Greg Monroe will face his toughest test in the paint this season in the game against UConn.
Game of the weekend? Purdue at Wisconsin, no doubt. Purdue couldn’t have two other wins that would impress more than if it can go into Kohl and walk out with a W Saturday afternoon. A win for Purdue would set a new school record.
Kansas at Tennessee is interesting, mainly after Tyler Smith’s dismissal from the team. Tennessee handled upset-minded Charlotte Wednesday night while Kansas struggled at home with Cornell. (I think Cornell’s probably five points better than Charlotte.) Since Texas gets putrid Colorado, Kansas probably needs to win big. But it’s a tough spot for the Jayhawks: Anything short of a 20-point win means KU is slightly discredited for knocking out a team that’s a shadow of what it was three weeks ago. Can Pearl rally the troops again? This is UT’s biggest game of the year outside of the Kentucky tilts.
Darington Hobson's arms are like that of UNC's John Henson.
The Mountain West feeds us another terrific game, Vegas at New Mexico. I almost used it as my Student Section Supports, but I just featured the Lobos a couple weeks ago. UNLV had a terrible rebounding effort against BYU, so how active will the bodies be around the rim in this one? Love, love, love this game.
Mississippi State, which can’t get to full strength, goes on the road to play Ole Miss. I wouldn’t bet on the Rebels: Andy Kennedy is 52-7 at home since he got to Oxford.
4-0-in-the-MVC Northern Iowa goes on the road to play Illinois State. Here’s some good info on the most underrated game of the weekend.
Vitale, who will be calling yet another NBA game this season, gets the call in the UConn-Georgetown game. Think this could be one of those early Big East tips that goes down to the buzzer. Maybe something like this:
Can we talk Temple-Rhode Island? The Rams haven’t won against a ranked opponent in 11 years. Rhodey is usually a tough place to play; want to see how strong the student support is during the penultimate weekend of intersession at URI.
Marquette gets no breaks in its schedule, and another test comes against Villanova, which everyone seems to have forgotten about.
Would it be funny if Boston College, it of the recent loss to Maine, went on the road and beat Clemson? Sad? How about fitting. No two teams on the East Coast have been more helter skelter than these two programs in the months of January through March.
Culture clash: New Jersey Institute of Technology is playing against Yale Saturday.
3 darts
1) Notre Dame will upset West Virginia
2) Related: Come Monday, all the talk of the best conference will be about the Big East. (Warning: May not be true.)
3) Carolina comes off its upset loss to College of Charleston by destroying Virgina Tech to the tune of a 92-68, 89-64 kind of result.
Just keep an eye on it
• Butler’s on the road against Wright State tonight.
• The other worthwhile Friday game: Washington on the road against Arizona State.
• Portland hosts Gonzaga Saturday night at 10. Pilots have been bumpy after a strong start early. They need this win in the worst way.
• Georgia Tech hosts Duke. In their games Wednesday night, both teams looked to be going in opposite directions. (Look at this photo from SI’s vault.)
• Maryland could really use a good win about now, and it’ll get its chance Sunday night when Florida State comes to town.
Thanks to Awful Announcing, here’s a list of who’s calling the games listed below.
SATURDAY
No. 13 Connecticut @ No. 12 Georgetown; noon ET (ESPN).
Florida @ Vanderbilt; noon ET (ESPN2).
No. 5 Duke @ No. 20 Georgia Tech; 2 ET (ESPN).
No. 11 Kansas State @ Missouri; 2 ET (ESPN2).
Creighton @ Wichita State; 2 ET (ESPNU).
Northern Iowa @ Illinois State; 2 ET (ESPN).
North Dakota State @ Iowa State; 4 ET (ESPNU).
Murray State @ Austin Peay; 6 ET (ESPN2).
Wake Forest @ Miami; 2 ET (ESPN).
No. 8 West Virginia @ Notre Dame; 8 ET (ESPNU).
No. 19 Gonzaga @ Portland; 10 ET (ESPNU).
USC @ California; 10:30 ET (FSN).
SUNDAY
Washington State @ Arizona State; 3:30 ET (FSN).
No. 1 Kansas @ No. 16 Tennessee; 4:30 ET (CBS).
No. 18 Florida State @ Maryland; 5:30 ET (FSN).
Virginia Tech @ No. 9 North Carolina; 7:45 ET (FSN).
Oregon State @ Oregon; 10:30 ET (FSN).
