Red Dog

Key matchups, courtesy espn's Andy Katz:

Saturday
Notre Dame at Boston College (ESPN, 2 ET): The Eagles are suddenly playing well. This is their rival game and the Eagles should be up to pick up their first top 25 win of the season.

Louisville at Tennessee (ESPN2, 5 ET): This was a last-second game last season. But the Cardinals are much improved, which spells trouble for the Vols. The Ron Slay-Marvin Stone matchup in the post should be worth watching.

Kentucky at Alabama (ESPN, 8 ET): The Tide needs to get a big-time home win after struggling on the road. This would qualify.

Penn vs. Saint Joseph's: This Big Five classic game takes on more importance after the Hawks' loss at Rhode Island. The Quakers are one of the better shooting teams in the country, but the Hawks don't give up the easy 3-pointer.

Georgetown at Pittsburgh: The Hoyas need to prove they're a real contender. Beating Pittsburgh, or at least being competitive, will make a statement. The Panthers could struggle to hang with Michael Sweetney in the post.

Villanova at Connecticut: The Wildcats can show they should be taken seriously as a threat to win the Big East East Division with a win at Connecticut.

Auburn at Georgia: The second of two real road tests comes here for the Tigers. Georgia has the answers defensively to guard Marquis Daniels at small forward.

LSU at Mississippi State: The Tigers are struggling after losing to Ole Miss at home. Don't expect them to get healthy playing in the house of the desperate Bulldogs.

Maryland at Clemson: This is the kind of game, if Maryland should lose, that could keep the Terps from winning the ACC. Clemson is feeling pretty good about itself after beating Virginia at home.

Arizona at Kansas: One of the most anticipated games of the season has the potential to be a great one. Kansas is ready to play Arizona, even without Wayne Simien. The Jayhawks can run with the 'Cats and the question will be can they keep them off the boards? And should they storm the court if they beat the No. 1 team in the country? We say no, not at Kansas.

Missouri at Texas: The Tigers are hurting without Ricky Clemons. Jimmy McKinney will have his hands full trying to stop T.J. Ford at the point.

Oklahoma at Baylor: The Bears could play spoilers this week against both Oklahoma schools.

Utah at BYU: The rivalry game returns to its rightful place as the best game of the Mountain West season. Both teams are legitimate contenders for the title.

UCLA at Cal: This could be real ugly if the Bruins are struggling. Cal has established one of the best homecourt edges in the league, just behind Arizona and Oregon.

USC at Stanford: The Cardinal has to win this game to stay in the race. The Trojans could be trying to avoid a sweep in the Bay Area.


Sunday
Syracuse at Miami: The Orangemen could be the next victims in Miami. Syracuse has the talent to beat the 'Canes, but are they tough enough to win consistently on the road?

North Carolina at N.C. State: The Wolfpack need two wins this week to re-establish themselves in the triangle. Beating Duke and Carolina would certainly qualify.

Michigan State at Michigan: The Wolverines would like nothing more than to put the Spartans back in their place within the state. Michigan State hasn't been this ripe for a Michigan win in five years.

Oklahoma State at Texas Tech: The Cowboys tough road week continues with the hardest road test to date in Lubbock.

Red Dog

I think this is a critical game for Kansas, since they are supposedly a national championship contender. Once again the look-ahead factor reared its ugly head as Kansas lost to Colorado on Wednesday night. If Kansas can't beat Arizona in Lawrence, I find it hard to believe that they contend for a national title in March.

The UNC/State could be huge. UNC has a tough 4-game stretch ahead of them: @State, @GT, vs Wake, @Duke so stealing a road game is almost a must. This could be the one since State could be due for a let-down after beating the Dookies.

Obviously, whenever MD goes on the road this season, I am always nervous. A win at Littlejohn would give them 2 road wins for the week which would be sweet.

Red Dog

Complete weekend schedule:

Saturday, January 25

East
Yale at Brown, 1:00 AM ET
Georgetown at Pittsburgh, 12:00 PM ET
Dayton at Temple, 12:00 PM ET
New Hampshire at Binghamton, 12:00 PM ET
NC Wilmington at VA Commonwealth, 12:00 PM ET
Illinois at Penn State, 12:15 PM ET
Northeastern at Boston U., 1:00 PM ET
Hartford at Vermont, 1:00 PM ET
Dartmouth at Albany, 1:00 PM ET
Appalachian St. at VMI, 1:00 PM ET
Villanova at Connecticut, 2:00 PM ET
Notre Dame at Boston College, 2:00 PM ET
St. John's at Virginia Tech, 2:00 PM ET
Richmond at La Salle, 2:00 PM ET
Massachusetts at Geo Washington, 4:00 PM ET
MD Eastern Shore at Delaware State, 4:00 PM ET
MD Baltimore Co at LIU Brooklyn, 4:15 PM ET
Mt. St. Marys at St. Francis (NY), 4:30 PM ET
Wagner at Robert Morris, 6:00 PM ET
Xavier at Fordham, 7:00 PM ET
Central Conn. at Fair Dickinson, 7:00 PM ET
James Madison at Old Dominion, 7:00 PM ET
Hofstra at Drexel, 7:00 PM ET
St. Bonaventure at Duquesne, 7:00 PM ET
William & Mary at George Mason, 7:00 PM ET
Quinnipiac at Monmouth (N.J.), 7:00 PM ET
Sacred Heart at St. Francis (PA), 7:00 PM ET
Towson at Delaware, 7:30 PM ET
Buffalo at Marshall, 7:30 PM ET
Cornell at Columbia, 8:00 PM ET
St. Joseph's at Pennsylvania, 8:00 PM ET

