Welcome to February! Just think - next month, we will have a NCAA Tournament bracket. How sweet it is! The best month of the year is nearly upon us. This next month will be a defining period for many teams looking to get on the right side of the bubble. Hopefully we will see some teams who have never gone dancing punch their ticket for the first time too!

Welcome one and welcome all to the grind of February basketball! Before we get there, let’s rundown the last week of January, starting at the top: (1) Arizona remained perfect, holding off (13) BYU 86–83 in a game that was suddenly close in the last minute after a furious Cougar rally, then used a strong second half to overwhelm Arizona State on the road, 87-74. (2) UConn held steady with a victory over Providence before blasting Creighton 85–58. (3) Michigan had a very impressive week; first, a come from behind victory while hosting (5) Nebrasketball - handing the Cornhuskers loss #1 on the season - then a road kill while visiting close friends (7) Michigan State in the highest ranked matchup in the history of the storied rivalry. It’s Dusty Mays’ world, we are just living in it. Nebrasketball had limited time to catch its breath, and was consequently given a 2nd consecutive loss on Sunday courtesy of (9) Illinois. (4) Duke finished their week with a 72–58 win over Virginia Tech after taking care of (20) Louisville earlier, while (6) Gonzaga got 30 from Graham Ike (after missing 3 games) to knock off Saint Mary’s in the Kennel to avoid the upset.

Speaking of upsets… Kentucky pulled off a quality road win over (15) Arkansas in SEC play. In the Big 12, UCF were unwelcoming hosts to the visiting Red Raiders of (11) Texas Tech, dominating the glass to snap TTU’s 5-game winning streak in an 88-80 victory. Indiana drilled 12 threes to put away (12) Purdue in Assembly Hall for their own underdog act. The Boilermakers would later defeat Maryland to put an end to their 3-game skid.

Elsewhere, (14) Kansas also took down BYU 90–82 for the Cougars’ second straight loss, (19) Florida took down (23) Alabama - just as HC Todd Golden predicted - and we saw undefeated weeks from several ranked squads: (8) Iowa State, (10) Houston, (16) North Carolina, (17) Virginia, (18) Vanderbilt, (21) Saint Louis, (22) Clemson, (24) Miami (OH) and (25) St. John’s.

The top three teams in the Mountain West seem to be on a collision course. Utah State, San Diego State, and New Mexico are all 9-2 in MW play. Utah State took down San Diego State on Saturday by a score of 71-66. New Mexico was 2-0 this week after beating UNLV and San Jose State by a combined 38 points. The Lobos play Utah State at home on Wednesday. Outside of SLU, the top teams in the A-10 took care of business. Both George Mason and VCU went 2-0 to stay 1 and 2 games behind the Billikens, respectively. Perennial threat Dayton is struggling and has dropped four straight games. Santa Clara kept their at-large hopes alive with wins over San Francisco and Loyola Marymount. They are currently ranked 43rd in the NET and are squarely on the bubble.

Belmont got a big win over MVC challenger Murray State thanks to 27 points from Tyler Lundblade. Drew Scharnowski nearly had a triple double for the Bruins with a 19 pt/11 reb/9 ast performance as well. Tulsa and Charlotte both had undefeated weeks and are tied atop the American. The 49ers have a tough week ahead playing at Wichita State and at Memphis while the Golden Hurricanes travel to the Sunshine State to take on Florida Atlantic and South Florida. We could see some shuffling in the standings this week!

Now let’s talk some one-bid ball! There is a three-way tie for first place in the America East with UMBC, Vermont, and NJIT all at 6-2 in league play. Portland State dropped their first Big Sky game of the season at home to Montana before bouncing back to beat Montana State. The Vikings are still in first place, but the Grizzlies and Bobcats are right behind. Winthrop and High Point held firm at the top of the Big South and UC Irvine has a half-game lead over UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii in the Big West. Six of the eight teams in the MEAC are within two games of each other in the standings. Your guess is as good as mine for who wins the regular season crown. Finally, North Dakota State remains unbeaten in Summit League play. They are one of only eight teams yet to lose in conference. The others are all ranked in the Top 25 with the exception of the Liberty Flames.

Other Storylines: 

Here is what we will be watching this coming week! Reply to this email and let us know what you will be tuning into!

These two teams currently sit atop the Southland conference standings and are the clear-cut favorites to earn the auto bid from this league. Stephen F. Austin has only dropped one conference game so far and it is courtesy of the McNeese Cowboys. The Lumberjacks led for 75% of the first matchup, but ended up losing by two on the road. They look to exact their revenge in this one. With a win, they would move a full two games ahead of McNeese in the standings.

Honorable Mentions:

(14) Kansas @ (11) Texas Tech - Heavyweight matchup with Big 12 seeding at stake. Will Darryn Peterson play?

Bethune-Cookman @ Alabama A&M - Top two teams in the SWAC face off, BC has won 7 of their last 8, AAMU has won 5 of their last 6

The Billikens are simply must-watch basketball right now. They just knocked down 17 threes and broke the century mark in a 102–71 thrashing of rival Dayton. They’re scoring 91 ppg and shooting 52% as a team, including 41% from the arc(h). They have 7 guys averaging at least 10 points per game! What more do we need to tell you? Tune in Tuesday evening and see for yourself why SLU is going to be a PROBLEM in March.

