Know there's been some mention of a couple games, but I'll give it a rundown across the board for opponents of ours that were in action tonight:
Arizona State improved to 7-1 with a 71-63 win over Hartford (4-4). Credit to ASU for getting to 7-1, but keep in mind this is a heavily padded schedule. ASU is using the oft-used tactic of bad teams: pad your OOC schedule with basically nothing but cupcakes so you can hopefully still finish with a record around .500 overall despite lots of conference losses. Don't get me wrong, they're improved over last year and the trip to Tempe won't be quite the guaranteed "W" it was last year, but let's just keep their 7-1 record in perspective. This is still a bottom team in the Pac, IMO. As for Hartford, they played ASU tough tonight, but assuming the Buffs don't show up like they did against Texas Southern, CU wins comfortably.
Utah improved to 6-2 with a 76-55 win over Boise State (6-2) in Salt Late City. Like Arizona State, there's no denying they're improved on last season, but they're still going to take heavy losses in conference play.
USC fell to 3-5 with a 75-67 loss at #18 New Mexico (9-0). USC played them tough and The Pit is notoriously hostile. In defense of USC's horrible overall record, they have played a REALLY tough OOC schedule. It doesn't get any easier with #14 Minnesota coming up next, and that's not the end of their tough OOC games.
Washington State fell to 5-4 with a 71-69 last second loss to #10 Gonzaga (9-0) in Pullman. Tough loss. Would have been huge for the Pac to have the Cougs pull that off.
Northern Arizona fell to 3-5 with a 92-86 home loss in OT to Loyola Marymount (5-4). Before the season, NAU was picked to be one of the worst in all of college basketball. They don't appear to be quite *that* bad, as they've gotten a few wins and been competitive in some losses. Still, Buffs should roll them.
Dayton improved to 6-2 with a solid 81-76 win over Alabama (6-2) in Tuscaloosa. This is great for the Buffs. Exactly the type of thing we need Dayton, Murray State, (and yes, Baylor) doing to boost our RPI.
Wofford improved to 4-5 with a 54-42 win in Spartanburg over Gardner-Webb (5-5). We know Wofford is pretty solid, it's just that like all teams from minor conferences, this is the time of year they have to travel around playing a bunch of road games against power conference teams. That record will improve. Hope they win the SoCon.