14 Jan 6 - Road Walkers

Volume XVIII, No. 10 - 14 Jan 6 - [] Top 25 Ballot

Road Walkers

In straggler nonconference games, San Diego State came into Allen Fieldhouse and shut down Kansas, 61-@57 (ending the Jayhawks' 68-nonconference-game home win streak). The Aztecs are a physical team, especially up front; but it's still a tough accomplishment to keep a talented home team from having that killer spurt that turns a struggle into a squeak home win. Kansas State continued its upsurge with a @72-55 throttling of George Washington. Surprising Tennessee spanked Virginia, @87-52. Kansas handed Toledo its first loss, @93-83. Dayton found a way to escape Oxford with a win, 83-@80(OT) at Mississippi.

In conference, Kansas State's big week got even bigger when it knocked off Oklahoma State, @74-71; the Wildcats were supposed to be in a total rebuild this season, but Bruce Weber has them poised to contend for a second straight BIG 12 title, anyway. Cincinnati got a leg up in the AMERICAN with a huge road blowout, shutting down racehorse Memphis, 69-@53. All those close preseason games weren't enough to prepare Connecticut for conference play on the road as the Huskies fell twice (71-@75 at Houston and 65-@74 at SMU) to two expected noncontenders -- Yikes. Less of a surprise, up-and-down North Carolina found playing away tough, falling 67-@73 to lightly regarded Wake Forest. Duke's hype machine got a reality check as the Blue Devils tripped up at undermanned Notre Dame, 77-@79 (as tJabari Parker was held to 7p0a). A raucous home crowd helped Colorado keep pace (and eventually outrun) Oregon, @100-91, handing the Ducks their first loss of the season. Wisconsin and Iowa went down the wire in Madison (after Hawkeye coach Fran McCaffrey was ejected midway through the second half) with the home-standing Badgers holding on for a tough-fought @75-71 win. Yet another visitor shut down an offensively inept home team as Virginia corralled Florida State, 62-@50.

    
Earlier, Oregon had kept its unbeated streak (barely) alive with a 70-@68(OT) win at Utah. Arizona State dropped a disappointing home game to an ordinary Washington team, @65-76. Indiana had a rough week, falling 80-@83(OT) at Illinois and then getting drubbed at home, @56-73, vs Michigan State. Undermanned Michigan found a way on the road, escaping with a 63-@60 win at Minnesota. UNLV's upsurge hit a pothole as the Runnin' Rebels fell @68-75 at home to Air Force. In a couple of fights for relevance, Oklahoma knocked off host Texas, 88-@85, and California did the same to host Stanford, 69-@62. Villanova got its BIG EAST campaign off to a great start against pretenders Butler (76-@73[OT]) and Providence (@91-61).

    
Already well on their way in conference play with significant wins: Creighton thumped BIG EAST preseason favorite Marquette, @67-49; and, thanks to BYU's bust start (0-2) inside the league, Gonzaga's @73-51 thumping of St. Mary's already gives it the inside track in the WEST COAST title race.

    
Way down in 1BC-land, Stephen F. Austin drubbed its top SOUTHLAND contender, Sam Houston State (@73-56); and Boston University took early control in the PATRIOT with two big wins (@70-60 vs Holy Cross, 67-@66 at Lehigh).

- -

Wisconsin will get another tough home test when Illinois comes to town (Wednesday). When was the last Top 5 matchup inside the BIG 12 that didn't involve Kansas? Well, here it is as Iowa State hosts Baylor (Tuesday). UCLA's biggest league game comes early (Thursday, vs Arizona). Good-shooting Boise State won't have to go inside to score when it visits strong San Diego State (Wednesday). Overhyped brand names Michigan State and (still undefeated) Ohio State clash (Tuesday). Vulnerable Kansas needs to regroup right away with two big games (Saturday, vs Kansas State; Monday week, at Iowa State). Depleted Louisville tries for its first name win of the season vs Memphis (Thursday). Harvard's last chance at making a national splash catches host Connecticut when its reeling (Wednesday). Contenders collide (Saturday) when Dayton hosts St. Louis.

    
LSU hosts Tennessee in an SEC pretender knockout game (Tuesday). Rising Georgia State has a big opportunity to make a statement when it visits Western Kentucky (Thursday).

