College football season came to a close Monday night with the Michigan Wolverines finishing off a definitive, unbeaten, scandal-riddled campaign with a national championship over future Big Ten foe Washington.
The baton now gets handed to college hoops, where league play is heating up — and anything can happen. No. 1 Purdue lost at unranked Nebraska on Tuesday night, hours after the final unbeaten team, No. 2 Houston, went down at Iowa State.
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Let’s power-rank the top 10 matchups of the week ahead, starting with a few honorable mentions and counting down.
Honorable Mention: No. 7 North Carolina at N.C. State (Wednesday), No. 9 Oklahoma at TCU (Wednesday), Virginia at Wake Forest (Saturday), No. 1 Purdue at Indiana (Tuesday), Florida at No. 5 Tennessee (Tuesday)
(All tipoff times are Eastern, all rankings are via the AP Top 25, all stats and records are current at time of publishing.)
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10. St. John’s at No. 22 Creighton, Saturday, 1 p.m., Fox
It didn’t take long for Rick Pitino to get St. John’s back in the NCAA Tournament conversation, crashing the offensive boards and going 3-1 to open Big East play with a Quad 1 road win over Villanova. A trip to Omaha will be another stout test, as Creighton bounced back from close losses to Nova and Marquette with wins over Georgetown, Providence and DePaul. Statistically, the Bluejays remain one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country.
9. No. 6 Kentucky at Texas A&M, Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN
Kentucky has that strange home loss to UNC Wilmington, but has otherwise been solid, with a close loss to Kansas the only other blemish on the resume. The Wildcats are one of the most entertaining offensive teams to watch, playing at a breakneck speed while still limiting turnovers and putting up points. It should make for an interesting matchup against the Aggies, who prefer to slow things down in the halfcourt and are the best offensive rebounders in the country.
8. No. 15 Wisconsin at Ohio State, Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
A deep rotation has supercharged Wisconsin’s offense, led by standout St. John’s transfer A.J. Storr who is averaging 14.7 points and running the show. The Badgers have nonconference wins over Marquette and Virginia and are 3-0 in the Big Ten, including a victory last month over Michigan State. The Buckeyes have been up and down, opening league play 2-2 and still searching for an identity, but shooting it well from 3-point range, something Wisconsin has struggled to defend.
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7. No. 5 Tennessee at Mississippi State, Wednesday, 7 p.m., SEC Network
The Volunteers have won seven in a row after those three straight losses to Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina, and are playing some of the best defense in the country. But most important is that Zakai Zeigler looks back to full health, finally shaking off the early season rust of the ACL injury he suffered last February. This one could be a rock fight against a Mississippi State squad that has been mercurial but similarly impressive on the defensive end, and will be looking to bounce back from a road loss to South Carolina to open conference play.
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6. Cincinnati at No. 14 Baylor, Saturday, 8 p.m., ESPN
The Bearcats earned a massive road victory over then-No. 12 BYU in the program’s first Big 12 matchup, a much-needed signature win for Wes Miller in his third season. But the Big 12 gauntlet is unrelenting, as Cincinnati found out with a home loss to Texas on Tuesday night. Baylor continues to look like an offensive juggernaut, shooting 45 percent from deep, best in the country, and averaging 88 points per game, led by star freshman Ja’Kobe Walter. The Bears beat BYU 81-72 at home on Tuesday night.
5. Villanova at No. 11 Marquette, Monday, 2:30 p.m., Fox
Nova remains a mystery and work-in-progress under second-year coach Kyle Neptune, with conference wins over Creighton and Xavier followed by that home loss to St. John’s last weekend. The Wildcats will face Marquette in a Martin Luther King Day matinee that should showcase two active defenses. The Golden Eagles have faced one of the toughest schedules in the country thus far and dropped a pair of Big East road trips to Providence and Seton Hall, but they have yet to lose at home.
4. No. 2 Houston at TCU, Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN
Welcome to life on the Big 12 road, Houston. After losing that slugfest in Ames, the Cougars head back to Texas to face a TCU team that pushed Kansas to the brink. Houston has been by far the best defense in college basketball and, Tuesday night notwithstanding, looks pretty darn good on offense as well. They remain No. 1 in the NET and KenPom. TCU, which hosts Oklahoma on Wednesday, desperately needs a quality win.
3. Iowa State at No. 18 BYU, Tuesday, 9 p.m., ESPN+
My goodness, the Big 12 is just a monster. Iowa State had played one of the worst nonconference schedules in the country, according to the NET, and lost its league opener to Oklahoma. Then it goes out and knocks off the last unbeaten team in the country. BYU was ranked as high as No. 1 in the NET and No. 4 at KenPom, is now 0-2 in its inaugural Big 12 season. I’m sure hoops fans have seen all the stats and metrics out there about the Big 12 teams topping all kinds of lists, from best offense and defense to remaining strength of schedule. But when you sit down and go game-by-game, it’s just as stark.
2. Michigan State at No. 10 Illinois, Thursday, 9 p.m., FS1
Illinois is dealing with more than basketball as suspended leading scorer Terrence Shannon Jr. filed a temporary restraining order against the university on Monday. The Illini are also fresh off a close road loss to top-ranked Purdue and are just 1-3 in Q1 matchups. Michigan State looked to be finding a gear with five straight wins before a road stumble at Northwestern on Sunday, dropping the Spartans to just 1-5 in Q1 games. Both sides are in need of a quality win.
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1. No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 3 Kansas, Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN+
The Sooners still have just the one loss to North Carolina last month, but seven of their 13 wins are against Q4 opponents compared to just one Q1 victory. Conference play should quickly expose whether or not they are a true contender in the Big 12, including this trip to Lawrence. The Jayhawks only have one loss as well entering Wednesday but far fewer legitimacy questions, with a 3-1 mark in Q1 games, a stifling defense, good 3-point shooting and stunning ball movement. Kansas, aiming to avenge last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament upset loss, has a pair of All-America candidates in Kevin McCullar Jr. and Hunter Dickinson and two more all-conference caliber players in K.J. Adams and Dajuan Harris Jr.
(Photo of Iowa State’s Robert Jones: Charlie Neibergall / AP)
