Weekend College Hoops Slate: Feb 28th-March 2nd
Hello, March =)
The Weekend Ahead:
We are officially in the homestretch of the regular season, as the calendar turns to March on Saturday. Conference tournaments kick off this weekend with The ASun first round starting on Sunday, and we have just 16 day until Selection Sunday (but who’s counting…). This is one of the more crowded bubble’s I can remember, and surely this weekend will burst at least a few of those, and set some teams up to feel fairly confident heading into Selection Sunday. The weekend is headlined by Alabama visiting Tennessee in a top-10 showdown in Knoxville. Elsewhere in the SEC, Florida looks to bounce back from a road loss at Georgia and keep a 1-seed within reach when they host 12th-ranked Texas A&M. The weekend finishes off in Lafayette, IN where Michigan State looks to gain a leg-up on Michigan in their quest for a Big Ten regular season crown against a reeling Purdue squad.
Friday:
UCLA at (20)Purdue (Purdue -5.1, 68% win probability)
Nevada at UNLV (UNLV -0.5, 52% win probability)
Saturday:
(6)Alabama at (5)Tennessee (Tennessee -1.8, 57% win probability)
(10)Texas Tech at Kansas (Kansas -1.9 57% win probability)
(22)Arizona at (9)Iowa State (Iowa State -2.7, 60% win probability)
(12)Texas A&M at (3)Florida (Florida -5.4, 68% win probability)
Georgia at Texas (Texas -2.5, 58% win probability) *This will likely burst someone’s bubble!
Sunday
(11)Wisconsin at (8)Michigan State (Michigan State -3.7 63% win prob)
*AP ranking in parentheses
Updated College Basketball Elo Ratings
The top-7 stayed put, while Michigan State and Iowa State swapped spots with the Spartans jumping up to 8th and Cyclones falling to 12th. Clemson, who is often now being mentioned as a sleeper team primed for a big run in March, continues it’s sneaky-good season as it rises 5 spots to 14th.
Biggest Risers*
Presbyterian (+23 spots)
Northern Kentucky (+22 spots)
Hampton (+21 spots)
Honorable mention:
Arkansas (+7 - up to 38th)
Indiana (+7 - up to 40th)
Biggest Fallers*
Kennesaw State (-31 spots)
SIU Edwardsville (-23 spots)
UTEP (-19 spots)
Honorable mention:
Texas A&M (-5 - down to 17th)
Wake Forest (-11 - down to 46th)
*Since the February 14th
Updated Tournament Odds
Keep up with the rankings and game predictions here: https://open.substack.com/pub/beyondthescoresports/p/college-basketball-ratings-and-predictions?r=3gmk5i&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web