It’s Friday, and you know what that means—we’re less than 48 hours removed from the latest deeply confusing loss to make the Mountain West an even more confounding place to understand. Thanks, Colorado State.
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 having one of those Coke Freestyle machines in your home, but with all the Diet Coke products grayed out.
As always, the weekend begins at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. Apologies to Ohio and Kent State, although for what I can scarcely imagine.
Must Watch (Times ET)
No. 7 Kansas at No. 23 Iowa State (1:30 p.m., Saturday, CBS)
Sometimes you can spot an Amesing coming from a mile away, and sometimes the hints are more subtle.
The computers consider 2024 Kansas basketball to be utterly mid, at least by the lofty standard established during Bill Self’s reign. Among Big 12 teams, they rank fifth in AdjO and eighth—eighth!—in AdjD. The former, a cause for concern; the latter, an unheard-of disaster that has literally never happened in the history of the KenPom database, dating back to 1999.
All told, KenPom has the Jayhawks ranked 18th. And yet, in this topsy-turvy season, it’s unclear that there are 17 better teams in the nation. It’s rather unclear if there are seven such teams you could say with any sort of definitive authority.
Let’s see… Houston, Purdue, Arizona certainly NOT Arizona after collapsing against a straight cheeks Oregon State team… a Tennessee team the Jayhawks already defeated once this season… Auburn… maybe North Carolina?