Your College Basketball Saturday Viewing Guide: December 22, 2018

You know what my favorite part about College Basketball Saturday has been so far this season? Staggered start times. Today, for example, at no point are there more than three nationally televised games starting at the exact same time. Take the 11am start to the day, for example. There’s three games tipping right then, but that’s it. Then, there’s another game at 11:30 to help carry us through the start of the three contests that start at 1pm. From there, it’s just a constant cascade of a new game starting every half-hour until 5pm, and there’s only a respite at 5:30 before the cascade kicks in against at 6 through 7.

That’s pretty great! Nice job, television scheduling types.

The clear best matchup of the day is #1 Kansas going on the road against #18 Arizona State. It’ll be the first true road game of the season for the Jayhawks, so I presume that AP voter Graham Couch will be glued to the screen to decide whether or not Kansas deserves to be ranked again. #19 Kentucky and #9 North Carolina squaring off at the United Center is a pretty good second from the top game, although I think we all need to prepare for the very real possibility that UK will finally be dropped from the top 25 if they lose this game. For what it’s worth, KenPom.com give UNC a 64% chance to win, so that’s not great for our good great friend, Tyler Herro.

There’s two games of particular note to Big East fans. First up is Connecticut vs Villanova at The Garden in the morning. I’m not 100% sure why this is at MSG other than “because we can and it will be neat,” and honestly, that’s fine by me. The other game is Seton Hall going on the road against a Maryland squad that’s on the verge of being ranked in the AP poll. The Pirates have to at least be getting a little bit of attention after their win over Kentucky, and a big road win here would mean a hell of a lot for both SHU’s season as well as the Big East’s overall picture.

There’s also Boston College visiting DePaul, but let’s be honest: No one is getting their hopes up about DePaul doing the right thing for the league and picking up this home win.

Oh, last thing, and it’s not on the chart: #19 Marquette Golden Eagles women’s basketball hosts #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 12:30pm on FS1. The game is apparently sold out, so get your snacks in order early in the day and settle in to watch Allazia Blockton and company try to knock off the reigning national champions at the McGuire Center.

All in all, a nice day of hoops for you as you ease into the long holiday weekend.

Here’s what’s what on national television today! Enjoy!