Saturday, February 15, 2014

Weekend Viewers Guide: 2/15 - 2/16

I'm going to put down the projected seed that KPISports.com has computed.  These are as of games played on 2/13.

Schedule

All times Eastern

Saturday
Memphis (10) at Connecticut (8) (12pm, ESPN) - One of two games where ranked teams are facing each other.  The American started the week with five teams in the AP top 25.  Might not have that many at the end of the week.  UConn won the first game between these two where DeAndre Daniels had 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Pittsburgh (7) at North Carolina (8) (1pm, CBS) - Such a heartbreaker on Wednesday night for Pitt while North Carolina received a unintended break with the Duke game postponed due to weather.  Pitt cannot afford to let Wednesday night linger.  The Tar Heels have won their last five conference games, but a NC State team who is decidedly on the bubble is the best win of those five.

VCU (6) at Saint Louis (4) (2pm, ESPN) - These two will meet twice in the next fourteen days.  Saint Louis could put themselves up three games in the loss column over VCU and whomever joins them at three losses in conference.  VCU arguably might be the more battle tested of the two even though they ended up on the wrong side of the bracket in Puerto Rico earlier this year, where SLU lost both games they faced vs. ranked opponents (Wisconsin in Cancun and at home vs. Wichita St.).  Best win for SLU right now is vs. St. Joseph's, so SLU needs to continue building themselves through the A-10 season.

Massachusetts (6) at George Washington (8) (2pm, CSN Mid Atlantic/SNY) - Unfortunately, most of the nation won't be seeing this one due to the regional nature of distribution and it is not available through the A-10's Campus Insiders streaming package.   UMass might be starting to hit a wall in conference play losing four of their last seven.  It might get tougher to hang their hat on their non-conference resume if they hang around .500 in the A-10.

Southern Miss (10) at Middle Tennessee (OUT) (2pm, CSS) - C-USA has a four way tie at the top with these two in the mix, but Middle Tennessee might be the one that is the furthest away from an at-large in the NIT, let alone the NCAA tournament.  The Golden Eagles really don't have many ways left to improve their resume in a conference that looks to be sending only the automatic, so they are in postseason mode right now.

Green Bay (13) at Cleveland St. (NIT 8) (4pm, STO/CSN Chicago/ESPN3) - The Horizon League standings have tightened up and only one school is likely going to the NCAA from here as well.    Remember that the regular season champion gets to host the semifinal round of the conference tournament and if they win, they host the final.

Kansas St. (9) at Baylor (NIT 1) (7pm, ESPNU) - This might be Baylor's last stand.  The season started with a lot of promise but they, like Oregon in the Pac-12, have bottomed out in conference play.  Kansas St. got a huge win on Monday night vs. Kansas and now its time to start improving their seed.

BYU (NIT 1) at St. Mary's (12) (8pm, ESPN2) - Based on the result tonight, you might be end up flipping the seed numbers of these two.  The WCC is typically two bids, so either St. Mary's can give themselves some breathing room or BYU can overtake and prep for next Thursday's game vs. Gonzaga.

Florida (2) at Kentucky (4) (9pm, ESPN) - The top of the SEC.  Top game of the game.  Should be a lot of fun.

Pay attention to: Xavier at Marquette (4pm, FOX)

Sunday
Wisconsin (1) at Michigan (3) (1pm, CBS) - It is hard to look at a team at 7-5 in conference as a 1 seed, but they are the last one seed based on the KPI and Michigan is the top 3 seed.  Neither team has a lot of meat left on their schedule after next week, so both schools have to view this as a way to pad their resumes and stay above the pack in the Big Ten standings.

Villanova (2) at Creighton (3) (5pm, FOX Sports 1) - Just as good as Wisconsin-Michigan and Florida-Kentucky.  Creighton obliterated the Wildcats a few weeks ago and if you are Villanova, you have to make sure that Ethan Wragge doesn't become a trending topic on Twitter again.  Doug McDermott will get his.  He always does and always will.    I expect this to be much closer than it was.  Can't see Creighton shooting 60% from three and 57% from the field again.

Pay attention to: Georgetown at St. John's (7pm, FOX Sports 1)

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