Weekend College Hoops Slate: Feb 1st-2nd
The calendar flips to February. Next up, March!
Saturday & Sunday:
Skipping the Friday games this week as that slate was bone dry. The only notable games last night were Purdue winning an unexpectedly tight one against Indiana, and a sub-par Big East battle in which the 14-8 Georgetown Hoyas squeaked out a 73-70 win over the 9-13 Butler Bulldogs. Honesty, the full weekend slate isn’t all that stacked. You’d think that the one weekend we don’t have football we’d get a solid basketball weekend! There are still some key games to keep an eye on, especially out west where the Big West rivals Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s clash in an always exciting showdown that typically determines the regular season conference champion. The defending national champion #25 UConn Huskies take on #9 Marquette in a Big East battle in Milwaukee. We also have a top-10 SEC matchup in Florida, where the #5 Gators host the 8th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Here are some games you may want to put on your calendar.
Saturday:
(11) Kansas at Baylor (Kansas -0.6, 52% win probability)
Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s (Saint Mary’s -0.8, 53% win probability)
(8) Tennessee at (5) Florida (Tennessee -2.5, 59% win probability)
(25) UConn at (9) Marquette (Marquette -4.1, 64% win probability)
BYU at UCF (Pick’em, 50% win probability)
Sunday
Ohio State at (18) Illinois (Illinois -2.4, 59% win prob)
West Virginia at Cincinnati (Cincinnati -4.7, 66% win prob)
*AP ranking in parentheses
Updated College Basketball Elo Ratings
The top of the rankings saw little changes, but we did see some drastic movements in some big name teams. Arizona jumped into the top-15 following a win over Iowa State. UCLA jumped ten spots after wins at USC and against 16th-ranked Oregon. Oregon, meanwhile, tumbled 11 spots as they also lost to Minnesota last Saturday. Creighton jumped into our Elo top-25 after beating Xavier and Seton Hall. The ACC woes continue as UNC slipped 6 spots to 37th and Wake fell 9 spots to 43rd. Both teams were thought to be among the top teams in the conference — and nation, in UNC’s case — heading into the season. The ACC has just one team, Duke, in our top-20 and 3 teams in the top-35, with Louisville and Clemson in 21st and 24th, respectively.
Biggest Risers*
Navy (+32 spots)
Cal Baptist (+30 spots)
Eastern Kentucky (+28 spots)
Campbell (+26 spots)
Honorable mention:
Arizona (+5 - up to 15th)
UCLA (+10 - up to 31st)
Biggest Fallers*
South Alabama (-55 spots)
Wofford (-31 spots)
Ball State (-30 spots)
UMass-Lowell (-29 spots)
Honorable mention:
Oregon (-11 - down to 33rd)
Cincinnati (-12 - down to 50th)
*Since the January 24th
Keep up with the rankings and game predictions here: