College hoops Wednesday television guide: Duke - North Carolina highlights loaded slate

Cue the second season of college hoops:

No. 6 Syracuse at Connecticut (7 p.m./ESPN)

Duke/North Carolina is going to capture all the headlines tonight, but the last meeting of the foreseeable future between these two longtime conference rivals should warrant a collective “pour one out” from the college basketball world. Six overtimes would be fun...for a number of reasons.

No. 3 Miami at Florida State (7 p.m./ESPN2)

Miami is the only BCS conference team other than Indiana to win a road game over the past five weeks. That’s not true, but you thought about it for a second.

No. 17 Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (7 p.m./ESPNU)

The Cowboys have what so few teams in college basketball have this season: star power. Marcus Smart is going to make OSU one of the most undesirable matchups out there for a top two or three seed come March.

Nebraska at No. 1 Indiana (7 p.m./Big Ten Network)

I’m still totally unwilling to accept that this is a conference game. It’s just not.

DePaul at No. 21 Notre Dame (7 p.m./MASN)

The bad news is the Fighting Irish may not have totally regained their strength after Saturday night’s five overtime marathon. The good news is they’re playing DePaul.

Central Florida at No. 22 Memphis (8 p.m./CBS Sports Network)

The Tigers have won 14 straight since a Dec. 15 loss to Louisville. Central Florida has not, but they’re still about as touch a task as Memphis will be faced with until the NCAA Tournament.

North Carolina at No. 2 Duke (9 p.m./ESPN)

I’m told this is some sort of rivalry.

West Virginia at Baylor (9 p.m./ESPN2)

I write all of tomorrow’s posts in Spanish if the Mountaineers break 70 and outscore their football team’s production against Baylor.

Providence at South Florida (9 p.m./ESPNU)

The world wide leader really doesn’t want you to watch anything other than North Carolina/Duke.

Purdue at Illinois (9 p.m./Big Ten Network)

Illinois has done the miraculous work it needed to in order to get back into the NCAA Tournament discussion, now it needs to take care of the average work. The latter has been more difficult for the Illini since the start of conference play.

San Diego State at No. 24 Colorado State (10 p.m./CBS Sports Network)

This game will be the Rams’ fourth-annual “Orange Out,” as the team will don the school’s original colors of pumpkin orange and alfalfa green, and wear the program’s original mascot - Aggies - across their uniforms. That’ll be fun. Or something.

No. 23 Oregon at Washington (11 p.m./ESPN2)

On the road and without Dominic Artis is not a promising combination for the Ducks in a game they’d really like to have.

Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State (11 p.m./ESPNU)

The Beach, which leads the Big West by a game and a half, beat Fullerton on the road by 10 back on Jan. 19.