Your College Basketball Saturday Viewing Guide: December 15, 2018

Remember how you, a noted Marquette basketball fan felt about MU’s game against Kansas after watching the game against Indiana?

Now imagine how Villanova fans feel about today’s game against the Jayhawks.

1) Marquette got smacked around by Indiana in Bloomington, but the Hoosiers are a top 25 caliber type of team. Villanova got outclassed by Penn on Tuesday night, and while the Quakers might contend for the Ivy League title, they’re a top 100-ish team.

2) Marquette got to play Kansas on a neutral floor in Brooklyn, so there was at least a “well, anything can happen!” aspect to the endeavor. Villanova is headed to Phog Allen Fieldhouse, which is not exactly the best place to play when your season has been a giant pile of “holy crap, what in the hell is going on with this team?” It’s hard enough to win in The Phog when you know who you are and what you can do. Villanova has the relative consistent identity of your average blob of goo right now.

Have fun in the leadoff game of the day, Villanova!

There’s another competing game in the same top of the slate window that’s pretty intriguing. #3 Tennessee goes on the road to visit Penny Hardaway’s Memphis. Don’t get me wrong: The Tigers have been all over the map this season. But it’s a home game for them, people in Memphis are all kind of fired up about Penny taking over the team, and on top of all that, it’s a rivalry game (of sorts?) against the Vols. Who knows what could happen??

Even with the question marks surrounding Villanova right now, the biggest game of the day has to be #4 Gonzaga heading to Chapel Hill and the Dean Dome to play #12 North Carolina. The Zags are coming off a narrow neutral site loss to Tennessee on Sunday that ended their shot at an undefeated season. This is the follow up to that, and it was never going to be a picnic on any level, anyway. Can Rui Hachimura and crew get back on their feet to post one more major win in the non-conference slate, or will the Tar Heels capture their best win of the season so far?

There’s also the Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis to keep an eye on, especially Butler vs #25 Indiana, as well as the New Jersey rivalry of Rutgers vs Seton Hall. That’s some quality rivalry game action to keep you occupied, plus we can’t ignore #20 Arizona State visiting Georgia as a game to keep an eye on, and #8 Auburn visits UAB, too. I guess that qualifies as an in-state rivalry game, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you anything about the history between the two teams.

Here’s the national television lineup for the day! Enjoy.