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NCAAB Week Ahead: Big 12 Clashes Top Betting Card
While Houston, Tennessee, and Arizona took care of business last week, it was more of a grind for some other top-10 teams. Marquette lost at Seton Hall while Kansas and Kentucky were lucky to escape with wins over the weekend.
When looking at the college basketball betting lines, the first game of the week between ranked teams is the matchup between BYU and Baylor in the Big 12. It might be hard to top Saturday’s clash between Oklahoma and Kansas.
Houston is the last remaining undefeated team in the country while Minnesota (14-1) has the best mark against the NCAA basketball spread.
Purdue received 21 of the 32 first-place votes in the latest USA Today Coaches poll. Houston picked up 10 first-place votes to jump over Kansas in the AP Top 25 poll.
The Boilermakers are still listed by the college basketball futures odds with the best odds of +900 of winning the national title. Arizona and Houston are the closest challengers at +1000.
Big Tests in the Big 12
It is hard not to have enticing matchups in the Big 12 since West Virginia is the only team in the conference without a winning record while eight Big 12 teams are still undefeated at home.
This could be a key week for starting to figure out which teams are contenders and which ones can be classified as pretenders.
It begins on Tuesday when second-ranked and undefeated Houston hits the road to meet an 11-3 Iowa State team. Texas is at Cincinnati while ranked BYU and Baylor teams get together in Waco. Keep an eye on the college basketball lines in those matchups.
The most interesting aspect of those three high-profile matchups is that they feature Big 12 newbies (Houston, Cincinnati and BYU) meeting up with established Big 12 programs.
A Look at the Polls
While the big news was Houston moved into the No. 2 slot in both polls, it was also noteworthy that Marquette fell out of the top 10. Illinois dropped from eighth to 10th after the loss to No. 1 Purdue.
Auburn was the biggest riser, going from 24th to 16th. San Diego State landed back in the poll at No. 19 and No. 20 Creighton also returned to the top 25.
Game of the Week
Oklahoma Sooners at Kansas Jayhawks
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2 p.m. ET (Big 12 Now)
It’s a shame that this game is not on national television as it could be quite a tussle.
Kansas heads into the week on a nine-game winning streak while Oklahoma has won three straight.
The Sooners average more points and allow fewer points than Kansas so far this season. However, Kansas has played four ranked teams compared to just two for the Sooners.
The Jayhawks have won five straight versus Oklahoma but the Sooners have covered in three of those games
Kansas figures to be listed by the college basketball odds as the favorite against Oklahoma for the 13th consecutive time.
Player of the Week
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
The Michigan transfer was coming off his first game at Kansas when he failed to score at least 10 points in a win over Yale.
In the last two games, he has 52 points on 62% shooting to go with 24 rebounds, five assists, four steals and a blocked shot.
Dickinson had 30 points – one shy of his season high – as he made the go-ahead basket with three seconds left in the 83-81 win over TCU.
HUNTER DICKINSON IS CLUTCH 🎯 @KUHoops pic.twitter.com/pFv2aESygn
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 6, 2024
Team Of the Week
Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue put its past failures during the road games at Maryland behind them with an impressive 14-point win against the Terrapins to snap Maryland’s 19-game home winning streak.
That was followed by a win over Illinois in a meeting of top-10 teams.
Purdue led by as many as 21 points and looked to be on the way to a comfortable win before the Fighting Illini came storming back. It was a three-point contest with 14 seconds to play following a 3-pointer by Coleman Hawkins. Braden Smith iced the game with a pair of free throws for the top-ranked team in the country.
Nationally Televised Top 10 Games
- No. 2 Houston at Iowa State, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
- Missouri at No. 6 Kentucky, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- No. 5 Tennessee at Mississippi State, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
- No. 7 North Carolina at North Carolina State, Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- No. 4 UConn at Xavier, Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
- No. 9 Oklahoma at TCU, Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
- No. 5 Tennessee at Georgia, Saturday, noon ET ESPN2)
- No. 7 North Carolina at Syracuse, Saturday, noon ET (ESPN)
- No. 6 Kentucky at Texas A&M, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- Penn State at No. 1 Purdue, Saturday, 2:15 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)
- No. 2 Houston at TCU, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- No. 8 Arizona at Washington State, Saturday, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
- Georgetown at No. 4 UConn, Sunday, noon ET (FOX)
Questions Of The Day
Which conference could see the highest number of games come down to the final seconds?
Three Big East games finished as one-possession games last week, one more than what transpired in the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12.
What game this week could be the most physical?
Washington and UCLA meet on Sunday. The visiting Huskies are 301st in Division I with an average of 19.1 fouls called per game with UCLA being whistled for 19.2 fouls per game.
The odds and predictions in the article are based on the time of writing and publication. They may differ as to when the actual event takes place.
