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5 NCAA basketball teams on upset alert this week: Will Illinois be Rutgers’ latest victim?

By Mike Phillips

CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 13: Andre Curbelo #5 of the Illinois Fighting Illini drives to the basket against Julian Roper II #5 of the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at State Farm Center on February 13, 2022 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - FEBRUARY 13: Andre Curbelo #5 of the Illinois Fighting Illini drives to the basket against Julian Roper II #5 of the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at State Farm Center on February 13, 2022 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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The Illinois Fighting Illini have a tough test against Rutgers this week, making them one of the most interesting college basketball upset picks in Week 15.

Upsets are what make the college basketball season so great. A team that is having a so-so regular season can push themselves onto the bubble with a great run against tournament teams, something that Rutgers has accomplished over the past week.

The Scarlet Knights have knocked off three consecutive ranked teams entering the week, including last week’s upsets of Ohio State and Wisconsin (on the road no less), to put themselves on the map. The wild season has also seen other top dogs go down as Kansas, Auburn, and Texas Tech all got upset last week by teams in need of resume-boosting wins.

Two of those teams are back on upset alert again this week while Rutgers is also in line to claim another victim in its March Madness push. Read on for the best college basketball upset picks of Week 15.

Week 15 college basketball upset picks

No. 15 Wisconsin at Indiana – Tuesday

The Badgers are fresh off an upset from Rutgers and now have to hit the road against an Indiana team that is far better at Assembly Hall than they are on the road. The Hoosiers are 13-2 at home with victories against Purdue and Ohio State in the mix, making this a dangerous spot for Wisconsin to walk into on Tuesday night since Indiana needs another big win to offset suspect losses to Northwestern and Penn State.

No. 12 Illinois at Rutgers – Wednesday

This game got much more complicated for Illinois, which beat Rutgers by 35 in Champaign back in December and narrowly scraped by Northwestern at home on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights are playing their best basketball right now and looking to stack marquee wins to offset questionable losses in non-conference play to teams like DePaul, Lafayette (at home) and UMass.

No. 2 Auburn at Florida – Saturday

The Tigers finally lost last week but an emerging trend for Auburn has been that they have tremendous difficulty on the road in SEC play, falling at Arkansas after escaping close calls against bottom-feeders Missouri and Georgia. This is good news for Florida, which is the bubbliest SEC team at this point, and really needs to knock off Auburn to maintain a spot on the right side of the cutline.

No. 6 Kansas at West Virginia – Saturday

Any time a Big 12 power hits the road it is a potentially lethal spot since there are no pushovers in the country’s best conference. Kansas will get tested in Morgantown against a West Virginia team that is very talented but has slid off the bubble thanks to a 3-8 start in conference play, a run they hope to stop by knocking off the Jayhawks at home.

No. 8 Providence at Butler – Sunday

The Friars have made a habit of playing in close games this season, going 9-0 in games decided by five points or less entering the week. Playing with fire that often will get a team burned eventually and that could happen here with a road trip to Butler as the Bulldogs are playing much better basketball of late. Don’t let Butler’s 2-3 record over their past five games fool you since the Bulldogs have a win over Marquette while the three losses came by a combined seven points.

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