-- Ron

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Pittsburgh-Maryland, @TexasSo-Southern, @JacksonSt-AlabamaSt,

Tuesday:

@IowaSt-Baylor, @MichiganSt-OhioSt, Cincinnati-@Houston, @LSU-Tennessee, @Hampton-NCCentral,

Wednesday:

@Wisconsin-Illinois, @SanDiegoSt-BoiseSt, @WichitaSt-IllinoisSt, @OklahomaSt-Texas, @Connecticut-Harvard, @NCarolina-MiamiFL,

Thursday:

Arizona-@UCLA, @Louisville-Memphis, @Oregon-California, @UTEP-Charlotte, @IPFW-NDState, @SEMissouriSt-Belmont, @NewMexicoSt-Seattle, @WeKentucky-GeorgiaSt,

Friday:

@Canisius-Rider,

Saturday:

@Syracuse-NCarolina, Florida-@Arkansas, @MichiganSt-Minnesota, @Kansas-KansasSt(KS), WichitaSt-@MissouriSt, @Dayton-StLouis, @NoIowa-Drake(IA)(BIG_4), @Buffalo-EaMichigan, @IPFW-SDState, @MoreheadSt-EaKentucky(KY), @NewMexicoSt-Idaho, @Lafayette-BostonU,

Sunday:

@OhioSt-Iowa, @Oregon-Stanford, @UCLA-ArizonaSt, @Milwaukee-GreenBay(WI), @Hartford-StonyBrook,

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Duke-Virginia, @IowaSt-Kansas.

---

Top 25 - 14 Jan 6 - [] Column

1. Wisconsin (15-0)
   
2. Syracuse (14-0)
   
3. Iowa State (13-0)
   
4. Baylor (10-1)
   
5. Arizona (15-0)
   
6. San Diego State (10-1)
   
7. Villanova (13-1)
   
8. Colorado (13-2)
   
9. Florida (11-2)
   
10. Michigan State (13-1)
    
11. Kentucky (9-3)
    
12. Cincinnati (12-2)
    
13. Kansas (9-4)
    
14. Wichita State (14-0)
    
15. Ohio State (15-0)
    
16. Louisville (13-2)
    
17. Illinois (13-2)
    
18. Kansas State (11-3)
    
19. Missouri (12-1)
    
20. Iowa (10-3)
    
21. Duke (11-3)
    
22. Oregon (13-1)
    
23. Oklahoma State (12-2)
    
24. Gonzaga (13-2)
    
25. Creighton (12-2)
    

Honorable Mention:

Virginia (10-4), SMU (11-3), Houston (10-5), Wake Forest (11-3), Notre Dame (10-4), Stephen F. Austin (11-2), Boston University (8-6).

13 Dec30 - Inside Weakness (PRECONFERENCE)

Volume XVIII, No. 9 - 13 Dec30 : PRECONFERENCE - [] Top 25 Ballot

Inside Weakness

In a battle of undefeated Top 10 teams, Villanova hit some early threes to go up 25-7, but a 20-0 run from Syracuse got the Orange back in the game and they pulled away late by sinking their free throws (29-for-35) for a convincing @78-62 romp.

    
In a meeting of teams more hyped (the last two National Champions) than proven, Kentucky held off arch-/state-rival Louisville, @73-66. xJames Young(18p10r4a) led a balanced Wildcat attack while the Cardinals didn't have any frontline player make an impact.

    
Iowa State and Boise State took things down to the wire in the well played DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC final. The Cyclones' inside strength (and free throw shooting) overcame the Broncos' perimeter motion offense as ISU prevailed 70-66 (to gain the BIG 12 its only preseason tournament crown). (Meanwhile, St. Mary's, which had joined the conversation with an earlier road win at Boise State, tanked in Hawaii, going 0-3.)

In a battle of point guards, Massachusetts outlasted Providence in overtime, @69-67(OT) -- Minuteman pChaz Williams was mostly shut down(10p10a) while Friar pBryce Cotton's 24p5a5r wasn't enough.

    
UNLV routed Mississippi State, @82-66, to claim the LAS VEGAS-CHRISTMAS CLASSIC over a weak field. (Florida Gulf Coast failed to claim the Consolation bracket, falling 63-64 to Radford in the 5th-place game.)

    
(Charlotte's home loss, @55-58, to a mediocre Georgia Tech team effective gives back all of the cred it gained from winning PUERTO RICO.)

