The trend of crazy good non-conference scheduling in men’s college basketball is a few years old now, but this year feels even more bananas.
Never mind the craziness Feast Week brought — with UCONN bottoming out in Maui, Kansas solving Duke’s defense, surprising losses by Gonzaga and Houston, and Indiana’s struggles — this week is shaping up to be even more nuts.
We’ll have the second ACC/SEC showdown. We get a Big 12/Big East slate showcasing the two best leagues in the country. We’ll also start league play in the Big Ten. And there are a bunch of other strays that should be great watches.
Let’s break the week down by the day.
Dec. 3
Michigan at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. on Peacock
Ole Miss at Louisville, 9 p.m. on ACC Network
Kentucky at Clemson, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
Syracuse at Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Washington at UCLA, 10:30 p.m. on FS1
Kentucky plays its first true road game of the season. How does Louisville respond following the loss of Kasean Pryor for the rest of the season? Is Michigan legit?
Dec. 4
Alabama at North Carolina, 7:15 p.m. on ESPN
Marquette at Iowa State, 8 p.m. on ESPN+
Auburn at Duke, 9:15 p.m. on ESPN
Baylor at UCONN, 6:30 p.m. on FS1
Kansas at Creighton, 8:30 p.m. on FS1
Pittsburgh at Mississippi State, 9:15 p.m. on SEC Network
Virginia at Florida, 7:15 p.m. on ESPN2
Ohio State at Maryland, 6:30 p.m. on BTN
Oregon at USC, 10:30 p.m. on BTN
The best mid-week non-conference slate I can remember. We have five legit title contenders playing true road games in tough environments. Pitt and Mississippi State have been nice surprises early on, and Oregon has ridden some good wins to a top-10 ranking.
Dec. 5
Purdue at Penn State, 6:30 p.m. on FS1
Purdue remains the highest-ranked Big Ten team. Penn State is 7-1, but hasn’t beaten anyone of note. The Nittany Lions could get a signature win in the very early part of the league slate.
Dec. 7
Kentucky at Gonzaga, 10 p.m. on ESPN2
Wisconsin at Marquette, 1:30 p.m. on FOX
Butler at Houston, 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2
Nebraska at Michigan State, noon on BTN
Iowa at Michigan, 2 p.m. on FS1
Kansas State at St. John’s, 11:30 a.m. on FOX
A top-10 matchup in Seattle highlights a day where the hoops is a side dish to the college football conference title games. We get a fringe top-10 battle in Milwaukee too.
Dec. 8
Kansas at Missouri, 1 p.m. on ESPN2
Maryland at Purdue, noon on BTN
Texas A & M vs. Texas Tech, 3 p.m.
UCONN at Texas, 5 p.m. on ESPN
Duke at Louisville, 6 p.m. on ACC Network
Remember when Kansas/Missouri and A & M/Tech would’ve been league games? That was fun.
