Monday, February 24, 2014

Weekday College Basketball Viewers' Guide - 2/24/14 to 2/28/14

Seed projections are courtesy of KPISports.  Please note that these numbers are very fluid and are as of games currently played.

Full Schedule

Monday
Oklahoma (6) at Kansas (1) (9pm, ESPN) - Kansas could win a share of the Big 12 and the #1 seed if they sweep the Oklahoma schools this week.  The meeting in Norman was a bit of a track meet with the Jayhawks winning 90-83 & shooting nearly 55% from the field.

Tuesday
Xavier (NIT 3) at St. John's (NIT 2) (7pm, FOX Sports 1) - Not sure if anyone wants to step up and become the favorite to be the Big East's third team in the NCAA field.  St. John's road is theoretically easier than the Musketeers after this game, but XU has home games vs. both Creighton and Villanova where they could steal some headlines.

Keep an eye on: Wichita St. (2) at Bradley (OUT) - You know why.

Wednesday
California (9) at Arizona (1) (9pm, ESPN2) - Tie this game and the Oregon at UCLA's result together.  A Wildcats win and a UCLA loss would clinch the #1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament for Arizona.   Cal is no slouch and handed Arizona their first loss at Haas Pavilion.  The Wildcats must shoot better (32% including 2-11 from three).

Interesting side note: The 60-58 final from that game was the lowest point that both schools have scored in Pac-12 play.

Baylor (10) at Texas (6) (9pm, ESPNU) - The Bears, by winning their last four Big 12 games, have charged back to 6-8 in league play and have a realistic chance of finishing at .500 in conference.  The remaining schedule is not easy with a home game vs. Iowa St. and, including this game, road trips to Austin and Manhattan, KS.  They live and die by the three ball, particularly Brady Heslip.

Stanford (8) at Arizona St. (11) (11pm, ESPNU) - Can't figure either of these two out, particularly the Sun Devils.  Since upsetting Arizona in 2OT (albeit some controversial circumstances), they've outright disappeared in road losses to Colorado and Utah.  Both can stand up and challenge, along with Colorado and Cal, for the Pac-12 tournament's three and four seeds and skip an extra game in Las Vegas.

Thursday
Stony Brook (OUT) at Vermont (15) (7pm, ESPN3) - Vermont can clinch the top seed in the conference tournament if it beats SBU.  So important in the America East, not only for the guaranteed postseason opportunity of the NIT if you slip up, but if you make it out of the quarterfinals & semifinals in Albany, you get to host the championship game on your home court.

New Mexico St. (13) at Utah Valley (OUT) (9pm, Utah Valley TV) - By virtue of a UVU loss on Saturday, the Aggies now in control of the WAC right now by the tiebreaking edge of a win in Las Cruces over UVU.

Now how do you watch this game if you so desire?  Click here.

UC Santa Barbara (15) at UC Irvine (OUT) (10pm, ESPN3) - Similar to the two WAC schools mentioned above, UCSB has the head to head tiebreaker over UCI at the moment.  If anything, watch this to get a glimpse of Alan Williams from the Gauchos, averaging 22.5 points and 12 rebounds per game.  Astounding numbers and Ken Pomeroy's man crush.

Oregon (10) at UCLA (5) (11pm, ESPN2) -  I reference earlier that UCLA needs a win here to maintain the possibility of getting the #1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament.  The Ducks are riding a three game sweep of their Pacific Northwest brothers and could really use a win vs. someone outside the bottom four or five of the conference standings.

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