Nothing much happened on Monday night, so we'll just have a quick look at the one important game before heading on to previewing Tuesday's action.
Duke 85, Gardner Webb 66: No surprise here. Duke rolled, letting off on the gas in the second half, perhaps to keep some energy for Thursday night's tilt with UCLA. Duke can climb up into the upper seed lines with a win against UCLA and with some demonstration that the Blue Devils can play defense. Coming into tonight, Duke had only held three teams, Florida Atlantic, UNC Asheville, and Alabama, to fewer than 1 point per possession, giving up more than a point to sub-average teams, in Cameron, like Davidson, East Carolina, and Vermont. This is simply a stat that cannot sustain an elite team, no matter how good the offense is.
Tuesday's slate of games is far better, as teams get ready to take their finals and Christmas breaks. Madison Square Garden has a great doubleheader of Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati and, the marquee matchup of the night, Florida vs. Memphis. Another very interesting game should be Wichita State at Alabama, where the Shockers should be a slight road favorite. New Mexico State plays late at the Pit against New Mexico.
And we'll also keep an eye out for upsets (some would be massive) in North Florida at Michigan State, Charlotte at Florida State, St. Bonaventure at Wake Forest (decent teams who will change other teams' strength of schedules), Elon at Georgetown, Yale at Providence, Delaware State at Oklahoma State, UTA at Oklahoma, Toledo at Arkansas State, Ark-Pine Bluff at Creighton, Missouri State at Louisville, Ball State at Marquette, Belmont at Denver, and UC-Irvine at Oregon.
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