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Top 25 Games
- #21 Minnesota 70, #8 Purdue 67: With their season on the verge of falling apart the Gophers hung on for a tight home win over the Boilermakers behind 26 points from Blake Hoffarber. (Minnesota: The Daily Gopher or From the Barn; Purdue: Boiled Sports or Hammer and Rails)
Other Games of Interest
- UNC 64, Virginia Tech 61: “Malcolm Delaney’s 28 points, including seven three-pointers, was not enough for the Hokies on the road against ACC rival UNC. Especially when Jeff Allen follows a career game with four points and seven rebounds against the Heels. Despite a 16-point first-half lead, Tech loses 61-64 to UNC.” (Tech Hoops)
- Gonzaga 92, Pepperdine 75: “Robert Sacre put up sixteen shots tonight against Pepperdine. Eight of them were from the floor and eight of them were from the free throw line. He didn’t miss once. The junior center finished with a career high 24 points this evening against the Waves of Pepperdine as Gonzaga cruised to a 17 point victory tonight in Spokane.” (The Slipper Still Fits)
- UCLA 62, Oregon State 57: “UCLA beat OSU 62-57 in a game that played true to the UCLA season so far. 20 minutes this team looks great. In the first half UCLA shoots 65%, holds OSU to 23.3% and out rebounds a small OSU team 23-11. Zeke leads us with 9 points and sure there are too many TOs but not a bad half. Second half OSU outscores us by 10 overcomes a 17 point deficit to take the lead and out rebounds us! But really, there is no surprise this is the Bruins of 2010-11. Final score, UCLA won and did what they were suppose to do. But this is so ugly it is like a moral defeat.” (Bruins Nation)
Pre-Game Analysis
- Maryland at #7 Villanova: “Before anything else, we should probably qualify what Saturday’s Maryland-Villanova game means for the Terrapins. It’s not a “must win” in the exact sense of the word – Maryland can still make the NCAA tournament without a victory over Villanova, and it wouldn’t even be hard to concoct a plausible scenario for it. But it’s also not meaningless – a win over Villanova would give Maryland something that they’ve historically needed: room for error. With the ACC as weak as it is this season, any serious NCAA contender is going to need a premier out-of-conference victory or a crazy conference record. Or, more likely, both.” (Testudo Times)
News/Analysis
- Positive PostGame Prognosis: Pittsburgh: “Before this game many people thought this game might be the turning point of our season, that if we lost it meant ruin and floundering in the Big East and if we won it would signal a triumphant rise back up the standings. Well these people were right in one sense, I do think yesterday’s game was a turning point. But this being the Positive PostGame Prognosis, I obviously don’t think it was a turning point in the way described above.” (Casual Hoya)
- Ohio State Will Be No. 1 – But Don’t Expect It to Last: Taking a look at the road ahead for the probable #1 team in the country. (Eleven Warriors)
- Mid-Season Progress Reports: Grading the Class of 2010, Top 25 Players: Handing out first semester grades to some of the most highly recruited freshman in the country. (Hoopniks)
- A (semi) Statistical Recap of Iowa State: Using KenPom’s four forces to recap the Jayhawks win over the Cyclones. (Rock Chalk Talk)
- Five Key Plays: Ohio State at Michigan: Looking at the plays that led to the Buckeyes close win. (UM Hoops)
- Texas Basketball Recruiting 2011: Class Overview and the DeAndre Daniels Situation: Taking a look at the Longhorns incoming class. (Burnt Orange Nation)