(In early conference play, BYU has already dropped a road game, 76-@87, at Loyola Marymount.)

Michigan's cMitch McGary is out for the season as his continuing back problems have required surgery.

- -

The preseason is over. Championship Final holdovers Louisville and Michigan have found things tougher than expected without key players from last year (and now the Wolverines have taken another hit on top of that). The SuperFrosh teams (Kentucky and Kansas) haven't been the instant world-beaters their fans expected (but they are steadily improving with plenty of time to reach their full potential). Syracuse looks fully capable of contending for a Carpetbagger title in the ACC (while Pittsburgh and [depleted] Notre Dame figure to spoil at the least). Memphis was able to break through with an elite win in the preseason and looks ready to fully contend for the inaugural AMERICAN title. Creighton looks plenty good enough to contend in the downsized BIG EAST (and retooled Butler has been surprisingly competitive as well). Connecticut has made the most of its return to eligibility with more down-to-the-wire results than any top team. Both Florida Gulf Coast and La Salle have been busts trying to follow up their Sweet 16 runs, but Harvard is having a solid season just below the radar.

    
The BIG 12 had the best showing top-to-bottom (but was only able to come away with one tournament crown [Iowa State/DIAMOND HEAD]); thanks to the Mega-Shift, the ACC won more tournaments (5) than any other league; but it was the BIG 10 that had the best of both overall rating and big tourney wins (4). Both the new AMERICAN and (new) BIG EAST have performed at B-Major level (multi-bid/Top 16 standard-bearer); meanwhile, San Diego State is (barely) keeping the disappointing MOUNTAIN WEST on the cusp; the ATLANTIC 10 and WEST COAST look to be multi-bid Mid-Majors, for sure (but whether their top teams are Sweet 16-worthy is debatable). No second team has been able to elevate the MISSOURI VALLEY from Anti-Spoiler[Wichita State]/1BC status to multi-bid Mid-Major. Even with 16 teams, CONFERENCE USA hasn't proven itself to be more than a Mega-1BC league. (Only up-and-down North Carolina provided the 1BC's with an elite win [Belmont/OHIO VALLEY] ... ?and UAB[C-USA]?)

    
tDoug McDermott[Creighton] remains the frontrunner for Player of the Year (but pMarcus Smart[Oklahoma State] and gShabazz Napier[Connecticut] have had their star turns). tJabari Parker[Duke] has been the most consistently excellent freshman so far; (cJulius Randle[Kentucky] isn't far behind; fAndrew Wiggins[Kansas] has been spotty; pTyler Ennis[Syracuse] has been steady if not spectacular).

Here's how the conferences look after the preseason:

1. BIG 10 - Tied ACC 6-6 in CHALLENGE. Wisconsin [2v2:CANCUN] (elite win) and Ohio State [rr4GOTHAM] were undefeated; Michigan State [2v2:CVC] (elite win), Illinois [rr4vGS-D.I] (elite win), Minnesota (elite win) and Iowa (good win) all were excellent; Indiana (noise) starred; Michigan (elite win but lost a key player) was a winner.
   
2. BIG 12 - Beat SEC 7-3 in CHALLENGE. Iowa State [3:DIAMOND] (elite win) was undefeated; Baylor (elite wins), Oklahoma State (elite wins) and Texas (elite win) and Oklahoma all were excellent; Kansas (elite win), Kansas State (good win) and TCU all starred.
   
3. PAC-12 - Arizona [2v2:NIT.T-O] (elite win) and OregonA (good wins) were both undefeated; Colorado [rr4vGS-B.ME] (elite win), UCLA [.5rr2v2:LVI-T] (noisy), Arizona State (good wins) and Utah (good win) all were excellent; Stanford (elite win), USC (good win), California and Oregon State all starred.
   
4. ACC - Tied 6-6 with BIG 10 in CHALLENGE. Syracuse [3:MAUI] (elite win) was undefeated; Duke (elite win), Pittsburgh [2v2:LEGENDS] (good win), N.C. State (noise) all were excellent; North Carolina [2v2:HOF.T-O] (elite wins), Florida State (elite win), Georgia Tech (good win), Notre Dame (good win but lost a key player), Virginia [2v2:CORPUS.X] (noise) all starred; Miami(Florida) (good win) was a winner; Maryland [3:PARADISE] skirted .500; Boston College struggled.
   
