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Andre Miller, newly anointed member of the Sacramento Kings, is 38 years old. Somehow, his game seems older. Maybe it's because so few NBA players make it to age 38. Mostly, it's because Miller plays professional basketball like the 50-year-old former Division II player at your weekly pickup run.

You know that guy. He can't leave the floor but has freaky dad-strength; he never looks in the same direction as his passes; he enjoys 10-dribble post-ups, head fakes, running hooks, step-throughs, reverse layups, and all manner of trash talk. That's Miller. The 16-year veteran's old-man game has kept him cashing checks in the world's best league for far longer than anyone expected. He is, more than any other player, the symbol of wily age.

In other words, it's been a long time since Miller was in college. Which should help drive home just how long it has been since the Utah Utes beat the Arizona Wildcats: The previous time it happened, Miller was involved.

Utah fans will remember the game well: It was March 21, 1998, the NCAA tournament West Regional final. Arizona, the defending national champion, had Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Jason Terry in its backcourt. Utah coach Rick Majerus, genius that he was, may have been the only man in the country with the backbone (and the personnel) to pull off a triangle-and-2 defense against the Zona stars. It worked. The Utes held Arizona to 28.3 percent shooting in the 76-51 win, Miller posted an 18-point, 14-rebound, 13-assist performance, and Utah advanced to the Final Four (the Utes lost in the national title game to Kentucky).

In the 17 years since, the Utes have seen Arizona 11 times. They've lost all 11. It is no exaggeration to call Saturday's 9 p.m. ET tip in Salt Lake City (on ESPN and WatchESPN) the Utes' best chance since the Miller era to break that streak. And the symbolism couldn't be more fitting.

After all, if there's one thing the 2014-15 Utah season has been about, it is the program's sudden return to regional and national primacy. Utah was solid in Majerus' remaining years at the school, and it went to the tournament in 2004-05, Ray Giacoletti's first year at the helm. Since then, however, it has been to just one NCAA tournament (in 2009), where it lost in the first round -- to Arizona. In 2011-12, two big changes occurred: The Utes left the Mountain West for the Pac-12, and Larry Krystkowiak inherited the program from Jim Boylen.

Utah went 6-25 in Krystkowiak's first season. It ranked 297th in adjusted efficiency. It was a shambles. Since then, though, he has outpaced one expectation after the other. He won 15 games in 2012-13. A year ago, he scheduled with a rebuild in mind, then saw junior college transfer Delon Wright help the Utes win 21 games and nearly get them to the NCAA tournament. This season, they were supposed to be oh, top-25-ish good --- the clear No. 2 in the Pac-12, let's say -- but little more. Instead, just four years after a six-win campaign, Wright and the Utes are among the nation's very best.

The same goes for their home court. Beyond the emergence of Austrian freshman center Jakob Poeltl and Wright's elevation in Wooden Award territory, the story of the Utes' season has been their extreme Huntsman Center advantage. As John Gasaway noted this week, Utah is outscoring Pac-12 opponents by .35 points per possession at home. They haven't been nearly as good on the road, including the 69-51 loss in Tucson on Jan. 17. But in their own building, the Utes have been untouchable.

If any team can test that hypothesis, it's Arizona. The Wildcats have an array of offensive options (chief among them Stanley Johnson) that make for a more reliable offensive attack than they had a season ago. They're also even better defensively than a season ago, when they were the top-ranked efficiency offense in the country. (Thanks to Kentucky and Virginia, this year Arizona ranks No. 3.)

Still, the Utes are an elite defense in their own right, led by a 6-foot-5 senior guard who doubles as the best two-way player in college basketball. Arizona is great, maybe the best in the west, and Utah will probably enter Saturday night as the odds-on favorite. The last time the Utes knocked off the West Coast's old-guard standard-bearer, Professor Miller was still a college student with triple-doubles in his bones. It has been a long time, but the Utes are back. Saturday night is important to the Pac-12 standings, sure. But it's so much more than that.

