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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Bubbly blogging: What to watch today

Obviously the most important game for Georgia's NCAA tournament hopes today is its own. It has a perfect record against teams outside the RPI top 50 - in fact Temple (32) is currently its "worst" loss. And the Bulldogs need to keep it that way.

But here are the other games worth keeping an eye on:

- Missouri at Kansas State, noon: Kansas State has played its way back into strong contention, and another high-quality win would push it further into the field.

- Arkansas at Auburn, 1:30 p.m.: The Razorbacks, at 104, are close to being a top 100 win for Georgia. Beating Auburn won't get them there, and I'm not sure how vital another top 100 win will end up being for the Bulldogs. But for what it's worth, it can't hurt.

- Texas at Colorado, 4 p.m.: A win here for the Buffs would be huge for their flailing NCAA hopes - and perhaps just as important for Georgia, which needs the help on its non-conference resume'.

- Florida at Kentucky, 4 p.m.:
The Gators have the SEC's top seed, so now it's a mad rush for seeding in the rest of the division. Vanderbilt probably has the edge for the other first-round bye. I've come around to the thinking that Georgia needs to get that third or fourth seed, in order to get a first-round game with Auburn and LSU. Winning that game may not help the RPI or the resume', but if the Bulldogs take care of business the next two games, just getting to Friday in Atlanta should be enough.

- Alabama at Ole Miss, 4 p.m.: The Tide are 19-8 overall and 11-2 in the SEC - but still have an RPI rank of 78. That's just too low, and the Tide's next game is at Florida. If Alabama were to lose today and at Florida, the regular-season finale against Georgia will be very, very important.

- UAB at Houston, 6 p.m.: Who knew that UAB would turn out to be Georgia's marquee non-conference win. The Blazers begin the day 34 in the RPI.

- Mississippi State at Tennessee, 6 p.m.: This is kind of a win-win, or lose-lose, for Georgia. A Tennessee win helps the Bulldogs' resume', RPI, etc. But a Vols loss helps the Bulldogs in that division seeding race.

- Duke at Virginia Tech, 9 p.m.: There are a ton of other bubble games out there, so I won't list them all. But this one is the one worth watching: If the Hokies were to knock off Duke, they will probably jump past a bunch of at-large contenders.

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