Bracketology 2020: Duke/Syracuse, Saint Mary's/BYU among best games

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

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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CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – MARCH 13: Head coach Kevin Keatts of the NC State Wolfpack (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

6. Louisville (17-3, 8-1) at NC State (14-6, 5-4) – Saturday, Feb 1

Normally, there are many opportunities for ACC teams on the bubble to get big resume wins, while only needing to avoid a couple of landmines during league play. That’s the opposite this season, with only a few guaranteed NCAA Tournament teams and a number of others who would represent a “bad loss”. That’s what happened to NC State on Saturday, falling on the road at Georgia Tech.

With a NET ranking squarely around 50, the Wolfpack needs to beat either Duke, Louisville and Florida State in any of the four attempts. The Cardinals are up first this upcoming weekend at home, making it a near must-win contest. Oh, and don’t overlook rival North Carolina on Wednesday, who may have finally learned how to play without star guard Cole Anthony. Hopefully, the Wolfpack will finally get healthy for this week’s games.

5. Arizona (13-6, 3-3) at Washington (12-9, 2-6) – Thursday, Jan 30

In last week’s edition, I had Washington’s game against Utah as a must-win. And in bizarre fashion, the Huskies blew a late lead and lost. Now, they’re tied for last place in the Pac-12 and have fallen all the way out of projected NCAA Tournament fields. They have to get these home wins against Arizona and Arizona State this week, particularly the Wildcats.

The raw record may not look great for the Wildcats but the metrics love them. A top-10 current NET ranking keeps them in a good position but that could fall if Arizona can’t find a way to win on the road. They haven’t won a true road game yet this season and are in the midst of a 5 in 7 game stretch away from home. But it helps to face a team averaging less than 60 ppg after guard Quade Green got suspended.

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