Sports
This Weekend Will Feature Four Top 10 NCAA Men's Basketball Matchups – Forbes
Purdue center Zach Edey (15) is joined by head coach Matt Painter after he was presented with a ball … [+]
Seven weeks from now, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be underway.
UConn, the No. 1-ranked team in the Associated Press poll and reigning national champion, will look to become the first program since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to win the tournament for two straight years. The Huskies (18-2) have a legitimate shot at joining Florida and Duke (1991 and 1992) as the only schools in the past 50 years to win back-to-back titles.
Still, it is no foregone conclusion that UConn will repeat. Several other teams are legitimate NCAA title contenders.
This weekend, fans will get a chance to see many of those teams compete against each other. On Saturday and Sunday, there are four games featuring top 10 teams playing each other. It is a preview of potential matchups in the NCAA tournament and comes at a perfect time to put college basketball in the spotlight as there are no NFL games this weekend for the first time since early September.
Below, we take a look at the four games involving top 10 teams:
No. 4 Houston at No. 8 Kansas – Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN
Houston has thrived in its first season in the Big 12. The Cougars (19-2) are first in the league with a 6-2 record and have won five consecutive games after losing at Iowa State and TCU last month. They are first in the NCAA’s NET ranking and also first in rankings from analytics gurus Ken Pomeroy and Bart Torvik.
Still, the Big 12 is loaded and crowded near the top with Iowa State and Texas Tech tied for second at 5-2 and Kansas and TCU next at 5-3. Kansas is accustomed to dominating the league having won or shared the regular season Big 12 title on 19 occasions since the 2001-02 season.
Kansas (17-4) entered this season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and the Big 12 favorite, but the Jayhawks have lost three conference road games at Central Florida, West Virginia and Iowa State by an average margin of five points. The Jayhawks, though, are always a threat to make the Final Four with coach Bill Self and a talented roster led by potential All-Americans in guard Kevin McCullar (19.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game) and center Hunter Dickinson (18.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game).
Kansas could have a hard time scoring on Saturday as Houston is first in Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric and has held opponents to an NCAA-low 52.9 points per game. But with the game being held at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas should have a good shot considering the Jayhawks haven’t lost at home all season and are 25-1 at Allen over the past two seasons.
No. 7 Duke at No. 3 North Carolina – Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN
This is the best rivalry in men’s college basketball. Want proof? Saturday’s game will be the 49th time North Carolina and Duke will meet with both teams ranked in the top 10. No other schools have had more than 14 top 10 matchups, according to CBS Sports senior writer Matt Norlander.
North Carolina (17-4) is coming off a 74-73 loss at Georgia Tech on Tuesday that snapped a 10-game winning streak, but the Tar Heels still remain atop the ACC with a 9-1 record. The Tar Heels’ other losses were on neutral sites against Villanova, UConn and Kentucky.
A year ago, UNC entered the season ranked first in the AP poll, but it lost four in a row in late November and early December, never really recovered, finished seventh in the ACC and missed the NCAA tournament.
This year, the Tar Heels didn’t have as high expectations and were 19th in the preseason AP poll. But they have been among the best teams in the country thanks in large part to senior guard RJ Davis, who is averaging 21.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Forward Armando Bacot, a fifth-year player, is averaging 13.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
Duke, meanwhile, was No. 2 in the preseason AP poll. The Blue Devils returned four starters (Kyle Filipowski, Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Procter and Mark Mitchell) and had the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.
The Blue Devils (16-4) got off to an uneven start, losing three of their first eight games to Arizona at home on Nov. 10 and at Arkansas on Nov. 29 and at Georgia Tech on Dec. 2 in the ACC opener. Since then. Duke has won 11 of its past 12 games and is second in the league with a 7-2 record. All of the Blue Devils’ returning starters are averaging in double figures, as is freshman guard Jared McCain, who is averaging 12.4 points per game.
No. 5 Tennessee at No. 10 Kentucky – Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
Tennessee and Kentucky are looking to rebound after both lost home games to unranked SEC teams earlier this week. Tennessee lost, 63,-59, to South Carolina on Tuesday, while Kentucky lost, 94-91, to Florida in overtime on Wednesday.
Alabama leads the SEC with a 7-1 record, while Tennessee is 5-2 and Kentucky is 5-3. Tennessee and Kentucky are both 15-5 overall.
Before Tuesday, Tennessee had won 11 of its past 12 games. Despite that loss, the Volunteers are No. 5 in the NET ranking, No. 6 in Pomery’s ranking and No. 7 in Torvik’s ranking. They have one of the best guards in the country in Dalton Knecht, a transfer from Northern Colorado who is averaging 20.1 points per game. They are second in Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric, too.
Kentucky, meanwhile, has lost three of its last six games. The Wildcats are No. 25 in the NET ranking, No. 23 in Pomeroy’s ranking and No. 24 in Torvik’s ranking.
Kentucky has five players averaging in double figures led by senior guard Antonio Reeves (19.5 points per game) and freshman guard Rob Dillingham (14.2 points per game). The Wildcats are No. 10 in Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric, but they are just 75th in Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency ranking.
If Kentucky is to turn things around, it must improve on the defensive end. Otherwise, the Wildcats could have another early round NCAA tournament exit. They lost in the second round last year as a No. 6 seed, lost in the first round as a No. 2 seed in 2022 and missed the tournament in 2021.
No. 2 Purdue at No. 6 Wisconsin – Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS
Entering this season, not many people had this game scheduled as a top-10 matchup. It’s not surprising that Purdue is in this position. After all, the Boilermakers were third in the preseason AP poll. Wisconsin, though, was unranked and didn’t have much expectations.
Instead of a middling team, the Badgers could earn a high seed in the NCAA tournament and contend for the Big Ten title.
Wisconsin (16-5) is coming off an 80-72 overtime loss at Nebraska on Thursday, but it is still second in the Big Ten with an 8-2 record. Purdue is first with a 9-2 league record.
After opening the season with a 29-point victory over Arkansas State, Wisconsin lost to Tennessee and Providence. Since then, the Badgers have won 15 of their past 18 games, only losing to Arizona, Penn State and Nebraska.
Wisconsin is No. 11 in the NET ranking, No. 11 in Pomeroy’s ranking and No. 13 in Torvik’s ranking. AJ Storr, a transfer from St. John’s, leads the Badgers with 16.5 points per game, while fourth-year player Steven Crowl is averaging 11.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and fifth-year player Tyler Wahl is averaging 11.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Purdue, meanwhile, is coming off a 105-96 overtime victory against Northwestern on Wednesday. Northwestern had defeated then-No. 1 Purdue, 92-88, in overtime on Dec. 1, handing the Boilermakers their first loss of the season. Purdue’s other loss was an 88-72 defeat at Nebraska on Jan. 9.
Since then, the Boilermakers have won six consecutive games. They are No. 2 in the NET, Pomeroy and Torvik rankings. And they have the nation’s best player in 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey, who is averaging 23.4 points per game (second in the nation) and 11.6 rebounds (fourth in the nation). He is likely to become the first player to win consecutive AP national player of the year awards since Ralph Sampson won three in a row from 1981 to 1983.
Still, Purdue’s season will be judged with how it performs in the NCAA tournament. The Boilermakers lost in the first round in 2021 and last year and lost to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in the Sweet 16 in 2022.
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