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Bracketology 2020: Duke/Syracuse, Saint Mary’s/BYU among week’s best matchups

By Tristan Freeman

SYRACUSE, NY - FEBRUARY 20: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange reacts to a made three-point basket as teammate Buddy Boeheim #35 gestures against the Louisville Cardinals during the first half at the Carrier Dome on February 20, 2019 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY - FEBRUARY 20: Elijah Hughes #33 of the Syracuse Orange reacts to a made three-point basket as teammate Buddy Boeheim #35 gestures against the Louisville Cardinals during the first half at the Carrier Dome on February 20, 2019 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images) /
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SUNRISE, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 21: The Utah State Aggies celebrate (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

With fewer games left in the season, upcoming matchups will have an even bigger impact on Bracketology. Which games should get the most attention this week?

Now that the Big 12/SEC Challenge has been completed this past weekend, 99.9% of all the non-conference games for the season are in the books. And while league play is absolutely crucial in terms of Bracketology, what happened in the non-conference still has major implications.

Look at Tulsa for example. The Golden Hurricanes are in first place in the American Athletic Conference at 6-1 after beating UConn in overtime on Sunday and Memphis a few days earlier. Yet still, they’re nowhere near the NCAA Tournament bubble, after suffering multiple bad losses months earlier. Defeats to Texas-Arlington, Arkansas State and Colorado State have kept Tulsa’s NET rankings outside the top-60, meaning that they still have a long way to go when it comes to their resume.

Other teams still have plenty of work to do as well, starting this week. As always, there are plenty of games with Bracketology implications. That includes games featuring “safe” teams looking for seeding positioning such as Texas Tech vs Kansas, Oregon vs Stanford and Iowa vs Ohio State.

There are also under the radar bubble battles like VCU vs Rhode Island, DePaul taking on Marquette and even a desperate Utah State squad with an opportunity to get back on the bubble with a win over the unbeaten San Diego State Aztecs.

There are several other matchups that I’m really keeping an eye on this last week of January. Here are my top-10 Bracketology battles to pay attention to.

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