We’re going to start with Iowa State again today.
Bring Back the Telephone Trophy
One benefit of being so clearly the worst Big 12 team last year is that Iowa State gets to play Missouri tomorrow in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. It’s a home game, Missouri’s terrible, it’s treacherous but also a good chance to work on some things heading into another brutal stretch of Big 12 basketball (home against Kansas on Tuesday, then at Texas and at West Virginia on Saturday/Tuesday hence).
What should the Cyclones work on? We were excited to see George Conditt make more things happen against Oklahoma State, so a similar performance from him would be exciting. Gabe Kalscheur continues to struggle with his shooting, and his free throws have become noteworthy, dipping down to 67% with his four misses on Wednesday. Turnovers remain a significant problem team-wide on the offensive side, so a clean game in that regard would be encouraging.
Still, the priority is winning, and for as bad as Mizzou is, they’ve done enough to be treated with wariness. Over just their last four, they’ve smoked Mississippi in Oxford, played one-possession home games against Texas A&M and Auburn, and taken a ten-point lead into the game’s final ten minutes down in Tuscaloosa. They’re a good offensive rebounding team, meaning a good game from Conditt might be a necessity, not just something to hope on.
Tip’s at 1:00 PM CST, broadcast is on ESPNU.
The Weekend’s Big Ones
Kentucky plays at Kansas tomorrow evening in the Big 12/SEC headliner. Tip’s at 5:00 PM CST, broadcast on ESPN. Kentucky’s sitting on the 3-line in our latest bracketology, but KenPom has them as the best team in a good SEC, meaning they probably have a shot at a 1-seed, which is something Kansas also has, currently lining up as our projected fifth seed overall. Believably a Final Four-quality matchup.
Earlier in the day tomorrow, Michigan goes to Michigan State (11:30 AM CST, CBS), with the Spartans trying to bounce back from a missed opportunity in Champaign and keep pace in the Big Ten loss column while the Wolverines look to keep the good run going and put a little space between themselves and the bubble.
On Sunday, Purdue hosts Ohio State, with the former trying to establish itself once more as worthy of comparison to the Gonzaga/Baylor/Arizona triumvirate and the latter trying to get up into the realm of, “Yeah, that team could win it all.” 11:00 AM CST, CBS.
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Plenty of other interesting action in the sporting world. NFL conference championships, Australian Open championships, USMNT World Cup qualifier Sunday afternoon, Baylor at Alabama, Tennessee at Texas, treacherous game for Illinois up at Northwestern, plenty upon plenty more. Have a good one, we’ll plan to have a bet up each of tomorrow and Sunday, we’ll see you on Monday to unpack it all. Be good out there.
