We are coming off a weekend in which the AP’s #1 and #2 lost on the same day. Upsets happen all over the country every day, and we’re going to try to identify five that might happen in the next week.
Tuesday, February 11
Kansas State over Arizona
These are two teams coming off of big wins, as on Saturday, Kansas State shocked in-state rival Kansas and Arizona out-lasted Texas Tech. The Kansas State Wildcats are surging, ranking as the nation’s top team in efficiency since January 19, according to BartTorvik.com. The Arizona Wildcats are facing some frontcourt injuries with Trey Townsend in concussion protocol, and Motiejus Krivas has been out for a while now. Give me the Wildcats in this one (the Kansas State Wildcats).
Wednesday, February 12
NC State over Louisville
Simply put, I don’t think we see Louisville at full strength in this one. Neither Chucky Hepburn nor James Scott finished Louisville’s last game, a 10-point win against lowly Miami. The Wolfpack are in the middle of an eight-game slide, but they have been competitive in both home and away matchups against the ACC’s best. It’s only a matter of time before their quality play translates to a big win.
Longwood over High Point
The High Point Panthers have been the Big South’s best overall team in each of the last two seasons, but the Longwood Lancers have been their nemesis, beating them in the Big South tournament last season (on High Point’s home floor) and earlier this season at home. Statistically, you can see why: High Point’s offensive weakness is turnovers, and the Lancers will force a lot of them. I see Longwood continuing to be the thorn in the side of High Point.
Saturday, February 15
Wake Forest over SMU
The Demon Deacons continue to get underrated by advanced metrics because they didn’t win a whole lot of non-conference games in blowout fashion. But Steve Forbes has his guys playing well, beating Pitt at home and then going 2-0 on their California road trip. Since moving Ty-Laur Johnson into the starting lineup, only Duke and Louisville have beaten them, and I think those two are a class above SMU. This is also somewhat of a revenge game for Wake Forest, as not a lot of returning players are fans of SMU point guard Boopie Miller, who had that same role for Wake Forest last season.
Washington over Penn State
The Huskies enter the week coming off of one of their best wins of the season, beating Northwestern at home. The Huskies are now the healthiest they have been in a long time. Penn State, to put it bluntly, is not. Starting center Yanic Konan Niederhauser has missed the last two games, and Puff Johnson has been out for about a month. Say what you want about this Washington roster, but they have a ton of size and interior scoring down low that could punish Penn State’s lack of size and depth in the interior.
