Thurs, November 29th Highlighted Match-ups

HIGHLIGHTED MATCH-UPS

-COLORADO AT AIR FORCE. New Colorado head coach Jeff Bzdelik will be facing his old team for the first time. His old team appears to be much better than his new one. Air Force has lost two straight, but played well against a very good Washington State team and looks like they may be good enough to make some noise in the Mountain West. I’d say a spot in the NCAA Tournament is a long shot for both of these teams right now, but at least Air Force has shown some signs of potential.

-WAKE FOREST AT CHARLOTTE. Charlotte has struggled to get the ACC teams from North Carolina to play them home-and-home. Wake is doing it this year, but it comes at a time when Charlotte doesn’t appear to be nearly as good as they were a few seasons ago. Charlotte got off to a decent start, but now their record stands at 3-2 with a loss to Monmouth and a near loss to Illinois Chicago. Wake is unbeaten, and although they haven’t beaten anyone that is anywhere close to being among the nation’s best, they have looked impressive and may end up blowing Charlotte out despite the fact that they’re the road team.

-DREXEL AT GEORGE MASON (Colonial). Both teams are 5-1, but George Mason appears to be the more impressive team so far with wins over South Carolina, Dayton and Kansas State. However, this is a conference game, and how a team fairs in their own conference standings is huge come March. If Drexel can pull the upset on the road it would definitely be a big time statement win. GMU has some big wins, but they also need to perform well in conference as well if they want to make the dance, and need to take care of business in games like this.

-OREGON AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve-Pac Ten Challenge). Kansas State has a ton of talent, but at times it doesn’t look as if they’ve maximized the output of what all that talent is capable of. Having said that, they should improve as the year goes on. Oregon is also a good team, but they already have a road loss on their record against Saint Mary’s, who is good, but doesn’t look to be quite as good as Oregon could be. This would be a big time road win for the Ducks, and it would indicate that they are good enough to earn a good seed. It won’t be easy, though. Expect Kansas State fans to be out for this one, though. This is the best basketball team they’ve had in quite some time.

-VCU AT HAMPTON. This game looks like it may be interesting. Neither team is setting the world on fire, but I expect VCU to improve as the season goes on, and Hampton should be a strong contender to win the MEAC. It’s very possible we’ll see one or both of these teams in the NCAA Tourney.

-GONZAGA AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. Saint Joseph’s gave Syracuse a scare and appears to have a good team this year, but they have yet to pick up a strong, signature win. A win over Gonzaga would certainly qualify as a quality win, though. It’s a big game for the Zags as well because they fell to Texas Tech in the Great Alaska Shootout and missed out on a chance to play nationally ranked Butler. They don’t want too many strikes out of conference because they aren’t going to be facing high quality competition on a regular basis once they get into conference play. This game should be a good one. These two teams have locked horns before and it usually turns out to be an exciting game.

-OKLAHOMA AT USC. USC has won five straight games since losing their season opener and is improving in a hurry. They blew out Southern Illinois in their last game, which was a big time statement win. Oklahoma’s only loss on the season came against Memphis in a game where they played really well. This would be a big time statement win for the Sooners on the road, which is important because no one has really been giving them any kudos yet. Oklahoma looks like they could end up having a big year regardless of what happens today, which makes it a nice opportunity for USC as well.


BUY GAMES

-SAVANNAH STATE AT CREIGHTON. It’s hard to say just how good Creighton is, but they are 3-0 with wins over De Paul and Nebraska. They shouldn’t have any trouble winning tonight.

-SOUTH ALABAMA AT VANDERBILT. Vandy has looked very tough this season and should remain unbeaten after tonight.