5. SEC - Lost 3-7 to BIG 12 in CHALLENGE. Florida [rr4vGS-A.CH] (elite wins), Arkansas (elite win), Missouri [.5vv2:LVI-T] (good win), LSU (noisy) and Mississippi State (noise) all were excellent; Kentucky [rr4vKEIGHTLY] (elite win), Mississippi [2v2:BROOK-T] (noise), Vanderbilt (noise), Texas A&M and Auburn all starred. South Carolina (good win), Tennessee (noise), Georgia and Alabama all skirted .500.
   
6. AMER - Connecticut [2v2:2KS], Memphis [3:OS/ORLANDO] and Cincinnati [rr4vGS-E.SH] (each with an elite win), noisy Louisville and SMU all were excellent; South Florida (noise) and UCF starred.
   
7. BIG E - Villanova (elite wins) [3:ATLANTIS] was undefeated; Creighton (good win), Providence (noisy) and Butler all were excellent; Xavier (elite win), Georgetown (good win), Seton Hall (noisy) and St. John's all starred. Marquette (elite win) skirted .500.
   
8. A-10 - George Washington (elite win), Massachusetts [3:CHARLESTON] (good wins) and St. Louis (good win) all were excellent; Dayton (good wins) and VCU (good win) starred. George Mason (good win) and La Salle were .500.
   
9. MVC - Wichita State [2v2vCBE] (good wins) was undefeated; Missouri State was excellent; Drake [rr3@BULLDOG] and Indiana State (good win) starred. Illinois State [.3rr3@GOLD.GATE] (good win), Northern Iowa (good win) and Bradley all skirted .500.
   
10. MWC - San Diego State [3:WL/ANAHEIM] (good wins), Utah State and Boise State all were excellent; New Mexico (good win) and Wyoming starred; Colorado State [rr4vRAM] (noisy) and UNLV [2v2vLVC-X] were winners.
    
11. WCC - St. Mary's (good win), Gonzaga (noise) and Pacific all were excellent; Portland .5rr3vCVCconsA] (noise), San Diego and Loyola Marymount all starred; BYU (good win) was a winner; San Francisco [.3rr3@GOLD.GATE] (noise), Pepperdine and Santa Clara all skirted .500.
    
12. C-USA - Southern Mississippi [rr3@CBEcons] (noisy) was excellent; UAB (elite win), Charlotte [3:P.RICO] (good win), Louisiana Tech [3:GULF.COAST] (noise), East Carolina (noise) and Middle Tennessee all starred; Florida International (noisy) was a winner; UTEP (noise), Marshall (noise) and North Texas skirted .500. Tulsa (noise) was a flop overall.
    
13. MAC - Toledo [rr3@2KSconsA] was undefeated; Kent State [.5rr3vCVCconsB] was excellent; Eastern Michigan (noise), Akron and Ohio University all starred. Western Michigan [.3rr3@RAINBOW], Bowling Green (noisy), Buffalo (noise), Central Michigan and Northern Illinois all skirted .500. Ball State was a flop.
    
14. SUMMIT - North Dakota State [2@CABLE] (good win), IPFW and {Nebraska-Omaha} all starred. South Dakota State (noise), Denver (noise) and Western Illinois all skirted .500.
    
15. IVY - Harvard [3:GREAT.AK] (noisy) and Princeton were excellent. Columbia [.5rr3OVCconsA], Brown, Dartmouth and Yale all skirted .500. Penn was a flop. (Cornell was winless.)
    
    - - - - - -
    
16. HORIZ - Milwaukee [rr3@HUSKIE] and Green Bay (good win) starred; Youngstown State [rr3@OWL], Cleveland State (noise), Valparaiso, Wright State and Illinois(Chicago) skirted .500. Oakland was a bust.
    
17. OVC - Eastern Kentucky starred; Belmont (elite win), Morehead State and Southeast Missouri State were winners; Murray State skirted .500.
    
18. WAC - New Mexico State [.3rr3@RAINBOW] (good win) and Seattle (noise) starred. Utah Valley, {Grand Canyon}, Cal State-Bakersfield, Idaho and Chicago State all skirted .500.
    
