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 | 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. | -- | 21-15 | |
2 | 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. | -- | 23-11 | |
3 | The Jayhawks have won 17 straight games since losing to Indiana in the season-opener. Their resume features seven top-50 KenPom wins. | -- | 21-13 | |
4 | 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. | -- | 24-12 | |
5 | 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). | -- | 26-9 | |
6 | 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. | -- | 20-15 | |
7 | 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. | -- | 17-15 | |
8 | The Bluejays will play the rest of this season without point guard Maurice Watson. He tore his ACL in Monday's win at Xavier. | -- | 25-11 | |
9 | The Bulldogs scored 63 points in the second half of Monday's win over Marquette. Butler now has seven top-50 KenPom wins. | -- | 15-20 | |
10 | 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). | -- | 15-18 | |
11 | 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. | -- | 23-14 | |
12 | The Cavaliers have won three straight games since losing at Pitt. Their offensive-efficiency rating and defensive-efficiency rating both rank top 15 nationally. | -- | 15-17 | |
13 | 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. | -- | 27-8 | |
14 | 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. | -- | 35-4 | |
15 | 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. | -- | 24-13 | |
16 | 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. | -- | 19-13 | |
17 | The Ducks handled Cal easily Thursday despite losing Dillon Brooks to an injury in the first half. Oregon hasn't lost since before Thanksgiving. | -- | 25-10 | |
18 | 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. | -- | 27-10 | |
19 | 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. | -- | 19-16 | |
20 | 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. | -- | 24-12 | |
21 | 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. | -- | 12-20 | |
22 | 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. | -- | 36-4 | |
23 | Jock Landale got 10 points and 10 rebounds in Thursday's win over Pacific. It was his seventh double-double of the season. | -- | 29-6 | |
24 | 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. | -- | 22-12 | |
25 | 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. | -- | 25-10 | |
26 | 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. | -- | 27-9 |