Honorable Mentions: 

Indiana @ USC - bubble implications here

Kent State @ Toledo - winner claims sole possession of 3rd place in the MAC standings

What a bubbalicious matchup we have here! According to Joe Luinardi, Villanova currently sits as a seven seed in the tournament while Seton Hall finds themselves in the First Four Out list. Another top bracketologist, T3 Bracketology, has Nova as an 8 seed and Seton Hall on the outside looking in. A win for Villanova would keep them off the bubble for now. A Pirates victory would give them just their second Quad 1 win on the year. They need this to boost their at-large chances.

Honorable Mentions:

Texas A&M @ (23) Alabama - The first place Aggies square off against a streaky Bama team

Utah State @ New Mexico - Winner of this one will boost their at-large resume significantly

Lipscomb @ Austin Peay - Top two teams in the A-Sun are a combined 17-3 in 2026

To use Collin’s word, this one looks BUBBALICIOUS! Okay, not exactly.. But how could I pass up repeating that elegant word! In reality, Cincinnati simply hasn’t converted enough Q1 chances to be considered on the bubble as of now (despite a win over Iowa State), so we’ll instead focus on the Mountaineers. West Virginia doesn’t have any traditionally “bad” losses (even if that Xavier result looks worse and worse). But they need more than a home win over Kansas to really prop up their resume before March. Thursday’s game marks the beginning of a critical, must-win week (Sunday @ Texas Tech follows). They won’t face another ranked opponent until the end of February (BYU, Feb 28). Clock is ticking!

Honorable Mentions:

Morehead St @ Southeast Missouri - both teams are 8-4 in OVC play and tied for 3rd in the standings

UT Arlington @ Utah Tech - four teams sit atop the WAC with 6 wins apiece; these are two of them!

Talk about a matchup between HOT teams. In case you forgot, UConn is really really good. They are 21-1 with their only loss coming against the only team ranked higher than them in the country, Arizona. The Huskies have won 17 straight since that loss to Arizona and have beaten five Top 25 teams this year. St. John’s seems to have found their footing as well in 2026. They have won seven straight and nine of their last 10 games. This is the biggest game of the season so far for the Red Storm. Will their recent form hold up against the best of the best?

Honorable Mentions:

Dayton @ VCU - Can the Flyers turn things around after a cold stretch?

Belmont @ UIC - A rare nationally televised opportunity for the Flames to get a program-defining win

BYU’s 0-2 performance this past week is misleading - they were a blocked shot away from being the first team to defeat Arizona this season, and ran out of steam late playing Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse. They’ve no one to blame but themselves for poor first half performances leading to double digit deficits, but have at least proven that they can score, at will, when truly clicking. To realistically take down Houston, they must avoid another slow start.

Honorable Mentions: 

(4) Duke @ (18) North Carolina - need I say more?

(9) Illinois @ (7) Michigan State - seeding impact for both B1G and NCAA tournaments

(22) Clemson @ California - Cal needs this one to remain on the bubble

As mentioned before, there is an impressive logjam at the top of the American standings. Eight of the 13 teams in the league are within two games of each other including these two. Tulsa has won six straight games while South Florida is 3-2 in their last five. Watch for the matchup at the power forward position between Tulsa’s David Green (16.4 ppg/4.9 rpg) and South Florida’s Izaiyah Nelson (15.5 ppg/10.0 rpg/1.6 bpg).

Honorable Mentions:

(3) Michigan @ Ohio State - Basketball’s version of The Game

Charlotte @ Memphis - The first-place 49ers head to Memphis to take on a hungry Tigers team

There are no days off in the SEC, that is for sure! Georgia found themselves up 32-25 with a little over 5 minutes remaining in the first half thanks to a dunk from Kareem Stagg. However, Tennessee put the clamps on for the rest of the half and only surrendered two more points before halftime. Unfortunately, they could only score three points of their own and entered the locker room down 34-28 on the road. The game remained close in the second half but with 19 seconds left, Tennessee guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie went to the FT line for two with his team up by one. He would go one of two leaving the door open for Georgia. They took advantage and sent the game to OT thanks to a Marcus Millender layup. Gillespie tried to respond, but his potential game winner wouldn't fall. Tennessee led the whole OT period thanks to strong FT shooting down the stretch. Gillespie finished with 21 points and 6 assists for the Vols while Kanon Catchings finished with 22 pts and 7 rebs for the Bulldogs.

Add a game-winner to this young man’s accomplishments this season! The junior guard buried a contested middy to call game on Colgate on Saturday. Those were points 31 and 32 for Whitlock - marking the 5th time he’s broken the 30-point threshold this season, and the 3rd time in January alone! Hailing from Brooklyn Park, MN, he is the primary reason Lehigh has won 6 of their past 8 outings to climb to 3rd place in the Patriot League. We’ll see if they can close the gap on 1st place Navy (9-1), but Whitlock’s individual performance has put him squarely in the running for Patriot League Player of the Year.

Far from the best week for Collin’s model. January as a whole as not a great month as his model closed the month at 1441-1469. This week brings us a new month and an opportunity to get into the black!