West
Utah at BYU, 3:00 PM ET
UCLA at California, 4:00 PM ET
USC at Stanford, 6:00 PM ET
Washington State at Oregon, 9:00 PM ET
Montana at Montana State, 9:05 PM ET
Fullerton State at Utah State, 9:05 PM ET
Chicago St at Southern Utah, 9:35 PM ET
San Jose State at Fresno State, 10:00 PM ET
Long Beach State at U of the Pacific, 10:00 PM ET
San Francisco at San Diego, 10:00 PM ET
Cal Poly at Santa Barbara, 10:00 PM ET
St. Mary's (CA) at Santa Clara, 10:00 PM ET
Weber State at Sacramento State, 10:05 PM ET
UC Riverside at Idaho, 10:05 PM ET
Portland State at Eastern Wash., 10:05 PM ET
Hawaii at Nevada, 10:05 PM ET
UC Irvine at CS-Northridge, 10:05 PM ET
Washington at Oregon State, 10:07 PM ET
Pepperdine at Loyola Marymnt, 10:30 PM ET

Midwest
Detroit at Cleveland St., 12:00 PM ET
Charlotte at Cincinnati, 12:00 PM ET
Arizona at Kansas, 1:00 PM ET
Northern Illinois at Bowling Green, 1:00 PM ET
Loyola Chi at IPFW, 1:00 PM ET
Nebraska at Iowa State, 1:45 PM ET
DePaul at Marquette, 2:00 PM ET
Wright St at Wisc. Milwaukee, 2:00 PM ET
Akron at Western Michigan, 2:00 PM ET
Illinois (Chi.) at Youngstown State, 2:00 PM ET
Butler at Wisc. Green Bay, 2:05 PM ET
Memphis at St. Louis, 2:10 PM ET
Ohio State at Iowa, 2:34 PM ET
Ball State at Miami (OHIO), 3:00 PM ET
UNLV at Air Force, 4:05 PM ET
Indiana at Purdue, 4:37 PM ET
Valparaiso at Oakland, 6:00 PM ET
Western Illinois at Indiana Purdue, 7:00 PM ET
Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan, 7:00 PM ET
Kent State at Toledo, 7:00 PM ET
Northwestern at Minnesota, 8:00 PM ET
Oral Roberts at UMKC, 8:00 PM ET
Wichita State at Bradley, 8:05 PM ET
Indiana State at Southern Illinois, 8:05 PM ET
Illinois State at Evansville, 8:05 PM ET
SMS at Northern Iowa, 8:05 PM ET
Aurora at Eastern Illinois, 8:10 PM ET
Wyoming at Colorado State, 9:00 PM ET

South
Georgia Tech at Duke, 12:00 PM ET
Coll Of Charltn at The Citadel, 12:00 PM ET
Auburn at Georgia, 1:00 PM ET
UT-Chattanooga at Furman, 2:00 PM ET
LSU at Mississippi St., 3:00 PM ET
UAB at Tulane, 3:00 PM ET
Houston at Southern Miss, 3:30 PM ET
Maryland at Clemson, 4:00 PM ET
Morgan State at Florida A&M, 4:00 PM ET
Coppin St at Bethune Cookman, 4:00 PM ET
David Lipscomb at Centenary, 4:00 PM ET
Radford at Char. Southern, 4:00 PM ET
Central Florida at Georgia St, 4:00 PM ET
Norfolk State at South Carolina St, 4:00 PM ET
NC Asheville at Winthrop, 4:00 PM ET
Louisville at Tennessee, 5:00 PM ET
Arkansas State at Arkansas LR, 5:05 PM ET
Arkansas at Mississippi, 6:00 PM ET
Campbell at Stetson, 7:00 PM ET
South Florida at East Carolina, 7:00 PM ET
Gardner Webb at Jacksonville, 7:00 PM ET
Liberty at Coast Carolina, 7:00 PM ET
NC Greensboro at Davidson, 7:00 PM ET
High Point at Elon University, 7:00 PM ET
Morehead State at Tenn. Martin, 7:00 PM ET
Georgia Southern at Western Carolina, 7:00 PM ET
East Tenn. St. at Wofford, 7:00 PM ET
Hampton at N. Carolina A&T, 7:30 PM ET
Kentucky at Alabama, 8:00 PM ET
Fla Atlantic at Jacksonville St., 8:00 PM ET
Texas Southern at Ark Pine Bluff, 8:00 PM ET
Denver at New Orleans, 8:00 PM ET
Birmingham Sou at Savannah State, 8:00 PM ET
Nicholls State at SE Louisiana, 8:00 PM ET
Samford at Troy State, 8:00 PM ET
North Texas at South Alabama, 8:05 PM ET
Middle Tenn. St. at La Lafayette, 8:05 PM ET
Eastern Kentucky at Murray State, 8:30 PM ET
Alcorn State at Alabama A&M, 8:30 PM ET
SE Missouri State at Austin Peay, 8:30 PM ET
Prairie View at Miss. Valley St., 8:30 PM ET
Tennessee State at Tennessee Tech, 8:30 PM ET
Jackson State at Grambling, 8:30 PM ET
Southern at Alabama State, 9:00 PM ET

