With every college team in the country still playing looking at a potential NCAA invite now, we have two great games that should keep you busy before the Jersey Shore comes on tonight. Find out who else is playing today right here ...
Marquee Matchup(s)
2:00pm St. John’s vs. Syracuse
Kris Joseph has been the player for Syracuse when it comes to starting the offense and he’s played great all season. The troubling thing is that Syracuse’s fortunes seem to hang in the balance with him as well. Before the blowout win over DePaul to close out the Big East regular season, the Orange had won their last three games by an average margin of 4 points. That is a troubling sign heading into this time of year but in Syracuse’s defense two of them were Top 25 teams. The more troubling sign is that against Rutgers, a good but not great team, the Orange only won by 4 and Joseph had 21 points while he was held to single digits in the other two wins over Georgetown and Villanova. Not including the Rutgers game, Joseph is averaging 7.3 points and 4.8 rebounds but he’s upped his other stats to 3.8 assists, 2.3 steals and a block. This St’ John’s team will pay a lot of up tempo running basketball and Syracuse can run with them but the Red Storm has beat big teams this season already including Notre Dame and Duke. This will be a good game to watch for sure.
7:00pm Oklahoma vs. Texas
Texas is coming into the Big 12 Tournament high on a win over Baylor to end their regular season. That win ended a two game losing skid and they are looking to continue that winning against Oklahoma. Thompson was a monster in his last four games averaging 29 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.5 blocks in about 35 minutes in the last four games and is looking a lot like he could be an All American by the end of the season. Cory Joseph has also been playing well averaging 6.8 points, 2 rebounds and 5.3 assist in the last four also. This will be an uphill battle for Oklahoma who didn’t play Texas yet this season. Expect for Texas to win the game handily with a big burst to open the game. But if the Longhorns allow the Sooners to hang around, this game may be closer than Texas wants it to be.
And here is where everyone else is playing today …
2:30pm Minnesota vs. Northwestern
3:00pm Cal vs. USC
3:00pm Colorado vs. Kansas State
3:00pm San Jose State vs. Idaho
3:00pm UC-Irvine vs. Long Beach State
5:30pm Nevada vs. New Mexico State – New Mexico State comes into this game against Nevada having split the season series 1-1. The Aggies did get the better of the Wolfpack in their last meeting which was a 77-68 win to end the regular season. The Canadian trio of Hernst Laroche, Tyrone Watson and Christian Kabongo will need to step up and play big in supporting roles for the W.
6:00pm Norfolk State vs. Coppin State
7:30pm Tennessee vs. Arkansas
9:00pm Marquette vs. Louisville – After last night’s against win against West Virginia, will Marquette have enough in the tank for his Louisville team? Junior Cadougan had a brilliant 15 point, 3 rebound and 5 assist performance to help spur the Golden Eagles to the win but can he and his team do it again? Louisville had been a little inconsistent this season against lesser opponents and this is a winnable game for Marquette.
9:30pm Texas State vs. McNeese State – McNeese State is playing one of the better teams in the Southland Conference today and it will not be an easy win. The last time these two met in January they shot it out with the Cowboys coming out on top 97-92. Diego Kapelan had 15 points in that win and he’ll need to bring the shooting tonight if McNeese wants to continue to on in the conference tournament.
11:30pm Cal Fullerton vs. Cal Northridge