BASKETBALL COLLEGE BASKETBALL ARTICLES

This Big Monday tilt between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Virginia Cavaliers would have had a bit more luster to it had the Wahoos not gone on an end of season swoon never before seen under Tony Bennett’s watch since making the move to Charlottesville. Be that as it may, the Cavs will no doubt take to their home hardwood determined to avenge the ugly beating they absorbed to the Heels nearly 10 days ago in Chapel Hill.... 

Both the Miami Hurricanes and Virginia Tech Hokies will be out to prove they’re both viable threats for anyone that matches up with them in the ACC tourney when the team’s close out their regular season rivalry on Big Monday. The first meeting between these teams was very evenly matched with the Canes going on to victory due to forcing more turnovers. You can bet your bottom dollar Seth Allen and company will take better care of the rock this time around.... 

It was a glorious time for the Baylor Bears. After starting the season with 15 straight wins, the program reached No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time ever. Making their debut as the top ranked team in the country last month, Baylor was demolished by the West Virginia Mountaineers in a game that wasn’t as close as the 21-point margin. Maybe the players were nervous over their lofty ranking, or maybe the Mountaineers are simply the better team. Baylor has an opportunity to avenge that earlier thumping while getting a leg up on second place in the Big 12.... 

Others have tried and come close. In fact it was the Oklahoma Sooners who put a scare in the Kansas Jayhawks’ string of regular season Big 12 titles last season. But OU couldn’t overcome Kansas and the dynasty just continues to roll along. Kansas clinched its 13th straight Big 12 regular season title last week while the Sooners, one season after contending for the top spot, are at the bottom of the conference standings.... 

The Miami Hurricanes are coming into a matchup against the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils on a high note after upsetting No. 18 West Virginia on the road Monday. The Hurricanes, who are 2-4 against ranked teams this season, will try to make it two upsets in a row as they host the Blue Devils on Saturday.... 

The Gonzaga Bulldogs have a chance to make history this weekend. The No. 1 ranked team enters its last regular season matchup against the BYU Cougars with a record of 29-0 and are now just one win away from capturing Gonzaga’s first ever undefeated season.... 

The No. 16 ranked Wisconsin Badgers were unable to build off their big win over the Terps on Thursday night in Columbus, and because of it, likely kissed any chance of winning the Big Ten goodbye. The Michigan State Spartans never truly had a realistic shot to win the conference this season, but they’ve been nothing short of money when at home making this a huge test for a Badgers side limping into tourney time.... 

The Butler Bulldogs are gunning for a Top Four seed in the NCAA Tournament next month. Butler can essentially lock itself into the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament with a win on Sunday against the Xavier Musketeers, and use that as a springboard for their goal. As for Xavier, the Musketeers can consider themselves in the tournament with another win, and this would be the sweetest one. Butler knocked off Xavier earlier in the season and revenge in Cincinnati would be a nice treat.... 

The Syracuse Orange were written off too soon. Syracuse has made a habit of struggling in the middle of the season before turning it on late in the last few years, and is looking to make this year no exception. After losing three in a row against Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Georgia Tech, the Orange got a huge season-saving win against No. 10 Duke on Wednesday night and are squarely on the bubble. A win against the Louisville Cardinals on Sunday would likely erase any doubt about whether or not they will go dancing.... 

Under former head coach Rick Barnes, the Texas Longhorns became a perennial contender in the Big 12 and annual participant in the NCAA Tournament. His failure to get the Longhorns a deep tournament run ultimately cost him his job, however. Texas went after the biggest name available two years ago, hiring Shaka Smart after several successful years at VCU. Smart was supposed to be the guy to lead the program to the Promised Land. Now, he’s just trying to keep Texas out of the basement and a matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks will push them closer.... 

All good things must come to an end, as the old saying goes. And for the Villanova Wildcats that good thing was a four-year long home court winning streak. Nova has just three losses on the season now, following another defeat at the hands of Butler on Wednesday. It doesn’t change the Wildcats’ situation, they’ll still win the Big East regular season title, but their ranking could take a hit and that winning streak which reached 48 games at the cozy Pavilion must start anew against the Creighton Bluejays on Saturday.... 

A recent swoon has dropped the Maryland Terrapins from atop the Big Ten standings, and now they are a longshot to win the conference. Maryland must be perfect down the stretch and then hope for some help to win the regular season crown.... 

