Watch, Monitor, Avoid: November 8, 2024
Turn those dials
Congrats everybody, we did it. We’re back.
Each week during the year, we’ll talk about three games on the weekend slate—one you have to see, one you have to keep an eye on and one you should avoid at all costs. You have but so many hours in the weekend viewing slate, after all.
As always, the weekend begins at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. Apologies to an interesting Samford-Cornell matchup in Ithaca.
Must Watch (Times ET)
No. 11 Auburn at No. 4 Houston (9:30 p.m., Saturday, ESPNU)
Let’s confront the stark truth: the first weekend or two of the season is usually devoid of marquee matchups. It’s all football, all the time, and I get it—look no further than the honorable mentions right here; no TV executive in their right mind is going to bump Oklahoma State and TCU—even the god-awful football teams those two programs have rolled out this year—for Western Kentucky and Grand Canyon1. Not even in Phoenix!
But Saturday night, even the casual should tear their eyes away from Utah State and Washington State (live on the CW!) for this one. At the close of business on Thursday night, Houston and Auburn were ranked 1 and 2, respectively, by Ken Pomeroy’s metrics. In Miyakawa’s Relative Rating, they were 1 and 4. By the numbers, these are two of the five best teams in college hoops.