Friday, January 08, 2010

Weekend Forecast

We are enjoying (?) some of the coldest weather in years down here in southern Kentucky, so it is a great weekend for hoops viewing. We are also enjoying WKU being the only team without a loss in the Sun Belt after the Toppers went into Mobile and dispatched a South Alabama team who is likely the second-best club in the league. If they are not, it's Denver, and WKU plays there on Sunday.

Weekend Forecast
Friday
--Washington State at Arizona. Cougs have stacked up wins against bad teams, while Zona has stacked up losses against good ones.
--Butler at Wright State. Always a tough trip for the Bulldogs, and both are unblemished in league play.
Saturday
--William & Mary at Drexel. The Tribe have the juice for an at-large if they can have a monster CAA record. They won at Delaware in OT in their last outing.
--UConn at Georgetown. Blockbuster in the Big East.
--Duke at Georgia Tech. Dukies have played just one true roadie and lost (Wisconsin).
--Northern Iowa at Illinois State. Redbirds try to put a mark on the clear Valley fave.
--Ohio State at Minnesota. Evan Turner is back, so this is a heavy Big Ten tilt.
--Mississippi State at Mississippi. Probably the two best in the SEC West and it's an in-state rivalry alert!
--Kansas State at Missouri. Tigers have played a fluffy schedule and Wildcats have played just one true roadie.
--UNLV at New Mexico. Mammoth MtWest match up.
--West Virginia at Notre Dame. Joyce will be rockin' and ND needs some meaty wins.
--Texas Tech at Oklahoma State. These two feel like Big 12 Bubblers.
--Gonzaga at Portland. Must win if Pilots want to challenge for WCC title.
--Florida at Vanderbilt. Gators will need a good SEC record to get in, while Vandy is putting it together.
--Purdue at Wisconsin. Boilers toughest roadie to date by far.
Sunday
--Washington at Arizona. Huskies need this one to hang onto the "favorite" label in the Pac-10.
--WKU at Denver. Tops cannot afford many losses on their AL quest.
--Xavier at George Washington. We'll see what the Colonials are made of.
--Florida State at Maryland. Terps have some serious work to do.
--Temple at Rhode Island. Maybe the most intriguing game of the weekend: two top 10 RPI teams that figure to be at the top of the A10.
--Kansas at Tennessee. The OOC match up du jour(s).