What to watch for in college basketball this weekend: Big Ten takes center stage

The top storylines in college basketball this weekend include San Diego State’s pursuit of perfection, Penn State’s quiet greatness and the Big Ten taking center stage with Michigan State hosting Maryland in the game of the weekend.

Separation Saturday

The San Diego State Aztecs have locked in the Mountain West regular-season championship. As one of the last undefeated teams, they are projected to get one of the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. If they run the table, there will be no doubt they’ll get a No. 1 seed. However, if San Diego State trips up before the finish line, the door will be open for a team to steal a top-seed depending on what happens in the conference tournaments.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have been through a disappointing season but they get a home date against Purdue to try and remind everyone why they were highly thought of entering the year. A non-conference win over North Carolina is usually a season-defining victory but with the Tar Heels imploding this season, it doesn’t hold as much weight as usual. The remainder of their schedule is loaded with upper-tier programs so getting a win this weekend is crucial.

The stakes are a little higher elsewhere in the Big Ten as Rutgers gets to face off against Illinois — likely without Ayo Dosunmu who was hurt at the end of their home loss to Michigan State. The Scarlet Knights have been a pleasant surprise all year and have quality wins over Seton Hall and Penn State. Another win over a ranked opponent will likely be the bump the team needs to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Alabama had a shot to get a Quadrant 1 victory vs. Auburn but was unable to pull off the upset in double overtime against their in-state rivals who could be headed for another trip to the Final Four. The SEC has a few teams jostling for a spot among the bubble and the Crimson Tide are searching for a big win to separate themselves. They get a second chance this weekend as the SEC-leading LSU Tigers are up next. Will Wade’s team suffered a major letdown losing to Vanderbilt but a win would represent one of the best for first-year coach Nate Oats.

Casting Cinderella

It’s not every week some of the best and most entertaining teams are playing in games outside the “Power 5” conferences but we got exactly that happening this weekend as some of the top mid-major teams are in action.

First, the 23-3 Liberty Flames face against the NJIT Highlanders. Each season, everyone is looking for the Cinderella team. If you’ve been paying attention to what’s going on Atlantic Sun this year you’ll know Liberty could be a March darling. After upsetting No. 5 Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament last year, the Flames look likely to burn another high-major team in March. The duo of Caleb Homesley and Scottie James have made this group one to watch.

However, the competition is even stiffer for the Southern Conference crown. East Tennessee State, Furman and UNC Greensboro all look capable of stealing an at-large bid but only one is going to get the highly sought after an automatic bid by winning the conference tournament in a few weeks.

East Tennessee State is in a tie with Furman for the best record in conference play but in their first meeting, the Bucs lost on the road. However, their depth has been a key for them on their way to the top of the SoCon standings. They have seven players who will usually play double-digit minutes but on some nights they will go 11-deep in their rotation.

For Furman, they have the vaunted senior guard play that has been a key cog in many previous March upsets with Jordan Lyons leading the way for the Paladins. Their ability to make (and take) a high-volume of 3-pointers has helped them get to first place in the SoCon and it also will likely make them a threat to take down any opponent on any given night.

UNC Greensboro sits in third but don’t count Wes Miller’s group out just yet. They might not have Francis Alonso anymore but they still have quality talent. They are only one game back of the other two teams and just have a home game against Furman left where the other two play both teams to close out the year.

If you find yourself flipping through channels trying to find a game, don’t overlook the mid-major games. You could probably find the under-the-radar team that will give you a leg up in your bracket next month.

Penn State(ment)

The Big Ten is arguably the deepest conference in the country this year. That isn’t necessarily a surprise. The schools have slowly been building up their rosters for this moment and it is all coming together this season. The surprise though is the teams at the top of the standings.

One of those teams is the Penn State Nittany Lions who might be the most underrated team in the nation. They sit just one game behind the Maryland Terrapins entering the weekend. Maryland doesn’t have the easiest game awaiting them (more on that below) so there’s a possibility the Nittany Lions find themselves at the top of the conference standings by Monday.

Looking through their resume you see Penn State has compiled seven Quadrant 1 wins and a top-20 NET. They didn’t test themselves much outside of the Big Ten but after seeing how competitive the Nittany Lions have been so far it’s hard to blame them for punting on their non-conference schedule.

The catalyst for the turnaround the program has seen under Pat Chambers is the play of Lamar Stevens, a midseason selection for the Naismith Player of the Year. If he can remain healthy he will likely end his career in Happy Valley as the top scorer in Penn State history — he currently has 2,080 points and Tony Battle is the leader with 2, 213 points.

Despite not being a consistent threat from the perimeter, Stevens has managed to develop into one of the premier scorers in college basketball. The 6-foot-8 Pennsylvania native has gotten better each season and decided against leaving school early and his return has paid dividends for the Nittany Lions.

Opposing coaches attempt to scheme and game plan against him but night-after-night he finds ways to put up reliable numbers that help Penn State continue to pick up wins.

It has been a season full of streaks for Chambers’ group. They began the year winning their first five games before going on another five-game win streak that included wins over Maryland, Alabama and Iowa.

Now, they are in the midst of a seven-game win streak that has them on the brink of bringing a Big Ten regular-season title to Happy Valley. This program has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2011. They are looking to rectify that to begin the latest decade.

Game of the weekend

The headliner of the weekend is the Big Ten battle between Maryland and Michigan State. At the start of the year, both of these schools had clear-cut top five teams in the country. The Spartans were returning most of their group that had went to the Final Four a year before. The Terrapins were bringing in a highly ranked recruiting class to add to a solid group returning that made them a tough out a season ago.

When ESPN saw this game on their broadcast schedule they rightly penciled it in for a Saturday night primetime affair and also will host College Gameday from East Lansing this weekend.

The potential top-five matchup never came to fruition.

Tom Izzo’s team has been inconsistent at best all year. They got off to a bumpy start to begin the season and the preseason No.1 team in the nation fell out of the AP Poll.

However, they look to be in the middle of an upswing once again after a much-needed win over Illinois in Champaign and got the best game yet from freshman guard Mark “Rocket” Watts who chipped in a career-high 21 points.

Getting production from players not named Cassius Winston has been a struggle for this group. Aaron Henry entered the season as a fringe first-round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft but his inability to produce night-in and night-out has cooled his stock. Xavier Tillman turned down the NBA draft last year hoping to build a better profile by coming back but that hasn’t been the case for him this year.

Tillman and Winston have the potential to be one of the most lethal two-man groups in college basketball — especially if the floor is spread with shooters in the other three positions — and that danger is clear and evident to any team they face.

Maryland started hot but after barely escaping with a one-point win over the Illini to open Big Ten play suffered back-to-back losses to Penn State and Seton Hall. Many believed things were about to turn to the worst for Mark Turgeon’s squad after lost two-in-a-row again to Iowa and Wisconsin a month later.

Fast forward to today and the Terrapins have won eight consecutive games and are ranked in the top 10 once again. Anthony Cowan is playing like the x-factor to a Big Ten title, Jalen Smith and Aaron Wiggins have come together to help this team find itself and play like the team that foretold their preseason ranking.

A win on the road against the Spartans is the type of win that will put them in the conversation as Final Four contenders. The goal for Maryland has always been getting to Atlanta and they have steadily worked their way to that level. If they can keep it going against Michigan State things will look good for their future.

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