2 ranked college basketball teams on upset alert this week, 12/11-17

The college basketball schedule is a bit light in Week 6 thanks to final exams but there's a ton of elite action on tap on Saturday. The final Saturday before Christmas is usually loaded with great non-conference games and 2023 is no exception as we have a ton of Top 25 tests like a Purdue-Arizona neutral site tilt in Indianapolis and a North Carolina-Kentucky clash at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta.

Winning games like that can be a huge boost to a team's NCAA Tournament resume in March, but getting upset (like Miami was in Brooklyn against Colorado on Sunday) can be damaging as well. Let's take a look at two teams ranked in this week's AP Top 25 who should be on upset alert, beginning with No. 2 Kansas.

Ranked College Basketball Teams Who Should Be On Upset Alert In Week 6

No. 2 Kansas (at Indiana 12/16)

With most ranked teams either playing heavyweight opponents or cupcakes, there weren't a ton of traditional upset picks on the board in Week 6. One notable exception is for No. 2 Kansas, which heads to Assembly Hall on Saturday for a matchup with Indiana.

These teams met in Lawrence last December, with the Jayhawks rolling to an 84-62 win, but the Hoosiers will be home this time in one of college basketball's most intimidating environments. Bill Self has put together a strong schedule for his team, which has already been battle-tested with games against Kentucky, Tennessee, Marquette and UConn, but none of Kansas' first ten games were true road games.

That could come back to bite the Jayhawks since his team hasn't had any experience in a hostile environment ahead of Saturday against a Hoosiers' team hungry to pull an upset that could be a signature point on its NCAA Tournament resume. Kansas will need to be on top its game to avoid getting tripped up in Bloomington.

No. 13 Clemson (at Memphis 12/16)

Every year there are a few power conference teams that enter the year with lower expectations that get off to a hot start to enter the polls with an unbeaten record. Clemson has some of those vibes after they were ranked fifth in the ACC's preseason polls but find themselves ranked at No. 13 thanks to a perfect 9-0 start.

There are some good results on Clemson's resume already, including a road win at then-No. 23 ranked Alabama, but five of their nine wins have come by eight points or less, including a one-point win over UAB and a three-point win over Davidson at home.

Playing a ton of close games is good experience for March but it does leave a team vulnerable to getting picked off if the bounces don't go their way. That could certainly happen on Saturday in a true road game against a quality Memphis team that already has two wins over ranked foes in Arkansas and Texas A&M. Clemson will need to play much better basketball than they have shown to this point if they hope to escape the FedEx Forum with a 10-0 record.