College basketball weekend viewing guide: Top ranked teams look to avoid upset trend

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No. 8 Miami at Clemson (Sat., 2 p.m., ESPN3, Regional Sports Networks)

Thanks to back-to-back top 25 wins over Louisville and Duke, Clemson suddenly finds itself as one of the most intriguing teams in the country. The Tigers were just 7-5 in non-conference play, with ugly losses to UMass, Minnesota and Georgia, bot now they’re 4-1 in the ACC with their lone loss coming at the hands of conference leader North Carolina.

Somehow the Tigers’ temporary arena in Greenville, which is 45 minutes away from Clemson’s campus, has become the biggest home court advantage in the ACC. That phenomenon will be put to the test on Saturday when Brad Brownell’s team hosts its third straight top 20 opponent in No. 8 Miami.

No. 11 West Virginia at No. 2 Oklahoma (Sat., 4 p.m., ESPN2)

No team has defeated the No. 1 and No. 2 squads in the country in back-to-back regular season games since Kansas pulled off the feat in 1989. West Virginia, which somewhat ironically defeated the top-ranked Jayhawks on Tuesday, is looking to do the deed by knocking off Oklahoma in the only game this weekend that features multiple top 25 teams.

A win would likely put Oklahoma in position to earn their first No. 1 ranking from the Associated Press since 1990.

No. 4 Michigan State at Wisconsin (Sun., 1:30 p.m., CBS)

This is the ever-rare January weekend where the must-watch games on Sunday outnumber the must-watch games on Saturday. The slate for day two of the weekend kicks off with a battered and bruised Michigan State team looking to bounce back from their second drubbing at the hands of Iowa by beating Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. As for the struggling Badgers, Bo Ryan’s first signature win came against Sparty, and now Wisconsin fans are hoping history will repeat itself with Greg Gard.

Michigan at No. 16 Iowa (Sun., 4:30 p.m., Big Ten Network)

Despite playing the toughest league schedule of any team in the Big Ten to date, Iowa enters Sunday’s game against Michigan outscoring its conference opponents by 17.7 points per 100 possessions. People are talking about what Jarrod Uthoff is doing this season, but they’re not talking about it enough.

No. 13 Virginia at Florida State (Sun., 6:30 p.m., ESPNU)

Virginia bounced back from consecutive upset losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech with a 66-58 win over No. 8 Miami that was eerily reminiscent of the types of games that allowed the Cavaliers to go 32-4 in ACC play over the last two years. They’ll need a similar performance on Sunday against an offensively gifted Florida State squad that is already feeling desperate for a signature win.

Ohio State at No. 3 Maryland (Sat., 12 p.m., ESPN2)

Maryland was one of the many unlikely victims of the work week that was in college basketball, falling to Michigan by three on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor. The Terps will be thinking about both that loss and an ugly 80-56 defeat in their most recent game against Ohio State when they take the court Saturday afternoon.

No. 6 Villanova at Georgetown (Sat., 1 p.m., CBS)

The conference season isn’t quite three weeks old, but there already has to be a fear among many in the Big East that Villanova is in the process of running away with the league for a third straight year. Georgetown pulling out a resume win that it desperately needs would go a long way towards alleviating those fears.

Notre Dame at No. 9 Duke (Sat., 2 p.m., ESPN2)

Duke and Notre Dame might have had the most interesting series of any two teams in college basketball this season. First, there was an instant classic in South Bend, then a massive blowout in Durham, and then the Fighting Irish pulled off a 10-point upset in the championship game of the ACC Tournament. Here’s hoping for something memorable occurring once again on Saturday.

No. 17 Iowa State at Kansas State (Sat., 4 p.m., ESPNU)

This is the first game of an enormous six-game stretch for Iowa State, which is simply refusing to accept the fact that it can’t outscore everybody. The Cyclones are off to an unexpected 1-3 start in Big 12 play, but have a chance to get the ship righted before the heart of February arrives. The journey starts Saturday in the Little Apple, and continues with home games against No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 11 West Virginia, as well as road tests at TCU and No. 15 Texas A&M.

NC State at No. 5 North Carolina (Sat., 12 p.m., ESPN)

The Wolfpack are the ACC’s only 0-4 team, and to avoid becoming the league’s only 0-5 team, they’ll have to beat their in-state rivals from Chapel Hill for just the fourth time in their last 25 meetings. North Carolina, on the other hand, is off to its best start in ACC play (4-0) since it won its first 11 games in 2000-01.

