It’s fine. FINE. This weekend? It’s cool, man. No worries. We love how many of the best teams are playing some of their respective league’s absolute dregs. So fun. Much excite. It’s like all the leagues got together and realized hey, maybe the only thing all but the true junkies will be paying attention to this weekend is that football game on Sunday in Vegas.
Anyway. 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. It’s like a basketball barista, only I’ll never upsell you for an extra shot of espresso.
As always, the weekend begins at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. For the first time all season, no Happy Hour game for those who don’t live on the East Coast. Adjust your weekend accordingly.
Must Watch (Times ET)
No. 13 Baylor at No. 4 Kansas (6 p.m., Saturday, ESPN)
Not to belabor the above point, but I don’t know that this would have made the Must Monitor line last week, and that went to Robert Morris and Detroit-Mercy.
There is some intrigue here. I like Baylor more than most, and that’s mostly down to a belief in three-point shooting and Scott Drew being a wizard. After a three-game losing streak (two on the road against Kansas State and Texas and then in a triple-overtime thriller against TCU), the Bears have rebounded with a tough road win against UCF and home victories against Iowa State and Texas Tech.
If you’re noticing a recent trend, it’s that Baylor has not done well on the road; it could be because they didn’t have a true road game until January, when a bad Oklahoma State took them to overtime in Stillwater. This will be just their fifth true road test and, with apologies to Texas and K-State: the Phog is a whole different animal than Austin or Manhattan. The Jayhawks haven’t lost at home in over a calendar year, and Baylor has one win in 21 tries in Lawrence.