Highlighted Matchups for Tuesday, November 21

EXEMPT TOURNAMENTS

PARADISE JAM

-Xavier and Alabama were pretty much dead even until about eight minutes to go, then Bama switched to a zone and shut down Xavier’s offense to go on to win. Villanova blew out Iowa in the third place game. All and all this was a very exciting tournament. It’s too bad they didn’t have a better television deal to get it more exposure.


CBE CLASSIC

-Duke jumped out to a big lead against Air Force and the Falcons never caught up. They got it as close as seven points on two occasions, but could never get any closer. Duke hit ten of their first twelve shots from the floor, which helped give them a big lead early. Marquette looked great against Texas Tech and won handily. The two will meet tonight in the championship game and Air Force will face Texas Tech in the third place game. Both should be good matchups. Air Force can still get a nice quality win in the third place game which would help out their profile.


MAUI INVITATIONAL

-All of the favorites won fairly easily. Kentucky had some trouble with De Paul, but UCLA, Memphis and Georgia Tech won pretty convincingly. Kentucky will face UCLA tonight and Georgia Tech will face Memphis. This tournament could really help Memphis out because they don’t have a lot of high quality teams in their conference, so it’s important for them to get statement wins early.


HIGHLIGHTED MATCHUPS

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT CLEMSON. Clemson is off to a 5-0 start and has a pretty good win against Old Dominion. Mississippi State is 2-1, but a win in this game would really give them a boost. Both these teams are looking to make a case for themselves early, and a win would certainly help them out.

-IOWA STATE AT MINNESOTA. Both teams are unbeaten, but for the most part they are also untested. If either team wants to make a case for themselves this win would help a lot. Both will have plenty of opportunities at big wins later on, but this one still means a lot.

-KANSAS STATE AT NEW MEXICO. Both teams are unbeaten and both have looked very good so far. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them wound up in the NCAA Tournament. With that in mind this is a big early season game for two teams that are trying to solidify themselves a spot. Both of these teams are quality teams who are trying to build a resume, and a win here goes a long way in accomplishing that. Kansas State has the Big Twelve to look forward to, but New Mexico doesn’t have that many opportunities at big time wins, so this one is important to them.

-BUCKNELL AT PENN STATE. Bucknell, who many believed to be a tournament caliber team, is still looking for their first win. Penn State is 2-1, but they face a Bucknell team who is better than their record and will have a hard time beating them.


BUY GAMES

-FLORIDA A&M AT BRADLEY. Bradley has a huge rebuilding job ahead of them, but they are 2-0. FAMU is still looking for their first win.

-WOFFORD AT CINCINNATI. Cincinnati is one of the many unbeaten, but untested teams. They won’t be tested today. A win gets them to 4-0.

-PRARIE VIEW A&M AT FLORIDA. Florida has not been tested at all this year. A win gets them to 5-0. Their next opponent is Western Kentucky, who is much better than anyone they’ve faced so far.

-ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF AT FRESNO STATE. A win for Fresno gets them to 5-0, which is a good start for a team who is rebuilding from NCAA probation sanctions.

-SOUTH CAROLINA STATE AT GEORGIA. Georgia needs to rebound from their loss to Western Kentucky. A win gets them to 2-1.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT ILLINOIS. Savannah State is undefeated this year, but they have not faced an opponent anywhere near the caliber of Illinois. A win gets Illinois to 5-0. They are one of the many unbeaten and untested teams.

-VERMONT AT MICHIGAN STATE. Vermont has a big upset win against Boston College, but has also looked bad in a few of their games. Depending on which Vermont team shows up this could be a tough opponent for Michigan State. A win gets MSU to 5-1.

-UC IRVINE AT NEVADA. A win gets Nevada to 3-0 against div1 teams.

-VALPARAISO AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE. Both these teams are 2-0, but NC State clearly appears to be the better team. It would be a huge upset for Valpo if they could pull it off, it isn’t all that likely to happen. NC State hasn’t really been tested yet.

-UC RIVERSIDE AT SAN DIEGO STATE. A win gets SDSU to 4-0 and keeps them in good shape as far as the current bracket picture is concerned.

-NICHOLLS STATE AT TEXAS. Nicholls State is 0-5 and will likely end up being 0-6. A win for Texas gets them to 4-1.

-VANDERBILT AT WAKE FOREST. Wake has a good win over Bucknell. Although they are unbeaten, they still have a lot of work to do in order to convince people they’re a tournament caliber team. Vandy is 0-1 on the year.

-IDAHO STATE AT WASHINGTON STATE. Wazzu hasn’t played anyone yet, but they are 5-0 and have looked good every time they’ve taken the floor. This could be the year they finally bust through and make the NCAA Tournament.