College basketball's conference season is in the midst of a tumultuous takeoff as the COVID-19 omicron variant rocks the sports world, forcing game cancellations and lengthy pauses for dozens of programs. But as isolation periods for infected individuals begin to decrease, per the guidance of the CDC, there is hope that the disruptions will be kept to a minimum as we get into the heart of league play.
While it's impossible to know how disjointed league schedules will be in the weeks ahead, the arrival of conference play brings a chance to sort some things out. While the ACC and Big Ten have clear-cut favorites in Duke and Purdue, several of the other major conferences appear wide open. The Big 12 has three teams among the top eight in the AP Top 25, the Pac-12 has three between No. 5 and No. 9 and the SEC has five teams ranked between No. 11 and No. 19 in this week's poll. The Big East is similarly chaotic with four teams between No. 15 and No. 23.
While conference play is an 18 or 20 game grind for most teams (or less if games are canceled), there are always a few key games for the best teams that decide the final pecking order in a given conference. For this week's edition of the Dribble Handoff, our writers are looking ahead to the conference game they are most excited about.
Baylor vs. Iowa State
There's a chance we'll look back in a couple of months and barely remember the Big 12 contest on New Year's Day between what were, at the time, two of the five remaining unbeaten teams in Division I men's basketball. But heading into it, man, I could not be more excited about Saturday afternoon's showdown between undefeated Baylor and undefeated Iowa State inside Hilton Coliseum.
Who saw this coming?
Baylor lost four starters from last season's team that won the national championship but is still somehow 12-0 this season and ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll. Amazing.
Iowa State finished 2-22 last season and fired its coach, Steve Prohm, but is still somehow 12-0 this season and ranked No. 8 in the AP Top 25 poll. Incredible.
Scott Drew has kept Baylor at the tip-top of the sport while T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State's first-year coach, has quickly elevated the Cyclones to a place that seemed unimaginable two months ago. These two teams are two of the best stories in college basketball, if not the two best stories in college basketball. They're No. 1 (Baylor) and No. 2 (Iowa State) in strength of record. So while I acknowledge that the first day of every year is dominated by college football, the truth is that every college football bowl game that will be played Saturday is little more than a glorified exhibition, the kind players often opt out of in the spirit of protecting their NFL Draft value. But Baylor-Iowa State is a real regular-season game with real stakes that matter. I'll be focused on that. -- Gary Parrish
North Carolina vs. Duke
As of this story's publishing, this game is scheduled 67 days from now (March 5). No one has any idea what shape our country will be in from a COVID perspective in the first week of March. Hopefully omicron is in our rearview at that point and there's not some other godforsaken variant descending upon the world and elongating this dreadful pandemic. Oh, hi! Happy Holidays, everyone! Sorry if I'm a tad grumpy; we keep losing games by the hour over here. So, yeah, my game is the one that is the most significant and newsworthy of the remaining part of the regular season schedule. Tar Heels at Blue Devils on the final Saturday of the regular season. Mike Krzyzewski's home finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
This would be the second meeting between the two, naturally, as UNC will host the first in February. Duke has the look of a No. 1 or No. 2 seed right about now. North Carolina comfortably looks like a tournament team. Come March, who knows what the stakes will be or how well these schools will be playing. What I do know: not having this finale would be flatly unacceptable. But I hope to be at Cameron, watching up close and with fans in every seat, at what will be one of the biggest games in the history of college basketball's biggest rivalry. Please, please, please don't let this one get sideswiped by the coronavirus. -- Matt Norlander
Arizona vs. UCLA
Third-year UCLA coach Mick Cronin is 4-0 so far against Arizona, but improving to 5-0 against the Wildcats is going to be a tall order. The teams meet just once this season, and it's at Arizona on Thursday, Feb. 3. With the game scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and no other big games on the docket that night, the Bruins and Wildcats will have center stage for what could be the beginning of a fun rivalry between Cronin and first-year Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd.
There is already a little bit of a history between Cronin and Lloyd considering that Lloyd was the lead assistant for Gonzaga last season when the Bulldogs ended the Bruins' season on Jalen Suggs' half-court buzzer-beater to cap a legendary Final Four game. Both are high-energy coaches with fun teams to watch, and it's great for the Pac-12 to have its top basketball brands in the hands of coaches who are producing entertaining products.
If the game were played this week, it would be a battle between top-10 teams. Even if that's not the case come the first week of February, though, there will almost certainly be league title implications in the meeting. It looks like a three-team race in the Pac-12 between Arizona, UCLA and USC, so don't be surprised if the winner between the Wildcats and the Bruins goes on to win the league title. -- David Cobb
