The Post’s Zach Braziller provides a school basketball stock watch and sit up for this week’s biggest games.
Game of the Week
No. 5 Florida at No. 1 Auburn, Saturday, 4 p.m.:
Saturday’s showdown against the Gators will mark Auburn’s sixth game this season against a current Top 10 team.
The highest-ranked Tigers are 4-1 in such contests, well on their approach to the general No. 1 seed within the NCAA Tournament.
They own a ridiculous 12-1 record in Quad 1 games, and sit on their lonesome atop the dominant SEC, a game within the loss column up on No. 4 Alabama. Expect offensive fireworks on this one, as two of the highest 5 offenses by way of efficiency within the nation meet.
Seeding
1. Auburn, Duke, Alabama, Tennessee
2. Purdue, Iowa State, Florida, Houston
3. Marquette, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Michigan State
4. Kansas, Arizona, Ole Miss, Missouri
Stock Watch
Up
John Calipari
Saturday’s victory at No. 12 Kentucky needed to be one of the crucial satisfying wins of the Hall of Fame coach’s profession.
On an evening when he was booed in his old arena, despite leading the Wildcats to a national championship and 4 Final 4 berths in 15 mostly successful seasons, Calipari led his recent program, Arkansas, to a win that would ultimately get them into the NCAA Tournament.
Calipari was gracious afterward, when no person would’ve faulted him for taking a couple of parting shots on the Kentucky fan base.
Saint Mary’s
The WCC is Saint Mary’s to lose. After knocking off Gonzaga on Saturday night, the Gaels have won 10 straight games, and hold a commanding three-game lead over San Francisco and the Zags. Their three losses, to Utah State, Arizona State and Boise State, have each come by seven points or fewer.
Despite losing star guard Aidan Mahaney to the transfer portal, Saint Mary’s is having one other big yr, buoyed by scoring depth — six players average at the very least nine points per game — and a defense that enables 60.8 points, the seventh-lowest total within the country.
Down
Kansas
The preseason No. 1 team is showing major cracks. After blowing a 21-point lead at previously skidding Baylor, Kansas has lost three of its past six games entering one other difficult week: Home for No. 3 Iowa State and at in-state rival Kansas State.
Two of the Jayhawks’ major transfer portal additions, AJ Storr (Wisconsin) and Rylan Griffen (Alabama), haven’t panned out as expected, putting an onus on the large three of Hunter Dickinson, Zeke Mayo and Dajuan Harris Jr. Kansas finds itself in a three-way tie for fifth place within the Big 12, three full games behind Sixth-ranked Houston and Arizona atop the league.
ACC
The ACC might be this yr’s Big East, the conference most angered by the choice committee’s decisions. The league is trending the unsuitable way the primary week of February. Saturday was particularly ugly: North Carolina wasn’t competitive against archrival and 2nd-ranked Duke, Pittsburgh’s shaky play continued in a loss at Wake Forest and No. 21 Louisville suffered a surprising setback to Georgia Tech.
Straight away, the ACC has three teams that I think will make it in: Duke, Louisville and Clemson. Pittsburgh appeared to be in fine condition before this current skid of 5 losses in seven games.
North Carolina, flirting with missing the tournament for the second time in three years, is a disastrous 1-9 in Quad 1 games. Wake Forest and SMU, two potential bubble teams, are a combined 1-9 in Quad 1 as well. Only three bids isn’t out of the query.
The Post’s Zach Braziller provides a school basketball stock watch and sit up for this week’s biggest games.
Game of the Week
No. 5 Florida at No. 1 Auburn, Saturday, 4 p.m.:
Saturday’s showdown against the Gators will mark Auburn’s sixth game this season against a current Top 10 team.
The highest-ranked Tigers are 4-1 in such contests, well on their approach to the general No. 1 seed within the NCAA Tournament.
They own a ridiculous 12-1 record in Quad 1 games, and sit on their lonesome atop the dominant SEC, a game within the loss column up on No. 4 Alabama. Expect offensive fireworks on this one, as two of the highest 5 offenses by way of efficiency within the nation meet.
Seeding
1. Auburn, Duke, Alabama, Tennessee
2. Purdue, Iowa State, Florida, Houston
3. Marquette, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Michigan State
4. Kansas, Arizona, Ole Miss, Missouri
Stock Watch
Up
John Calipari
Saturday’s victory at No. 12 Kentucky needed to be one of the crucial satisfying wins of the Hall of Fame coach’s profession.
On an evening when he was booed in his old arena, despite leading the Wildcats to a national championship and 4 Final 4 berths in 15 mostly successful seasons, Calipari led his recent program, Arkansas, to a win that would ultimately get them into the NCAA Tournament.
Calipari was gracious afterward, when no person would’ve faulted him for taking a couple of parting shots on the Kentucky fan base.
Saint Mary’s
The WCC is Saint Mary’s to lose. After knocking off Gonzaga on Saturday night, the Gaels have won 10 straight games, and hold a commanding three-game lead over San Francisco and the Zags. Their three losses, to Utah State, Arizona State and Boise State, have each come by seven points or fewer.
Despite losing star guard Aidan Mahaney to the transfer portal, Saint Mary’s is having one other big yr, buoyed by scoring depth — six players average at the very least nine points per game — and a defense that enables 60.8 points, the seventh-lowest total within the country.
Down
Kansas
The preseason No. 1 team is showing major cracks. After blowing a 21-point lead at previously skidding Baylor, Kansas has lost three of its past six games entering one other difficult week: Home for No. 3 Iowa State and at in-state rival Kansas State.
Two of the Jayhawks’ major transfer portal additions, AJ Storr (Wisconsin) and Rylan Griffen (Alabama), haven’t panned out as expected, putting an onus on the large three of Hunter Dickinson, Zeke Mayo and Dajuan Harris Jr. Kansas finds itself in a three-way tie for fifth place within the Big 12, three full games behind Sixth-ranked Houston and Arizona atop the league.
ACC
The ACC might be this yr’s Big East, the conference most angered by the choice committee’s decisions. The league is trending the unsuitable way the primary week of February. Saturday was particularly ugly: North Carolina wasn’t competitive against archrival and 2nd-ranked Duke, Pittsburgh’s shaky play continued in a loss at Wake Forest and No. 21 Louisville suffered a surprising setback to Georgia Tech.
Straight away, the ACC has three teams that I think will make it in: Duke, Louisville and Clemson. Pittsburgh appeared to be in fine condition before this current skid of 5 losses in seven games.
North Carolina, flirting with missing the tournament for the second time in three years, is a disastrous 1-9 in Quad 1 games. Wake Forest and SMU, two potential bubble teams, are a combined 1-9 in Quad 1 as well. Only three bids isn’t out of the query.