19. SLAND - Stephen F. Austin [.3rr4vROUNDBALL] (noise) and {Incarnate Word} were excellent. Sam Houston State (noisy) was a winner; Oral Roberts, New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana all skirted .500; {Abilene Christian} and Northwestern State were losers. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi [rr4vISLANDER], McNeese State and Central Arkansas all were flops.
    
20. BIG W - Hawaii [.3rr3vRAINBOW] (good win) starred; UC-Santa Barbara (good win) was a winner; Cal St-Northridge skirted .500; Cal Poly-SLO was a loser; UC-Davis was a flop.
    
21. PAT - Lehigh (noisy), Boston University (noise), Colgate, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Loyola(Maryland), Navy and Lafayette all skirted .500.
    
22. SUN B - Louisiana [2@MAUIcons] (noise) starred; Western Kentucky [.3rr4ROUNDBALL] was a winner; Lousiana-Monroe (noise), Arkansas State, Georgia State, South Alabama and Texas-Arlington all skirted .500.
    
23. MAAC - Manhattan (noise) starred. Canisius [2@NIT.T-OconsC] (noise), Iona (noise), Quinnipiac (noise) and Rider all skirted .500. Marist and Niagara were a bust.
    
24. SKY - Northern Colorado starred. Eastern Washington (noisy) and Montana were .500; North Dakota (noise) was a loser; Weber State was a flop.
    
25. COLON - Drexel was a winner; William & Mary, Towson, Delaware and College of Charleston all skirted .500. Northeastern was a flop.
26. NEC - Bryant (noise) and Wagner (noise) skirted .500; Long Island (noisy without its injured star) and Robert Morris were losers; Central Connecticut State and Mount St. Mary's were flops.
    
27. AMER E - Stony Brook starred; Hartford struggled.
    Vermont [.3rr3@GOLD.GATE] was a flop overall (but managed a share of an Unwelcome Guest crown); SUNY-B and Maryland(Baltimore County) were just flops.
    
28. MEAC - North Carolina Central starred.
    Norfolk State [2@NIT.T-OconsA] (noise) skirted .500. Morgan State (noise), Hampton, North Carolina A&T and Savannah State all were flops.
    
    - - - - - -
    
29. BIG S - Radford (noise) was a winner; Gardner-Webb (noise), Winthrop, VMI, Liberty and Charleston Southern skirted .500; Longwood was a loser; High Point was a flop.
    
30. A-SUN - Mercer starred; East Tennessee State [.3rr4vROUNDBALL], Florida Gulf Coast and USC Upstate were only .500. (Kennesaw State was a flop.)
    
31. SOCON - UNC-Greensboro, Elon, Georgia Southern, Furman and Western Carolina all skirted .500; Samford and Wofford were losers; Davidson (noise) and Chattanooga were flops.
    
32. SWAC - Alabama State skirted .500; Texas Southern (noise) and Jackson State were losers; Alabama A&M and Southern were flops.
    
33. INDEP - New Jersey Tech skirted .500 (but made no noise).
    

- -

There are still a handful of meaningful out-of-conference matchups this week: Kansas hosts undefeated Toledo (Monday) and even better San Diego State (Sunday).
     Conference play gets going with lots of good games right out of the blocks: Wisconsin hosts Iowa (Sunday) and Colorado hosts Oregon (Sunday) as heavyweights meet. Florida State hosts Virginia (Saturday), Creighton hosts Marquette (Tuesday) and Gonzaga hosts slumping St. Mary's (Thursday) as favorites have a chance to knock out fading rivals. Utah gets to test its mettle vs Oregon (Thursday), Indiana hosts Michigan State (Saturday) and Notre Dame hosts Duke (Saturday) as pretenders have a chance to get an early leg up.

-- Ron

P.S. Happy New Year everyone!

Key games this week:

Monday:

@Kansas-Toledo, @WeKentucky-Mississippi, @Hawaii-NorfolkSt,

DP CLASSIC Finals @ ChattanoogaTN/Chattanooga/

-(@Chattanooga-Maine, 3rd:MidTennessee-{GrandCanyon}),

Tuesday:

@Duke-@Elon(NC)(@GreensboroNC), @Illinois-Indiana, @Creighton-Marquette,

Wednesday:

(None),

Thursday:

Oregon-@Utah, @Gonzaga-StMarys, @Minnesota-Michigan, @Stanford-California(CA), @Brown-RhodeIsland(RI), @NorthwesternSt-SamHoustonSt, @BostonU-HolyCross(MA), @SAlabama-WeKentucky,

