Andrew Ortenberg
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The 2020 college basketball season is starting to approach the home stretch, and we’ve seen a bunch of crazy results in a year unlike any other. Unfortunately, we’ve had some key postponements, but there are still some great matchups this week. We’ve got a nice slate over the next handful of days with plenty of top teams facing off against each other, including a showdown in the Big Ten, and two of the best teams in the ACC and Big 12 facing off. Without further ado let’s dive into a few of the biggest contests this week.
#12 Texas Longhorns at #9 Oklahoma Sooners – 6 p.m ET (ESPN2) – Thursday
The best midweek matchup is this Big 12 showdown between Oklahoma and Texas. The Sooners didn’t have the highest expectations early in the year, but they’ve already shown everybody they were mistaken for sleeping on them. They’re coming off a road win against West Virginia, and can likely shore up a top three seed in the NCAA Tournament with another victory here over a really good Texas team.
Texas is in a somewhat opposite boat, as they started the season off in dominant fashion but have started to unravel a bit recently. They’re just 3-4 in their last seven games, and with only a handful of contests left they could really use a win here to stop the negative momentum. This game has already been pushed a couple of times, so check back to make sure it’s really happening Thursday.
#18 Virginia Tech Hokies at #16 Florida State Seminoles – 12 p.m ET (ESPN2) – Saturday
One of the best games of Saturday’s large slate will take place here in the ACC. The Seminoles want to (understandably) claim they’re the top team in the conference after knocking off Virginia on Monday, but they’ll face another stiff challenge here against an ascending Virginia Tech team. The Hokies also just beat Virginia, although they promptly followed it up with a disappointing loss to Pittsburgh.
Due to some COVID-19 postponements this will be Virginia Tech’s first game in about two weeks, and it’ll be interesting to see whether there’s any rust here. Against a Florida State team that is shooting out of their minds right now (13/24 from beyond the arc against Virginia), they really can’t afford to have any.
#3 Michigan Wolverines at #4 Ohio State Buckeyes – 1 p.m ET (CBS) – Sunday
The game I’m looking forward to most this week will take place on Sunday. It’s not too often you get to see two top four teams within the same conference facing off. Both of these teams have been way better than expected this season, and both are jockeying with Iowa and Illinois for the mantle of best team in the Big Ten. Incredibly, all four of them rank between third and seventh nationally according to Kenpom as of Tuesday evening.
Michigan had to take a couple of weeks off from all basketball activities due to COVID issues, but it did nothing to break their momentum. In their first game back after the long layoff, they rallied to beat Wisconsin on the road. Ohio State on the other hand has won nine of ten games, with the only loss coming by just two points.
Pickswise is the home of free NCAA basketball picks and predictions. We will provide predictions on both the side and totals for all of the power-conference and Top 25 games during the 2020-21 season.
