Written by Eddie Timanus at USAToday.com
We’re now officially less than a month away from Selection Sunday.
As one might expect, college basketball fans around the country are experiencing the full range of emotions, from supreme confidence or cautious optimism to out-and-out panic. The top games on the upcoming weeknight slate will feature all of the above and then some.
Game of the week: No. 14 West Virginia at No. 3 Kansas, Monday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN — The host Jayhawks, seeking their 13th consecutive Big 12 title in the regular season, remain well-positioned for a No. 1 seed. This isn’t a free ticket to the Final Four to be sure, but generally speaking it offers an easier path than No. 2 seeds or lower would have to negotiate. Nevertheless, KU has endured more than a few close encounters of late in its Big 12 journey, not all of which have resulted in Jayhawks’ victories.
WVU, in fact, is one of the two squads owning a conference win against Bill Self’s team. A regular-season sweep won’t come easily, but the Mountaineers do have a deep bench that allows them to maintain the pressing style that coach Bob Huggins prefers. The field-goal accuracy isn’t always there for West Virginia, and a slow start in the hostile environs of Allen Fieldhouse could spell trouble.
Player to watch: Luke Kennard, Duke — The No. 19 Blue Devils are finally getting all their parts in working order, resulting in their current five-game winning streak. But Kennard has been the most consistent producer all season, and he’s kept the Duke ship afloat as his teammates worked their way back from injuries or suspensions. He carries an even 20-point scoring average into Wednesday’s major showdown at No. 13 Virginia (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Conference to watch: Big Ten — The B1G usually arrives at the Big Dance with both quality and quantity. The league is conspicuously short on the former this year, as was made all too plain by its absence from the committee’s preliminary top 16 seeds released over the weekend. Several of the conference’s front-runners could still get there, of course. But they’ll face stiff challenges from the mid-tier league members that will have the equally urgent need to take advantage of dwindling opportunities to add heft to their body of work.
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