There is only one matchup of Top 25 teams scheduled for this weekend.
It's No. 25 Florida State at No. 7 Wake Forest.
So what I'm telling you is that even though watching college basketball is the best way to spend a Saturday -- and watching it on CBS is the best way to do it, obviously -- if there were ever a year set up for a nice Valentine's Day, trust me, this is it. You can safely spend Saturday night being a good husband or boyfriend or whatever, because though you might miss something, you won't miss much, which is why I'm proposing a new slogan for the folks at the NCAA.
How about this?
College basketball ... the sport that makes loving easy!
Let's do the Friday Look Ahead.
Game worth flying to see in person: That Frank Haith got stuck with a four-game stretch in February against four of the five best teams in the ACC seems grossly unfair. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter, because after Miami went 1-1 in the first two games (against Wake Forest and Duke) it now has to at least split the second two (against North Carolina and Florida State) or else prepare to close the regular season with four consecutive wins just to avoid a losing record in the ACC. That's not a good scenario, not for a team with NCAA tournament hopes. So Sunday's home game with the Tar Heels is massive on a lot of different levels, and with any luck Miami might catch Roy Williams' team in post-Duke letdown mode. Short of that, Ty Lawson missing the team flight for some reason would also help the cause.
Game worth driving to see in person: Even with Oklahoma's Jeff Capel in the hunt for a Final Four and Mike Anderson revitalizing Missouri, Frank Martin is making a late push for Big 12 Coach of the Year honors with this six-game winning streak that has placed Kansas State back on the bubble after it started 0-4 in the league. That's amazing -- from 0-4 to 6-4 in the Big 12 in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year because of the losses of Michael Beasley and Bill Walker. On the other hand, can KSU really beat Kansas without Beasley there to sink jumpers and stand on the scorer's table to celebrate? There are reasons to be skeptical, sure. But if the Wildcats do it they'll be in good shape going forward, because they'll be 7-4 in the Big 12 and merely in need of subsequent home wins against Nebraska and Colorado to ensure a winning record in the league.
Game worth watching on TV: Speaking of impressive turnarounds, interim coach Russ Pennell is orchestrating one at Arizona, courtesy of a six-game winning streak featuring Thursday night's win over Southern California. On Saturday, the Wildcats get UCLA at the McKale Center, and if they could somehow clip the Bruins it would be impossible for anybody to leave Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger out of next week's NCAA tournament mock brackets.
Some non-BCS love: John Calipari has been predicting that his team will lose "two or three" Conference USA games every season for years now, all while Memphis has won 51 consecutive in the league. So it was no surprise the other night when Calipari suggested those thinking the Tigers will go the rest of this season without losing should be drug tested. But considering Memphis just beat the second-best team in C-USA (Tulsa) by 26, it seems drugs (and I mean serious, hallucinogenic drugs) are the only things that could expand the mind far enough to come up with a scenario under which Memphis will lose in C-USA anytime soon, and either way it surely won't happen Saturday against a Southern Miss team that is just 10-10 against Division I opponents.
An obvious prediction: Memphis will win its 52nd straight C-USA game, at Southern Miss on Saturday, at which time Calipari will explain the matchup problems Southern Methodist is sure to present next week.
A crazy prediction (but it might happen anyway): I don't even know what the line will be, and I suspect West Virginia might even be favored. But remember, in my world an unranked team beating a ranked team qualifies as "crazy" (at least for these purposes), which is why I'm taking unranked West Virginia (with a 5-6 Big East record) over 13th-ranked Villanova (with an 8-3 Big East record) ... straaaaaaaight up on Friday night! And don't expect me to apologize for going with the home team that has only lost at home to Connecticut at Pittsburgh, because after last weekend's debacle I need to take as many obvious routes as possible.
Player trying to keep rolling: The key to Missouri's resurgence -- outside of depth and conditioning and chaos -- is DeMarre Carroll, the 6-8 forward who's averaging 26.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in his past two outings, one of which was Monday's huge win over Kansas. If he keeps that up, Missouri should handle Nebraska at home on Saturday, record its 22nd victory and move Mike Anderson closer to the NCAA tournament.
Player trying to get rolling: Terrell Holloway isn't the reason Xavier lost to Dayton earlier this week, but he sure didn't help. The freshman was 0-of-5 from the field for zero points, which marked the second time in three games that he finished with no points while missing every shot. Obviously, what Holloway does or does not do against Fordham on Saturday won't matter, because Xavier could beat Fordham under any circumstances. But the goal at Xavier is to advance deep into the NCAA tournament, and for that to happen it's crucial for Holloway to be more effective/consistent as March approaches.
Three things you should know before you go
1. Jim Calhoun will coach Saturday for the first time this season sans Jerome Dyson, who injured his knee against Syracuse on Wednesday night and will have surgery within a week. Barring a surprise, it appears -- though it's not definite -- that Dyson will be gone for the season. And though that shouldn't cost Connecticut at Seton Hall this weekend, it could against Pittsburgh on Monday, or on down the line.
2. In addition to Memphis, there are four schools still perfect in their respective leagues. Princeton is 4-0 in the Ivy League heading into Friday's game at Yale, Oklahoma is 10-0 in the Big 12 heading into Saturday's game with Texas Tech, Gonzaga is 9-0 in the West Coast Conference heading into Saturday's game at San Francisco, Utah State is 12-0 in the WAC heading into Saturday's game at Boise State.
3. It was not going to be simple for John Pelphrey to beat his alma mater regardless of the situation, but the suspension of Courtney Fortson should take a possible upset completely off the table. When I saw Fortson back in December, I thought freshman All-American honors were in order. But now the Arkansas point guard is suspended from a team that is just 1-8 in the SEC heading into Saturday's game on CBS with Kentucky, which proves how much can change in this sport, and how quickly it can happen.
Final thought: The fact that Florida State broke into the AP poll this week wasn't only huge in that it guaranteed a Top 25 matchup for the weekend, but also in that it bolted the Seminoles into the national rankings for the first time in more than a decade. Still, there are 10 teams from BCS-affiliated leagues that have not made the AP poll in the past eight years, and that list looks like this (year of last AP poll appearance in parenthesis):
• Seton Hall (2001)
• St. John's (2000)
• DePaul (2000)
• Colorado (1997)
• Penn State (1996)
• Nebraska (1995)
• Oregon State (1990)
• Rutgers (1979)
• Northwestern (1969)
• South Florida (Never)
Interestingly, five of the 10 schools are from the Big East.
So does that mean the top of the Big East is so tough that it's hard to breakthrough?
Or does it mean that the bottom of the Big East is so awful that it's easy to avoid falling far?
