into the schedule so far, but these last four games are just nasty, starting with the worst of the worst in the Privateers and yes I had to look that up.  They're also in the Southland starting this year after being independent (looked that up) after they used to be D-I but somehow dropped back into D-II or something like that and then got reinstated (remembering this on my own).  Should be a fun game though for the first half at least since they're one of the most uptempo teams in the nation.  I got news for you though.  Ervin Johnson isn't walking through that door. 

12/10 vs. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (RPI 62/kenpom 103):  I'm sure everyone is thrilled again because for some reason people love the stupid little teams from the Dakotas, but guess what?  With Nate Wolters off to the NBA maybe SDSU just becomes a shitty little shithead team again.  Remember when the Gophers played them last year without Wolters?  Yeah it'll be like that again but probably worse because Jordan Dykstra probably still hasn't cut his hair.  I don't know what he's waiting for.  There is good news, however.  According to their website there are ZERO Minnesota natives on the roster this year.  So shut it already.

12/20 vs. NEBRASKA-OMAHA (RPI 285/kenpom 321):  I think they've been a D-I team for like 2 years, which is usually a pretty bad sign.  They kind of give the appearance of maybe being slightly interesting because 6 of their top 7 scorers from last season should be back.  The first college hockey game I ever went to was UMD vs. Nebraska-Omaha.  Their nickname is the Mavericks and they abbreviate their team NEOM.  The college World Series is still in Omaha.  I once had alligator in Omaha (not making that up...might have been Lincoln).  I'm just writing random facts now.  I once spent a night getting drunk in a hotel in Nebraska by myself.  Here is what I wrote that night.  Gripping.

12/28 vs.  TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI (RPI 323/kenpom 309):  Remember when these guys made the NCAA Tournament somehow and threw a little teeny tiny scare into Wisconsin before losing?  Man that would have been awesome if they one, am I right?  Since then they've had as many seasons with single-digit wins as double-digit, and I don't want to throw too many fancy stats at you or anything but not even winning 10 games in a season is a pretty good indicator of sucking and TAMUCC has back-to-back years with 6 total wins.  I was going to try to find something good to say but I need to get a drink so let's just wrap this up.


The key to a good schedule is lots of games against teams in the 50-150 range and avoiding playing teams that are sub 200 and especially sub-300.  The Gophers likely will have six or seven games against 200+ teams and might have three against teams in the top 100.  A strong league can smooth that out but you have to, you know, win the games.  It was always going to be an interesting season, but as Lewis Carroll once wrote, it's getting "interestinger and interestinger."

Welcome to March

Well the Gophers might be dead, but that doesn't mean we don't still have a fun March ahead of us - although slightly less fun, I'll admit.  The smaller conferences get their tournaments up and running starting today, and as in year's past I feel compelled to write a preview of each and every one of them as they get going.  Does anybody read these?  Doubtful, at best, yet I feel I must.  It's some kind of powerful drug, I guess.

These tournaments kick-off today:


BIG SOUTH:  This is an interesting conference, because they have one juggernaut in Coastal Carolina, and then a bunch of meh.  The Chanticleers (seriously) are 26-4 and 16-2 in the conference.  They won't get an at-large since they haven't played anybody, but if they manage to win this thing they'll be a 13 or 14 and have a shot at an upset.  If they lose, whoever goes in is going to have a good shot at playing on Tuesday and, if they win, getting destroyed in round 1.
FAVORITE: Coastal Carolina. 
SLEEPER:  VMI.  Usually these guys are kind of a novelty because they play either the #1 or #2 fastest tempo every year, but play recklessly and inefficiently and don't play any defense, finishing around the bottom half of the Big South each year.  This year, however, they're more efficient (70th in the country) and finished fourth at 10-8, although they still don't play any defense. 
W's PICK:  Coastal Carolina.  Even though they've lost 2 of their last 4 after winning their first 12 conference games they're still just so much better than every other Big South team.  It's not going to just be a bummer if they lose, it's going to be a shame.

HORIZON:  A bit of a change in the Horizon this year, because, for the first time in a long time, Butler probably has to win this thing to get a bid, or at the very least make it to the final.  In the four years since they've become what they became they've only won the Horizon Tournament twice but it didn't really matter.  Now it matters.
FAVORITE:  Milwaukee.  There was a three-way tie for first between Milwaukee, Butler, and Cleveland State, and although the other two teams are sexier, Milwaukee was actually 3-1 against the others in head-to-head and I'll assume will have the #1 seed.
SLEEPER:   Detroit.  It's tough to see anybody but one of the three top teams coming out of here, but if anybody can do it based on talent it's the Titans.  Freshman guard Ray McCallum was a highly sought recruit who stayed home to play for dad, and post man Eli Holman is an Indiana transfer - they're two of the most talented players in the league, and could lead this team on a run.
W's PICK: Butler.  Maybe I'm just a sheep but the idea of a tournament without Butler seems criminal.  There's nothing better than watching Matt Howard get into foul trouble every time he goes up against an athletic post player.


BUBBLE WATCH

Yes, I realize quite well that doing a Bubble Watch loses a little bit of panache by the Gophers being absent, but I still want to do it.  I could also cover an NIT bubble watch, but when the Gophers fall off of that I'd be forced to kill myself or you.  I wonder what watching the Gophers in a CBI game will be like.  Just kidding.  I wouldn't watch.

Last night there was only one bubble relevant game, but it was a doozy as K-State went into Austin and beat the Longhorns, basically completing their redemption arc going from biggest disappointment of the year to NCAA lock.  Well maybe not lock, but damn close to it.  Huge win.  Nice to see a team rise up once in a while.  No idea what that's like, personally.

Tonight's Bubble Games:

Ohio State @ Penn State - Maybe the biggest game of Talor Battle's career, and his last chance to salvage an NCAA berth out of an amazing career.  The Nittany Lions aren't even on the bubble right now, but a win over the Buckeyes would put them back in the conversation.

Illinois @ Purdue - The Illini have been a pretty big train wreck lately, but have a chance here for a huge win to boost their chances on selection sunday.

Alabama @ Florida - The Tide are 11-3 in conference play which would normally be enough to feel comfy at this point in the year, but a weak SEC combined with some terrible non-conference losses (Iowa, St. Peter's, Providence) and only one real good win (Kentucky) have them on shaky ground.  If they can split their last two (Georgia at home on Saturday) I think it would be hard to keep them out at 12-4 in the SEC.

Baylor @ Oklahoma State  - The Bears have zero room to lose to non-elite teams, so no matter how hard it is to beat a decent team in Stillwater this one is a must have.

Boston College @ Virginia Tech - The Hokies put themselves in good shape by beating Duke over the weekend, but still can't afford to lose home games to teams they should be able to handle.  BC on the other hand is basically fighting for survival here.