Wednesday's (2/23) Recap

Here is the straight up analysis for all the relevant games today.

West Virginia (17-8, 7-7) 70 - Pittsburgh (18-6, 8-5) 66
Huge win for West Virginia. They are no longer on the outside looking in after this game. While they are by no means in, their future looks much brighter. With Rutgers and Seton Hall left they have no one to blame but themselves if they don't get a bid.

For Pittsburgh this is a tough loss. These are the games that have to be won when you are looking for a 4 seed or higher.

Wake Forest (23-4) 88 - Longwood (1-29) 47
Wake Forest wins big. Their reward? Their RPI will drop big.

Syracuse (23-5, 10-4) 83 - St. John's (9-15, 3-11) 69
Syracuse gets a needed win after dropping 4 of the last 6. They should win out and can still get as high as a 3 seed if they do.

Duke (20-4, 10-4) 60 - Georgia Tech (15-9, 6-7) 56
Duke puts another nail in Georgia Tech's coffin. While a sub .500 ACC team could make the tournament. Georgia Tech is not one of those teams. With the rest of their schedule they are going to have a tough time making the tournament. The game at Miami next is huge for them.

Akron (17-7, 10-5) 55 - Miami (Ohio) (17-7, 11-4) 49
Killer overtime loss for Miami. Their only path into the tournament now is by winning the conference tournament.

Illinois (28-0, 14-0) 84 - Northwestern (13-13, 5-8) 48
Say hello to your Big 10 champs. They now get a week off before they get a chance against Purdue to win it out right. Northwestern didn't cause Illinois to break a sweat in this one.

Charlotte (20-4, 11-2) 80 - Memphis (16-11, 9-4) 77
Charlotte blows a 10 point lead, blows a chance to raise that sub-100 RPI, and really hurts their tournament chances. Look at Charlotte, 20 wins vs 4 losses. They are one of the best teams you have not heard about. Charlotte is a team you don't want to see in a second round or sweet 16 game.

Xavier (14-10, 8-5) 81 - George Washington (17-6, 9-4) 62
George Washington welcome to the list of teams that needs to win their conference tournament to make the big dance.

Kentucky (21-3, 12-1) 81 - Auburn (12-14, 3-10) 73
Kentucky takes care of business and clings to the hope that the ACC top dogs will knock each other off and they can sneak in as the last #1 seed.

Minnesota (18-9, 8-6) 65 - Iowa (16-10, 4-9) 57
Can we finally quit the talk about Iowa having a chance at the tournament? While I am a Big 10 guy this talk is crazy! Minnesota is now in control of its own destiny. They have a road game at Purdue and at Penn St. If they win both they are in regardless of what they do in the Big 10 tourney. Hopefully Minnesota doesn't play like they did in that home loss to Northwestern.

Florida (17-7, 9-4) 69 - Vanderbilt (16-11, 6-7) 61
Florida is still in, Vandy is still out. Status Quo here.

Villanova (18-6, 8-6) 76 - Boston College (22-2, 11-2) 70
Well fate has finally caught up with Boston College. You can only get so many close wins in a row before you lose as I mentioned in a previous post. Boston College gets back to a #1 seed and then quickly loses it. It seems like nobody wants that 4th #1 seed. Villanova continues to prove that they are a team no one wants to face it the tournament. (Un)Fortunately they could be an early flame out due to their Jekyll and Hyde personality.