Precap 1/31-2/1: Huge standing shuffle games today, as well as a MVC overview.

Recap

SEC:

I had been a bit worried about Alabama after they barely beat Mississippi State and followed that up with getting trounced by Oklahoma, but it seems they have figured things out after beating Vanderbilt by 57. I think it has a lot to do with being able to hold Brandon Miller under 20, as he scored 11 and 13 against Oklahoma and Mississippi State, but went for 22 against Vanderbilt. This Arkansas - A&M game was interesting because it was an overrated team playing an underrated team. And, it seems that A&M may not be a competitor for the SEC title, and instead will likely just remain in the top half of the conference after losing to Arkansas. Other than that, Mississippi State and Kentucky got the job done against South Carolina and Ole Miss, with MSU’s Shakeel Moore scoring 22 and UK’s Antonio Reeves scoring 27.

ACC:

There were two big bubble games in the ACC in Miami-VT and Wake-Duke. If Wake or Virginia Tech were to win one of these games, they could get back into bubble conversation. Though they were close, both lost. Duke played its best game of the season at the perfect time with a rough and important 3-game stretch coming up. While Miami also looked good, #20 Clemson got exposed. I never thought that Clemson was a top-25 caliber team, and after losing to Boston College, it seems the Tigers will still be a tournament team but most likely won’t be ranked again for the rest of the season. They’re still in first place in the ACC at a half game ahead of Virginia, but have some tough games coming up.

Big 10:

Right when we thought Indiana was back, they got beat by double digits against Maryland. Jalen Hood-Schifino was the cause of their 6-game win streak, but went 1-14 from the field today as the cause for Indiana’s loss. Indiana will need Hood-Schifino to be more consistent for them to get back into final four conversations, and the return of Xavier Johnson will help pick up Schifino’s slack on his bad games. The standings were shaken up today, with Illinois overtaking Northwestern after beating Nebraska, as Northwestern got exposed, losing by 16 to Iowa. This is concerning for Northwestern, as if they suddenly went on a cold streak, they could find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble come March. They’ll have a big bounce back game against Michigan.

Big 12:

In the game of the week, Kansas handled Kansas State pretty well, winning by 12 at home. While watching this game, I noticed that Kansas State was doing everything they needed to on offense, but their defense simply was never good enough to overtake the Jayhawks, giving up 90. West Virginia failed to capitalize on a ranked win against TCU, as the Horned Frogs looked very good without Mike Miles, and should stay in contention for the regular season title without him.

Mountain West:

In a huge #1 vs. #3 matchup, San Diego State looked to stay in the top-25 while Nevada looked to solidify themselves inside of the March Madness field. And, Nevada won. Jarod Lucas scored 26 and Nevada now has a pretty clear path to make the tournament with this ranked win. Meanwhile, there were 3 standing shuffle games, as Boise State won to tie SDST for first and avoided a bad resume loss. Wyoming looked incredible in a 23-point win over Fresno State. If the Cowboys can get a decent seed for the MWC tournament and get Graham Ike back, they could earn an automatic bid. UNLV also beat Colorado State to move ahead a few spots in the standings.

Atlantic 10:

There were 3 extremely close and important matchups. All 4 of the top teams in the conference played, as Dayton and VCU looked to avoid bad losses to remain at the top of the conference. In those games, VCU beat Davidson by 2 and Dayton beat Loyola Chicago in OT after a 31-point game from Toumani Camara. In the #1-#4 matchup between Saint Louis and Fordham, Darius Quisenberry and Khalid Moore combined for 47 points to beat Saint Louis at home. They came into A10 play with one loss, and though they had lost to Davidson and Rhode Island consecutively, they’re now on a 5-game win streak and are looking like a top-3 team in teh conference.

MAC:

It was a big night in the MAC, but nothing much happened. All the top teams won, and we finally saw some talent around Emoni Bates, as EMU’s Tyson Acuff scored 29 in a win over Ohio. If Acuff stays consistent, him and Bates could lead EMU to a high seed for the MAC tournament and win the MAC tournament.

