It's The Jimmer Show traveling to take on The Show. The must-see game this Saturday is a complete no-brainer. Here we go ...
No. 7 BYU at No. 6 San Diego State — 2 p.m. EST (CBS)
Back in August, during Mountain West Conference football media day, commissioner Craig Thompson spread the news that this game would become the first in league history shown on CBS. Little did he know at the time that it would be this huge. BYU handed SDSU its lone loss of the season in an intense, worth-the-watch first meeting in Provo, 71-58. That night, Jimmer Fredette became simply known as The Jimmer. This time around, much more is on the line. Both enter Saturday's contest at 13-1 in the MWC, and in all likelihood, the winner will win the league crown outright. Whoever that turns out to be may also be in line for a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney. The loser will also likely end up having to play UNLV on its home floor in the semifinals of the MWC tournament on March 11. But this could be an absolute classic.
No. 1 Duke at Virginia Tech — 9 p.m. EST (ESPN)
Virginia Tech is in need of a marquee win here in late February to secure an at-large NCAA tourney bid. That line sounds more than familiar by now, huh? The Hokies haven't beaten the Blue Devils since the 2006-07 season, but a win on Saturday would be their first against an RPI Top 50 team.
No. 10 Arizona at UCLA — 4 p.m. EST (FSN)
Arizona blew a chance on Thursday night to maintain a 2-game lead in first place over UCLA heading into the regular season's final three games. The Bruins have won seven of eight since getting blown off of the floor in Tucson on Jan. 27, 85-74. So which Derrick Williams will show up for UA? The front-runner for Pac-10 Player of the Year honors had his worst offensive night of the season in Thursday's 65-57 loss at USC, scoring eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. He had 22 points the first time around against UCLA.
No. 20 Missouri at Kansas State — 12 p.m. EST (ESPN)
Missouri finally notched its first road win in Big 12 win last weekend at Iowa State, and now might be walking into a hornet's nest in search of No. 2. The Tigers are set for the NCAA tourney, and after a recent surge, Kansas State might be, too. But the Wildcats probably need this one more. At 7-6 in the league, K-State is playing for seeding in the Big 12 tourney. With a win here, the Cats would tie the Tigers for fourth, and it'd be a race to the finish for the final first round bye. In K-State's current 3-game win streak, Jacob Pullen is finally playing up to his preseason All-American reputation, averaging 30.1 points per game in that run.
No. 13 Florida at No. 22 Kentucky — 4 p.m. EST (CBS)
We all know by now just how bad Kentucky has been on the road in SEC play. With six losses away from Lexington since the conference season began, the Cats could use a big home win. This would certainly qualify, with Florida coming in riding a six-game win streak.
No. 21 Texas A&M at Baylor — 9 p.m. EST (ESPNU)
Consider this game Baylor's ninth life. The Bears are 6-7 in the Big 12, and with a loss here, they can't finish any better than .500 in league play with a game still remaining against Texas. If Baylor loses here, consider them all but officially cooked and NIT-bound. This is a revenge spot, too, for A&M, who lost at home to Baylor on Feb. 5. Since then, the Aggies have won five straight, again surging under the national radar.
A few more worth keeping tabs on: No. 20 Syracuse at No. 11 Georgetown (12 p.m. EST, CBS); Wichita State at Missouri State (1 p.m. EST, ESPN2); No. 25 St. John's at No. 14 Villanova (2 p.m. EST, ESPN); Memphis at UTEP (3 p.m. EST; ESPN2); Michigan at Minnesota (4:30 p.m. EST, Big Ten Network).
Ryan Greene also covers UNLV and the Mountain West Conference for the Las Vegas Sun. Read his Rebels coverage and follow him on Twitter.
Josie Maran Leighton Meester Dominique Swain Jamie Chung Alicia Witt
No comments:
Post a Comment