Friday:

@VCU-StonyBrook,

Saturday:

@Syracuse-MiamiFL, @Memphis-Cincinnati, MichiganSt-@Indiana, Duke-@NotreDame, @FloridaSt-Virginia, @Mississippi-Dayton, @LaSalle-@Penn(PhiladelphiaPA)(BIG_5)(/PALESTRA/), @Maryland-GeorgiaTech, @StephenFAustin-SamHoustonSt(TX), @SAlabama-GeorgiaSt, @CoppinSt-Towson(BaltimoreMD), @WeCarolina-Elon(NC),

Sunday:

@Wisconsin-Iowa, SanDiegoSt-@Kansas, @Villanova-Providence, @Colorado-Oregon, @WichitaSt-NoIowa,

- - - - - -

Monday week:

@Pittsburgh-Maryland, @TexasSo-Southern, @JacksonSt-AlabamaSt.

---

Top 25 - 13 Dec30: PRECONFERENCE - [] Column

1. Syracuse (12-0) [3:MAUI] (vBIG10)
   
2. Iowa State (11-0) [3:DIAMOND] [IOWA4] (vSEC)
   
3. Wisconsin (13-0) [2v2:CANCUN] (@ACC)
   
4. Baylor (8-1) (@@SEC)
   
5. Oklahoma State (11-1) (:LV-SH) (vSEC)
   
6. Arizona (13-0) [2v2:NIT.T-O]
   
7. Florida (10-2) [rr4vGS-A.CH] (:JIMMY.V) (vBIG12)
   
8. Memphis (9-2) [3:OS/ORLANDO]
   
9. Connecticut (11-1) [2v2:2KS]
   
10. San Diego State (8-1) [3:WL/ANAHEIM]
    
11. Villanova (11-1) [3:ATLANTIS]
    
12. Colorado (11-2) [rr4vGS-B.ME]
    
13. Kansas (8-3) (@@CHAMPS)
    
14. North Carolina (8-3) [2v2:HOF.T-O] (@BIG10)
    
15. Michigan State (11-1) (@@CHAMPS) [2v2:CVC]
    
16. Kentucky (9-3) [rr4vKEIGHTLY]
    
17. Duke (10-2) (vCQAP) (vBIG10)
    
18. Wichita State (12-0) [2v2vCBE]
    
19. Ohio State (13-0) [rr4GOTHAM] (vACC)
    
20. Louisville (11-2)
    
21. Oregon (12-0)
    
22. Iowa (9-2) (vACC) (@@IOWA4)
    
23. Illinois (11-2) [rr4vGS-D.I] (@@BRAGGIN')
    
24. Florida State (8-3) (vORANGE)
    
25. Missouri (11-1) [.5vv2:LVI-THANX] (vBIG12)
    

Honorable Mention:

Charlotte (8-4) [3:P.RICO],

Massachusetts (11-1) [3:CHARLESTON],

Harvard (10-1) [3:GREAT.AK],

Maryland (7-5) [3:PARADISE],

UNLV [2v2vLVC-XMAS],

Mississippi (8-3) [2v2:BROOK-THANX],

UCLA (11-2) [.5vv2:LVI-THANX],

Virginia (9-3) [2v2:CORPUS.X],

Norfolk State (5-5) [2@NIT.T-OconsA],

Pittsburgh (11-1) [2v2:LEGENDS] (vBIG10),

Cincinnati (10-2) [rr4vGS-E.SH],

Louisiana Tech (9-3) [3:GULF.COAST],

Drake (9-3) [rr3@BULLDOG],

Milwaukee (9-4) [rr3@HUSKIE],

Illinois State (7-5)/San Francisco (8-5)/Vermont (2-8) [rr3@GOLD.GATE],

North Dakota State (8-4) [2@CABLE],

Toledo (11-0) [rr3@2KSconsA],

Youngstown State (9-6) [rr3@OWL],

Western Kentucky (7-4)/East Tennessee State (7-6)/Stephen F. Austin (10-2) [rr4vROUNDBALL],

Southern Mississippi (12-2) [rr3@CBEcons],

Canisius (8-5) [2@NIT.T-OconsC],

Louisiana (8-4) [2@MAUIcons],

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-10) [rr4vISLANDER],

Colorado State (9-4) [rr4vRAM].