College Hoops Cheat Sheet: Conference Play Heats Up

The NFL playoffs roll on with the divisional round this weekend, but college basketball will have a nice role carved out before and during the postseason football. This weekend’s slate is not one of the best we will have all year as there are only three ranked vs. ranked matchups. But that does not mean boring basketball.

There are some important matchups on the schedule this weekend. KSR’s College Hoops Cheat Sheet is here to provide a full preview. Let’s dive in.

The Slate

Georgetown at Xavier	6:30pm ET (Friday)	FS1
Indiana at No. 11 Wisconsin	8:30pm ET (Friday)	FS1
UNLV at Colorado State	10:30pm ET (Friday)	FS1
No. 17 Marquette at St. John’s	Noon ET	FOX
Penn State at Ohio State	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
No. 18 Creighton at Seton Hall	Noon ET	FS1
Virginia Tech at NC State	Noon ET	The CW
No. 9 Baylor at Texas	Noon ET	ESPN
Miami at Syracuse	Noon ET	ESPN2
Louisville at Wake Forest	Noon ET	ESPNU
Rhode Island at No. 21 Dayton	12:30pm ET	USA
San Diego State at Boise State	1:00pm ET	CBS
No. 15 Oklahoma at Cincinnati	1:00pm ET	ESPN+
South Carolina at Arkansas	1:00pm ET	SEC Network
No. 24 Iowa State at No. 19 TCU	2:00pm ET	ESPNU
Alabama at No. 6 Tennessee	2:00pm ET	ESPN2
USC at Arizona State	2:00pm ET	FOX
No. 2 Purdue at Iowa	2:00pm ET	FS1
UCF at No. 5 Houston	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Northwestern at Nebraska	2:15pm ET	Big Ten Network
No. 4 North Carolina at Boston College	2:15pm ET	The CW
Vanderbilt at Mississippi State	3:30pm ET	SEC Network
Texas A&M at LSU	4:00pm ET	ESPNU
DePaul at Butler	4:00pm ET	FS1
No. 3 Kansas at West Virginia	4:00pm ET	ESPN+
Clemson at Florida State	4:00pm ET	ACC Network
UCLA at No. 12 Arizona	4:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 20 BYU at No. 25 Texas Tech	6:00pm ET	ESPN2
Georgia at No. 8 Kentucky	6:00pm ET	SEC Network
Virginia at Georgia Tech	6:00pm ET	ACC Network
Oklahoma State at Kansas State	7:00pm ET	ESPN+
Florida at Missouri	8:00pm ET	ESPNU
No. 1 UConn at Villanova	8:00pm ET	FS1
Pittsburgh at No. 7 Duke	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
No. 22 Ole Miss at No. 13 Auburn	8:30pm ET	SEC Network
Saint Mary’s at San Francisco	10:00pm ET	CBS Sports Network

Top 10 Games

1. Alabama at No. 6 Tennessee
2. No. 1 UConn at Villanova
3. No. 24 Iowa State at No. 19 TCU
4. No. 20 BYU at No. 25 Texas Tech
5. No. 17 Marquette at St. John’s
6. No. 15 Oklahoma at Cincinnati
7. No. 18 Creighton at Seton Hall
8. No. 22 Ole Miss at No. 13 Auburn
9. No. 9 Baylor at Texas
10. Northwestern at Nebraska

SEC Showdown

Alabama had a disappointing non-conference slate that included losses to Purdue, Arizona, Creighton, Clemson, and Ohio State. The Crimson Tide were 0-5 against power conference foes until SEC play started.

Nate Oats appears to have another team that can be a conference championship contender in the SEC.

Bama is 4-0 in league play but will get a huge test on Saturday afternoon. Top-10 Tennessee is in the running for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and is currently a game behind the Tide in the loss column. In a matchup between Alabama’s top-five offense and Tennessee’s top-five defense, we could get quite the college basketball game in Knoxville.

An argument can be made that Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and Alabama’s Mark Sears are two of the top contenders for SEC Player of the Year. We’ll get to see them go head-to-head.

This is the clear top game on the card and will matter both in the SEC race and in NCAA Tournament seeding.

Big 12 carnage will continue

Four teams are tied atop the Big 12 standings with one conference loss. Seven other teams are just one back in the loss column. The Big 12 has eight teams inside the top 50 at KenPom. This league will be a survival of the fittest.

On Saturday, there will be a pair of ranked vs. ranked matchups between BYU-Texas Tech and Iowa State-TCU. Baylor hits the road to face Texas, and Oklahoma travels to face Cincinnati. Expect some more carnage this weekend.

The best conference in college basketball will keep providing great matchups throughout the rest of the regular season.

Ole Miss is on fraud watch

Chris Beard has made an immediate splash in year one at Ole Miss. The former Texas Tech and Texas head coach has the Rebels off to a 15-2 (2-2) start, but the advanced metrics do not believe in this team yet.

Ole Miss does not have a top-40 win yet and has five wins by two possessions or less. In their only two road games in SEC play, this team was trucked by Tennessee and found itself down double digits for most of the second half in a loss to LSU on Wednesday.

A tough challenge awaits this weekend. Ole Miss travels to face an Auburn team that is playing some excellent basketball but has not been truly challenged by a power conference foe since a season-opening loss to Baylor. Texas A&M was able to hang around against the Tigers.

Will Ole Miss do the same? Or do we see losses begin to stack up in SEC play for the Rebels?