When discussing the world of college hoops, the Florida Gators don’t immediately come to mind, especially in the brutal SEC. But it wasn’t too long ago that the Gators captured back-to-back National Championships and even more recently made a trip to the Final Four. They missed out on the NCAA Tournament in both years following that Final Four season, but they are back in a big way, and have a first place showdown with the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.... 

Neither the Baylor Bears nor the Iowa State Cyclones have a shot of running down the Kansas Jayhawks for league honors. What both sides do however have a shot at pulling off is improving their placement in the upcoming Big 12 Tournament pecking order. That’s what both Johnathan Motley and Deonte Burton will attempt to do when they lead their respective clubs into battle against one another for the second time this season.... 

The Connecticut Huskies will need to pick themselves off the mat quickly after blowing a 10 point halftime lead at Houston with the AAC leading SMU Mustangs paying Hartford a visit for the team’s final meeting of the regular season. The league leaders haven’t dropped a game since the middle of January, so the Huskies will need to bring their “A” game to the gym if they’re to keep their home win streak intact.... 

The Arizona Wildcats are looking to win the PAC-12 regular season title outright, but have one more major test before they can raise the banner. The UCLA Bruins are one of the most exciting teams in college basketball and can score points on any team in the country. UCLA knocked off Oregon a couple weeks ago to move Arizona into first, and knows that it needs a win here to keep its slim conference title hopes alive.... 

The Purdue Boilermakers have hit their groove down the stretch of Big Ten play and have vaulted into the top spot in the standings. They can wrap up the conference regular season crown with a strong finish, beginning with a tough one against the Michigan Wolverines.... 

The TCU Horned Frogs need a win in the worst way. What was once a promising at-large resume has gone off the tracks in recent weeks with four straight losses and a 6-9 record. However, all is not lost. They have two very winnable games their last two weeks of the season and getting a win over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday would give them a shot to break .500 in conference. A win would also make it plausible to get to 20 wins and leave TCU not worrying about its fate on Selection Sunday.... 

Monmouth is atop the MAAC and has already clinched that conference title. They are at home against a Siena it has already blown out this season, so it is clear that the Hawks will be heavy favorites in this matchup. The Saints have played better in the conference than out of it but will still be a substantial underdog in this showdown.At 7 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN2 for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Friday, February 24, 2017, at the OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, New Jersey.... 

Dayton has the superior record but must go on the road for this matchup. Davidson has struggled of late within the conference but a big win over the A-10 leader would be a sizable confidence boost.However, based on its play of late, Dayton should be considered the favorite in this matchup.... 

The Cincinnati Bearcats have put together some dominant runs on their own floor and they’re in the middle of yet another. Cincy extended its current home winning streak to 24 straight and looks to remain at the top of the American Athletic Conference standings with a matchup against the Memphis Tigers. The Bearcats have some work to do in order to match their longest home stretch, which reached 41 games back in the late 1990s, but getting to 25 looks promising.... 

It’s been a bad year for the Ohio State Buckeyes and it won’t get better any time soon, especially with the Big Ten co-leader Wisconsin Badgers next on the docket. The Buckeyes have won at least 20 games in each of the past 12 seasons and haven’t missed the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years in a decade. But those two streaks are in serious jeopardy unless OSU can miraculously pull it together for a late season run. The only hope they have of making the NCAA’s is to win the Big Ten Tournament, and the way they’re playing, that’s not going to happen.... 

Time is running out for the “Bubble Teams” to impress the selection committee. The regular season is down to just one week for the smaller conferences and a couple for the majors. While all of these teams can assure themselves of a bid should they catch fire and win their respective conference tournaments, the better route to take is to get yourself on the right side of the cut line going in. With that, let’s take a look at some more teams that could make you a mint if they get in and go on a Cinderella run.... 

The defending national champions have crossed one item off their to-do list this season. With Saturday’s win, the Villanova Wildcats have clinched the Big East regular season title for a fourth consecutive season. But their sights are set on bigger things, and this is no time for the Cats to relax with the Butler Bulldogs coming to town. And just in case Nova needed added motivation, it was the Bulldogs that handed them their first loss of the season back in January.... 

Florida has been the better team this season and is playing at home, so it will certainly be favored to win this one. The Gamecocks were able to pick up the victory the first time these two teams played and hopes to use that confidence to perform well in this one.At 7 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Tuesday, February 21, 2017, at the Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Florida....