It won't go down as the best Saturday in the history of college basketball, I don't think. But it should absolutely be a fun day of games highlighted by three matchups between schools ranked in the Top 25 (and one) - specifically Louisville at Florida State, Arizona at UCLA and South Carolina at Kentucky.
Arizona-UCLA figures to be the best.
The Wildcats enter on an 11-game winning streak while UCLA is 19-1 with the lone loss coming at Oregon via Dillon Brooks' buzzer-beating jumper. Undeniably, the Bruins are a Final Four threat thanks to a historically great offense led by freshman point guard Lonzo Ball. And Arizona looks the part too considering Sean Miller's team is 17-2 and adding Allonzo Trier to the lineup this weekend.
UCLA is No. 2 in the Top 25 (and one).
Arizona is No. 15.
The complete Top 25 (and one) is below.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Villanova
| The Wildcats have four top-25 KenPom wins - including road victories at Creighton and Purdue. The lone loss on the resume is a single-digit loss at Butler. | -- | 8-5 |
2 |
UCLA
| The Bruins made 16 3-pointers in Thursday's win over Arizona State. UCLA is shooting 44.1 percent from 3-point range on the season. | -- | 10-2 |
3 |
Kansas
| The Jayhawks have won 17 straight games since losing to Indiana in the season-opener. Their resume features seven top-50 KenPom wins. | -- | 9-2 |
4 |
Kentucky
| The Wildcats are 6-0 in the SEC with four of those victories coming by 20-plus points. They're dominating opponents despite shooting just 35.7 percent from 3-point range. | -- | 10-2 |
5 |
Gonzaga
| The Zags are 18-0 for the first time in school history. Their resume features four wins over teams also ranked in the Top 25 (and one). | -- | 9-3 |
6 |
Baylor
| The Bears' resume features eight top-55 KenPom wins and a lone loss at West Virginia. Johnathan Motley got 32 points and 20 rebounds in Tuesday's win over Texas. | -- | 7-3 |
7 |
Florida St.
| The Seminoles have six top-50 KenPom wins - most notably victories over Notre Dame, Virginia, Duke and Florida. Their only loss since Thanksgiving is last weekend's loss at North Carolina. | -- | 9-4 |
8 |
Creighton
| The Bluejays will play the rest of this season without point guard Maurice Watson. He tore his ACL in Monday's win at Xavier. | -- | 8-5 |
9 |
Butler
| The Bulldogs scored 63 points in the second half of Monday's win over Marquette. Butler now has seven top-50 KenPom wins. | -- | 7-6 |
10 |
Notre Dame
| The Irish lost at Florida State on Wednesday despite making 15 3-pointers. All three of their losses are to teams also ranked in the Top 25 (and one). | -- | 7-5 |
11 |
N. Carolina
| UNC's 17th win this season doubled as Roy Williams' 800th win of his career. The Tar Heels are rebounding 42.7 percent of their own misses, which ranks first nationally. | -- | 7-5 |
12 |
Virginia
| The Cavaliers have won three straight games since losing at Pitt. Their offensive-efficiency rating and defensive-efficiency rating both rank top 15 nationally. | -- | 7-5 |
13 |
Louisville
| Donovan Mitchell is averaging 22.2 points in Louisville's past six contests. The Cardinals are 5-1 in those games with wins over Duke, Indiana and Clemson. | -- | 7-5 |
14 |
Duke
| The Blue Devils have three top-50 KenPom wins and zero sub-50 losses. They're 1-2 since Mike Krzyzewski stepped away to recover from back surgery. | -- | 10-2 |
15 |
Arizona
| The Wildcats have won 11 straight games since losing to Gonzaga. Lauri Markkanen is averaging 17.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in 31.3 minutes per contest. | -- | 6-5 |
16 |
West Virginia
| All three WVU losses are to unranked opponents - most recently Wednesday's loss at home to an Oklahoma team with a losing record. West Virginia's first loss came to a Temple team that's now 1-6 in the AAC. | -- | 9-2 |
17 |
Oregon
| The Ducks handled Cal easily Thursday despite losing Dillon Brooks to an injury in the first half. Oregon hasn't lost since before Thanksgiving. | -- | 11-1 |
18 |
Wisconsin
| The Badgers added their third top-50 KenPom win Tuesday when they beat Michigan. They've won 11 of their last 12 games heading into Saturday's game at Minnesota. | -- | 10-3 |
19 |
Cincinnati
| The Bearcats shot 74 percent from the field in the second half of Wednesday's win over Temple. They're 6-0 in the AAC and alone atop the league standings. | -- | 10-1 |
20 |
Purdue
| Caleb Swanigan produced his 15th double-double of the season in Tuesday's win over Illinois. Four of Purdue's next six games will be played on the road. | -- | 8-4 |
21 |
S. Carolina
| The Gamecocks are now 13-0 with Sindarius Thornwell in the lineup. They'll take a five-game winning streak into Saturday's game at Kentucky. | -- | 9-3 |
22 |
Florida
| The Gators' resume features zero losses to currently unranked teams but also zero wins over currently ranked teams. Their best win is December's win at Arkansas. | -- | 12-0 |
23 |
Saint Mary's
| Jock Landale got 10 points and 10 rebounds in Thursday's win over Pacific. It was his seventh double-double of the season. | -- | 10-3 |
24 |
Xavier
| Four of Xavier's five losses are to teams ranked in the top 10 of the Top 25 (and one). Also: Four of the Musketeers' five losses have come in true road games. | -- | 8-5 |
25 |
Iowa St.
| Four of ISU's five losses are to teams also ranked in the Top 25 (and one). The Cyclones have wins over Miami, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. | -- | 10-1 |
26 |
Maryland
| Melo Trimble finished with 20 points, five assists and five rebounds in Thursday's win over Iowa. The Terps have won four straight since losing to Nebraska. | -- | 10-2 |