No. 7 Xavier at Marquette (Sat., 2 p.m., FS1)

The Musketeers will have some added help in this one with the return of starting point guard Edmond Sumner. Sumner has missed the past three games while recovering from a concussion suffered in Xavier’s only loss of the season, a 95-64 defeat at Villanova on New Year’s Eve.

TCU at No. 1 Kansas (Sat., 2 p.m., ESPN)

If it happened in 2013 then who’s to say it can’t happen here?

Seton Hall at No. 12 Providence (Sat., 4:30 p.m., FS1)

Providence is in the midst of a prolonged shooting slump, while Seton Hall is in desperate need of a major win to start the process of making the NCAA Tournament and (potentially) saving Kevin Willard’s job.

San Diego State at Boise State (Sat., 10 p.m., ESPN2)

Typically, the two best teams in the Mountain West playing each other would mean a battle of ranked opponents with NCAA Tournament seeding implications at stake. Things are different this year, with the league looking more and more like it could wind up being a one-bid league. Still, you don’t have anything better going on and the atmosphere at Taco Bell Arena should make you feel like you went somewhere fun. Plus ... Taco Bell Arena, man. If that doesn’t scream Saturday night then nothing does.

No. 10 SMU at Tulane (Sun., 3 p.m., ESPN3)

As long as America’s Team (in Ricky O’Donnell’s words) is still in pursuit of the imperfect 30-0 season, they’ll be worth the effort to try and find them on the tube, or the computer screen, or the imboffery app. It’s a real thing, I swear to God. Don’t Google it though.

St. John’s at No. 23 Butler (Sat., 12 p.m., FS1)

It’ll be an emotional day at Hinkle Fieldhouse as Butler honors the memory of former Bulldog standout Andrew Smith. After a two-year battle with cancer, Smith passed away on Tuesday at the age of 25.

Indiana at Minnesota (Sat., 12:30 p.m., Big Ten Network)

We all remember making fun of Tom Crean and stuff in November, but did you know Indiana has won nine in a row? Because Indiana has won nine in a row. Minnesota has not won nine in a row.

Missouri at No. 19 South Carolina (Sat., 1 p.m., SEC Network)

Any real attraction that this one would have had was totally wiped away by South Carolina’s blowout loss at Alabama earlier this week, which dealt the Gamecocks their first loss of the season. The test for Frank Martin and company now becomes dispelling the widely held belief that they have been frauds this entire time.

No. 15 Texas A&M at Georgia (Sat., 2 p.m., ESPNU)

Are the Aggies a legitimate threat to dethrone Kentucky? If they are, they can’t lose games like this.

Boston College at No. 20 Pittsburgh (Sat., 2 p.m., ESPN3)

There are 14 teams in the ACC that couldn’t possibly be viewed by any opponent in the country as an easy W. The other is playing in this game. It’s not the team with the national ranking.

No. 22 Baylor at Texas Tech (Sat., 3 p.m., Regional Networks)

Will Baylor score more points than its football team did against Texas Tech (63)? I mean, probably, but it’s really more important that they build on their current three-game winning streak and not look past an experienced Texas Tech team led by a terrific game planner in Tubby Smith. We like to keep the questions here serious.

No. 14 Kentucky at Auburn (Sat., 4 p.m., ESPN)

If you wanted a reason to be interested in this one, Cinemon Bowers has you covered.

Thanks, man.

Alabama at Vanderbilt (Sat., 6 p.m., SEC Network)

If Vandy doesn’t start winning these types of games, then what they do in their four shots against Kentucky and Texas A&M really isn’t going to matter all that much.

Oklahoma State at Texas (Sat., 6 p.m., ESPN2)

This feels like a good situation for Texas, which is hosting an Oklahoma State team that put a whole lot of effort into its 74-72 loss to rival Oklahoma on Wednesday night.

Florida at Ole Miss (Sat., 8 p.m., ESPN2)

San Diego at No. 25 Gonzaga (Sat., 8 p.m., ESPN3)

Arkansas at LSU (Sat., 8:30 p.m., SEC Network)

Washington State at No. 18 Arizona (Sat., 9:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network)

My biggest dream for this season is every team in the Pac-12 finishing 9-9. For that to happen, we’re probably gonna need Wazzu to pull the upset here.

Connecticut at Houston (Sun., 2 p.m., CBS Sports Network)

Hopefully Kevin Ollie doesn’t know how to Twitter search his own name ... or he’s at least put the practice on hold for the past 48 hours.

Oregon at Colorado (Sun., 7 p.m., Pac-12 Network)

The 12 teams finishing 9-9 dream is probably still okay with either result here, so let’s cheer for the home team to hold serve and get to 3-2.

Oregon State at Utah (Sun., 8:30 p.m., ESPNU)

We’ll end on that.