Game of the day

Syracuse (18-13) vs Miami FL (20-10) – this game is extremely interesting to me because I want to see which Syracuse team is going to show up.   Syracuse is 16-3 in the Carrier Dome, and 2-10 outside their home court.  Many believe that Syracuse is in thanks to their victories at home against Florida St, Virginia and Duke.   However, the Orange find their RPI at 80 thanks to poor non-conference scheduling.  Since the RPI changed in 2005, the lowest RPI to make the tournament as an at-large was last year’s Syracuse team at 72 – of course, they took that gift and turned it into a trip to the Final Four.  A loss to Miami would leave Syracuse with 14 losses, an RPI likely over 80 and a non-conference SOS over 200 – which would be a very interesting test for the selection committee’s principles – reward three top 20 wins or punish not scheduling better and winning games away from home.

Conference Championships:

• Patriot – #1 Bucknell (25-8) vs #3 Lehigh (20-11) – This is an interesting match-up.  Top seeded Bucknell went 15-3 in the conference to win the regular season by three games over Boston University and Lehigh.   However, there was one team that Bucknell lost both their games to in conference – the one they now have to beat to get to the dance.

Other Games of Interest:

•  Virginia Tech (21-9) vs Wake Forest (19-12) – Does Wake need one more win to wrap up an at-large bid.   WF backed up their huge victory against Louisville with a victory in Blacksburg to end the regular season on a winning note.  Will the Hokies get some revenge in the ACC Tournament
• #14 Duke (23-8) vs Clemson (17-14) – Most major conference tournaments on Wednesday are match-ups of teams with losing records – not the ACC (as both #14 Duke and #21 Virginia are playing in the early days).  I think Clemson’s 6-12 conference record ended their At-Large candidancy, but who knows what will happen if they can beat Duke on Wednesday and follow it up with a victory against Louisville on Thursday….
• Xavier (19-12) vs DePaul (9-22) – Xavier was top 15 team this year.  Then star player Edmond Sumner was lost for the season with an injury and Xavier went into a total free fall, all the way to the 7 seed and 9-9 in the Big East.   Xavier was able to beat DePaul over the weekend, but one has to wonder if Xavier can hang onto their At-Large hopes if they lose on Wednesday.

This will likely become difficult to choose on Thursday – when some really cool bubble games will happen!!!  Enjoy the games!!!!