The calendar turns to 2009 and by the end of next weekend, every conference will have games in the books, the guarantee money games will be all but over, and some of the pretenders will begin to be exposed.
This also brings some important dates for this site.
Wednesday, Jan 7: first Lockbox
Monday, Jan 12: first bracket
The Weekend forecast comes tomorrow and a new Watch List is coming on Monday.
Last Night' GOI
--at Illinois State 80, Evansville 50. Who is the Valley fave? Message received LOUD and clear.
--UNLV 56, at Louisville 55. Louisville currently has the resume of a Bubble team (best wins are UAB and Ole Miss).
--North Carolina 84, at Nevada 61. No jet lag for the Heels.
--Wisconsin 73, at Michigan 61. Badgers send a message regarding the Big Ten pecking order.
--Michigan State 70, at Minnesota 58. Gophers suffer their first loss and Sparty notches a nice road win.
--at Penn State 61, Northwestern 57. Not a good sign for NW'n's hopes.
--at Utah 66, Gonzaga 65. Zags shot just 35% in this one and Utah continues it's Jekyll/Hyde act.
Tonight's GOI
--Fairfield at Siena. 2/3 of the MAAC's best three teams.
--Villanova at Marquette. Important tussle between two Big East NCAA hopefuls.
