Bracketology 2024: Cincinnati, Northwestern, and St. John's highlight big Bubble Saturday

No. 15 Oklahoma (14-3, 2-2) at Cincinnati (13-4, 2-2), Saturday, January 20, 1:00 PM ET, ESPN+

The Cincinnati Bearcats have a big opportunity on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the No. 15 Oklahoma Sooners to town. The Bearcats have had a rollercoaster start to their first foray into the Big 12 having beaten BYU, but then falling to Texas by a point. Leading into this matchup with the Sooners they lost to Baylor and beat TCU 81-77. This game is key for Cincinnati because they have a trip to Phog Allen Fieldhouse on deck before the schedule lightens up (as much as that is possible in this league) to end the month.

The Bearcats are looking to right the ship against Oklahoma, they began league play by knocking off BYU as part of a four-game winning streak, but have struggled since. They lost to Texas and Baylor by a combined four points, and in their last contest they defeated TCU, the same TCU team that knocked off both Houston and Oklahoma last week. A win over Oklahoma would add the Bearcats to the list of Big 12 teams in or close to being in the field at this point.

The Bearcats have done most of their work in the last two quads with an 11-0 record and just a 2-4 record in the first two quads. Their metrics are decent with an overall average of 39.5, but if they want their resume to stand out, especially against other at-large teams, not only across the college basketball landscape but within their conference they are going to have to take advantage of games like this one against Oklahoma to improve the look of their top quads.