Wecome to MLK Day Weekend! A busy slate of games are coming your way today, somewhere near 110 in fact. Sunday and Monday fill most of the gap for teams not playing today, so we should have a mostly complete appraisal this weekend of College Basketball as a whole.
This will be my final Big Board based on a mixture of factors. In the early going, I have been approximating where teams belong based mainly on achievement, but also on some of the preseason expectations. The idea is to phase as much of that out as possible after this weekend. Beginning next week, I will begin taking harder stances on some of those resume results. Any team with less than 10 games played, are pretty difficult to evaluate. Today is an opportunity to learn more about Virginia for example, who travels to Clemson.
This weekend: Top Bracket Games (Saturday through Monday):
Heavyweight Games
Baylor at Texas Tech, Saturday
Michigan at Minnesota, Saturday
Kansas at Baylor, Monday
Ohio State at Illinois, Saturday
Florida State at Louisville, Monday
Conference Leadership Games
Virginia at Clemson, ACC - Saturday
Coastal Carolina at Georgia State, Sun Belt - Saturday
East Tennessee State at Furman, SoCon - Saturday
Northeastern at Charleston, CAA - Saturday and Sunday
Southern Utah at Eastern Washington, Big Sky - Saturday
Bubble Games
San Diego State at Utah State, Saturday
North Carolina at Florida State, Saturday
Western Kentucky at Marshall, Sunday
Florida at Mississippi State, Saturday
BYU at San Francisco, Saturday
Tier Summary
Competing for #1 Seed - Michigan’s emphatic win over Wisconsin did jolt the resume enough to surpass Villanova. Texas took a home loss to Mac McClung and Texas Tech. That second overall home loss for Texas is just enough to keep Villanova as the final #1 seed for today above the Horns.
2nd Tier - Wisconsin falling badly at Michigan but bouncing back nicely to win at Rutgers, quite a rollercoaster week for the Badgers. They remain in this upper echelon tier, but drop to a projected 4-seed.
3rd Tier - Welcome back Red Raiders. Texas Tech’s dramatic win gets them back into consideration for a protected seed.
In Safely - Oklahoma State’s marquee win over KU earlier this week brought the Cowboys in to the safe-zone for now. Also, something to monitor is Colorado’s incredible NET ranking - currently 9th.
In, Not by much - The Good: Purdue’s win at Indiana, BYU over Saint Mary’s on the road, and Wichita State’s dismissal of Tulsa. The Bad: San Diego State struggling mightily against a rugged Utah State defense, Rutgers lost at the RAC for the third time this year, and Arkansas is desperate for a tourney-caliber win. The ugly: Holding my noise while Duke hangs on to one of the final spots until we see a bit more from the Blue Devils.
Knocking on the Door - Richmond has seven wins in the top three quad’s right now and if Kentucky continues to bounce back, that can only help the Spiders inch closer to the cut-line. Pittsburgh has another crack at Syracuse today, which may be enough to get them in by next week.
Auto Bids - We welcome back:
Lipscomb as projected ASUN Champions
Bids Stolen: 0
Today’s Seed List 1-68 (Prior to tip-off):