Preview

In the SEC, there are a couple of bubble resume opportunities with Georgia visiting Auburn, Tennessee visiting Florida, and LSU visiting Missouri. Georgia, Florida, and LSU all have a ton of work to do if they hope to make the tournament, and though they’re all out of the conversation right now, they could make it back onto the bubble with wins here. LSU especially needs to start turning things around, as they have the talent to be a top SEC team but are 1-7 in the conference right now.

The Big East is having an insane race for first place at the moment. There’s a 3-way tie for first, and two of those teams, Providence and Xavier, are playing each other in the game of the night. The other team, Marquette, has a tough Villanova team visiting them. It’ll be interesting to see how Justin Moore will respond to this tough environment after returning from injury. There is also a big bubble matchup between St. John’s and Seton Hall. St. John’s isn’t on the bubble right now, but could get back on it with a win, while Seton Hall is currently projected as Next Four Out. Georgetown has been terrible, but has been looking decent recently, and they have a big home game against a very inconsistent Creighton team and would make a huge statement with a win.

There are two Big 10 games that shouldn’t be close, with Penn State looking to go to Purdue and upset them, as well as Minnesota looking to visit Rutgers and pull off an upset there. It probably won’t happen for either game, but it’s something to watch.

We have two boring games in the ACC tonight, with NC State having an easy game at home against Florida State as well as last-place Louisville facing second-to-last place Georgia Tech. Whoever loses this will likely remain last in the ACC for the rest of the season, so this game is big for both of these programs’ morale for upcoming seasons. In one decent game, North Carolina looks to get revenge against Pitt as well as building momentum for a rough upcoming stretch. With a win, Pitt would remain in ACC title contention and put room between them and 4th-place North Carolina as well as move farther into the bubble. They’re Last Four In right now, but North Carolina is the last top-half ACC team they play until the last game of the regular season against Miami, so they would be in an incredible position with a win here.

Much like the Big East, the SoCon has an elite trio that is tied for first place in the conference in Furman, Samford, and UNCG. As Furman plays Chattanooga at home and Samford visits #4 Western Carolina, this top-3 could be shaken up with some upsets. Middling ETSU and Wofford also meet to move up to the #4 spot in the conference.

The America East has some of the best parity in the conference, with 7 teams within 3 games of the lead. However, amidst all this, there are 4 more talented teams than the rest: Vermont, Bryant, UMass Lowell, and UMBC. UMBC looks to make a statement against #2 Binghamton, Bryant looks to avoid a bad loss against #8 Maine, and UMass Lowell plays last-place Albany. 

It's a BIG day in the conference with the most parity in the country: the MVC. Let me break it down for you: At the top, there’s SIU and Belmont. At 1 game behind, there’s Drake, Bradley, and NIU. At 2 games behind, there’s Murray State, Missouri State, and Indiana State. There are another 2 teams within 5 games of first. Valparaiso, one of those 2 teams, visits Missouri State to pick up a big win and move closer to the main group. Illinois State, the other team 5 games away, should also move closer with a game at home against UIC (UIC and Evansville are WAY behind). Belmont also visits Murray State as the latter try to move into the second-place group. Bradley looks to move in the first-place group with a win against #1 SIU, and Indiana State should move into the second group with a win against Evansville. The other two second group teams play each other in Drake and NIU, as the winner should move into the top group with the loser moving down into the third group.

There are a lot of standing-shuffle games in the Big South, as Longwood tries to move closer to UNC Asheville against a solid Winthrop team. #4 Gardner-Webb also looks to move closer to the top against middling Charleston Southern. UNC Asheville is still comfortably ahead of everyone other than Radford, but that could change today.

Lastly, we have a few other notes to make. There is a HUGE bubble matchup in New Mexico and Utah State, as Utah State really needs this win because they are right outside the bubble right now and this is their second to last big win opportunity of the season. New Mexico also needs to avoid a loss, as they could move back onto the bubble (they’re currently a 10-seed). There are some important standing shuffle games in the Patriot, AAC, A-10, and WAC. However, most of those games are middle of the road teams vs. middle of the road teams or top teams vs. bottom teams, so I didn’t cover them specifically.

Overall, it’ll be a huge day with huge implications.