Games of the Day (2/27)

Here are the games that matter for today.

Indiana (14-11, 9-5) 78 - Michigan St. (20-5, 11-3) 74 OT
Huge win for Indiana. They stay on life support for another day. Another huge game at Wisconsin on Tuesady. If Indiana wins that one then we can start the tournament talk. (Notice I said start the talk) Indiana perfect in the Big Ten at home. They are 3-8 on the road this year, so I'm not too optimistic about the Hoosiers chances Tuesday.

Villanova (19-6, 9-5) 67 - Georgetown (16-9, 8-6) 56
Right after I question how questionable their play away from home is, Villanova wins a nice game on the road. Good job. This loss doesn't kill Georgetown, but they might want to win another game before the conference tourney. A win @UConn would be impressive.

Wake Forest (24-4, 11-3) 90 - Virginia (13-12, 4-10) 68
Wake Forest continues its march towards a #1 seed. Hoping for a Duke win over North Carolina so they can have the #1 seed in the ACC tourney.

Wisconsin (18-7, 9-5) 64 - Ohio St. (18-10, 7-7) 56
Wisconsin gets rare road win. Need to keep winning away from Madison to prove they can make a deep tourney run. Big game against Indiana next. If Wisconsin loses they will be the #4 seed in the Big 10 tourney and will have to face Illinois in the semi-finals instead of the finals. They only thing Ohio St. has left to play for is to say they were the only team who beat Illinois in the regular season.

Nebraska (13-12, 6-8) 76 - Iowa St. (15-10, 7-7) 69
Two huge wins in a row for Nebraska. Winning at the right time, but way too late. Iowa St. goes from definately out to in to on the way out. Iowa St. cannot lose again. Bubble teams are starting to win, well except for this one.

Maine (13-14, 8-10) 87 - Vermont (21-6, 16-2) 66
If you are from a major conference you can lose these every so often, if you are from a mid-major conference you can even lose one of these. if you are from the American East you cannot lose these. Vermont's cannot lose another game before the conference final. I am not sure if they can even lose that now.

UCLA (16-9, 9-7) 75 - Notre Dame (16-9, 8-6) 65
A good non-conference battle for a change late in the season. Notre Dame is not in position to be dropping games. With the big East having the potential to get 8 teams you don't want to be at the bottom of the list in case the committee gets cold feet about letting that many teams in.

If you are Notre Dame you have to think about this. Stanford beats UCLA twice, UCLA beats Notre Dame. All three are bubble teams. Not a fair way to compare Stanford to Notre Dame, but that may be the logic used if there are 2 spots and these 3 teams left. Plus the Pac-10 is rated higher. May also be unfair, but when you are team #8 from a conference people are going to be using logic to keep you out instead of trying to get you in.

Florida (18-7, 10-4) 66 - S. Carolina (14-11, 6-8) 65
That sound you heard was S. Carolina's bubble popping. They were on life support as it was. Florida just took them off life support. They are dead.

Kansas (21-4, 11-3) 81 - Oklahoma St. (20-5, 10-4) 79
I hope the excitement of this game is a good indicator to how good the tournament will be. Kansas turns things around in a big way. Huge win. I am not sure what Oklahoma St. was trying to accomplish with that last shot. They had more than enough time to get a quality shot but couldn't. After driving up the lane at will all game, the lane was shut down at the end and Ok. St. didn't know what to do. As I predicted Simien had a big game 32 pts and 12 boards. Nice way for Kansas to break out of a slump.

Point to remember: in the tournament you need to usually win 4 tough games in a row if you are a high seed. Kansas is 1-3 in the last 4 tough games.

North Carolina (24-3, 12-2) 85 - Maryland (16-10, 7-8) 83
Maryland with a nice comback at the end of the game, but comes up short at the end. As usual Maryland plays the best teams tough. If they played the easy teams tough they wouldn't be on the bubble. The win solidifies the #1 spot for Carolina. They would have to lose 3 straight to even be considered for a #2 seed. Given the enameration with this team I don't know if even that would move them now.