Southwest
Missouri at Texas, 4:00 PM ET
Kansas State at Texas A&M, 4:00 PM ET
Oklahoma at Baylor, 6:00 PM ET
Texas Arlington at Stephen F. Austin, 7:15 PM ET
Tx Pan American at TX A&M Corp Chris, 8:00 PM ET
Louisiana Monroe at Lamar, 8:00 PM ET
Northwestern St. at Sam Houston St., 8:00 PM ET
SMU at Tulsa, 8:05 PM ET
Louisiana Tech at Rice, 8:05 PM ET
San Diego State at New Mexico, 9:00 PM ET
Tex San Antonio at SW Texas State, 9:00 PM ET
Western Kentucky at New Mexico State, 9:05 PM ET
Idaho State at Northern Arizona, 9:05 PM ET
Boise State at UTEP, 9:05 PM ET



Sunday, January 26
East
New Hampshire at Binghamton, 12:00 PM ET
Holy Cross at American, 1:00 PM ET
St. Peter's at Fairfield, 1:30 PM ET
Canisius at Loyola MD, 2:00 PM ET
Maine at Stony Brook, 2:00 PM ET
Rutgers at West Virginia, 3:00 PM ET
Lafayette at Bucknell, 3:15 PM ET
Army at Lehigh, 3:15 PM ET
Siena at Marist, 3:30 PM ET
Colgate at Navy, 3:30 PM ET
Niagara at Rider, 4:00 PM ET

Midwest
Michigan State at Michigan, 1:00 PM ET
TCU at Creighton, 3:05 PM ET

South
Florida State at Wake Forest, 1:00 PM ET
Syracuse at Miami, 1:00 PM ET
North Carolina at N.C. State, 3:00 PM ET
Samford at Troy State, 4:00 PM ET

Southwest
Oklahoma State at Texas Tech, 2:00 PM ET

Trelach24

The UNC/State game is on tape delay in DC

Red Dog

That's Comcast for you. I'll probably catch the 2nd half at the house where I am partying for the Super Bowl. They have Direct-TV so they should have the alternate Fox Sports Net affiliates who will have it live.

zak52

I'm down in Newport News, Va until Sunday morning. I hope they have the Terps game on down here.

mnguye10

Can't wait until Kansas vs Arizona. Although I'm not a fan of either team, I'm rooting for the 'Cats to represent the Pac-10 well, since nobody else seems to be any good (except maybe Cal )

mnguye10

Pitt squeaks by Georgetown.
Arizona just beat KU.

Nazgul

KU owned Arizona in the first half, but Arizona's bench wore out our starting 5 in the second half.

mnguye10

Cal beats UCLA handily 80-69 tonight at Haas Pavilion. Cal is now 7-0 in the Pac-10 and 14-2 overall before heading to play the Arizona schools on the road this week. Their only losses are to a tough Georgia team in OT, and to Kansas, both on neutral courts.

Although the Pac-10 is weakened this year, and Cal really hasn't beaten anyone of note (Oregon, Stanfurd, UCLA all struggling this year), it is nice to take care of business and see how well we match up against the the Arizona schools.

sexy_overlord

Purdue beat the living crap out of IU.

There isn't nearly enough rioting going on around here right now. Stupid cold weather!

Duran

That was an [b]ugly[b] MD-Clemson game, but a road win is a road win, so I'll take it.

classicman2

Is it the consensus of the forum that we can pencil in the Longhorns as a Final Four team?

twikoff

ask again after we see the kansas game tomorrow
beating up 1 ranked team doesnt prove much

zak52

Uh, no.

Cheddarmuff

UM over MSU!! Whoo-hoo!!

Red Dog

Yeah - pencils have erasers.

So much for the guarantee I see.

Red Dog

I'll take a win in any game where Maryland can't break into double-digits in the first 17 minutes of play.

zak52

This game started to remind me of the Notre Dame and Wake Forest games. MD shot the ball terrible. The only difference was Clemson shot the ball terrible also. Blake had a terrible game. He is trying to force to many bad passes and giving up to many turnovers.

twikoff

well.. theres your answer
#13 kansas - 90
#3 texas - 87

kansas is a tough team.. but texas has to be able to beat tough teams

tofu

That was an awesome game. A great sequence near the end where Hinrich gets blocked, Ford gets the rebound races up the court for the layup but gets blocked by Jeff Graves then Kansas gets the ball back for a hoop by Miles(?). Awesome, awesome game. Kansas was finally able to win a tough one.