Other games

No. 10 Northern Iowa at No. 11 Wichita State, 2 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN and WatchESPN

How big is this game? A No. 1-ranked team with a 28-0 record is hosting a top-20 outfit in what might be its best chance to lose before the end of the regular season, amid a stacked weekend lineup . . . and the title tilt in the Missouri Valley Conference may be the biggest game of the weekend. The folks behind the "College GameDay" travel plans certainly thought so. And if you think about it, Wichita State has Northern Iowa to thank. Last season's 35-1 Shockers were only slightly better than the current team, but because the rest of the Valley was so weak, they spent as much of their February being criticized for a soft schedule as hearing praise for, you know, not losing a game.

A year later, Ben Jacobsen's Northern Iowa team has emerged as a slow-paced, defense-oriented 24-2 juggernaut starring All-American candidate Seth Tuttle, a team that manhandled the Shockers in Cedar Falls on Jan. 31. Now both teams sit at 16-1 in the Valley, with just one game to play. Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall enjoyed the 2013-14 season more than anyone, but the rise of the Panthers has made 2014-15 memorable in its own way, too.

No. 18 Arkansas at No. 1 Kentucky, 4 p.m. ET Saturday

Now, about that No. 1-ranked, 28-0 team: You don't actually think Kentucky is going to lose, do you? Yes, OK, this is one of two remaining games in which it is at least conceivable that the Wildcats could lose (the other being Tuesday's trip to Georgia). Arkansas is the better of the two teams, and the more obvious matchup issue: The Razorbacks' press defense and high-speed offense could in theory make it tougher for Kentucky to get the ball up the floor and into its pulverizing combination of interior offense and downright terrifying half-court defense. Even knowing that, it is impossible to look at this Wildcats team -- which has spent the two weeks since its LSU scare completely destroying everything in its path -- and predict anything but a comfortable win.

BYU at No. 3 Gonzaga, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN2 and WatchESPN

BYU is one of the weirdest bubble teams in recent memory. The Cougars have one of the nation's best and most efficient scorers (Tyler Haws), the all-time single-season leader in triple-doubles (Kyle Collinsworth), and the ninth-ranked adjusted efficiency offense. BYU ranks 30th in KenPom, 27 in the BPI. And yet because the Cougars have lost eight games -- including two to Pepperdine and one to San Diego -- all by a margin of eight points or fewer, they've managed to build up a respectable analytical reputation without actually getting any of the wins they need to get in the NCAA tournament. If that's going to change, it will have to come this weekend. At Gonzaga. Good luck.

No. 6 Villanova at Xavier, 2 p.m. ET Saturday

Have you been paying attention to Villanova? You should be. Since Jan. 19, when Georgetown rocked the Wildcats in D.C., coach Jay Wright's team has won eight in a row, including road trips to Butler and Providence -- the only two games in that span that weren't utter blowouts. What was already a top-15 offense in January has morphed into one of the nation's best in the weeks since, pushing Villanova into a hegemonic position atop the better-than-advertised Big East and giving it as good a case for a No. 1 seed as any team not named Kentucky. It's time to get on board.

Many pixels have been spilled about this Texas team's collapse in recent weeks, but just as a reminder, back on Dec. 23, the Longhorns were ranked No. 9 in the country. They were seen by many as one of a handful of teams with legitimate Final Four aspirations. They played Kentucky tough at Rupp Arena without their starting point guard. Somehow, that team is on the bubble. What happened? Tuesday night's loss at West Virgina dropped Texas to 1-11 against the RPI top 50; 4-11 against the top 100; and 6-9 in the Big 12. Unless the Longhorns come up with something special (and totally out-of-character) in Lawrence Saturday, those numbers will worsen, making Texas' final two games must-wins just to get to 8-10 in league play. December feels like so long ago.

How will Arizona stop -- or at least try to stop -- Utah All-American candidate Delon Wright? The first item of business is containing ball screens. Few players in the country handle the ball in as many screen situations as Wright, and few players are as efficient in doing so. But the Wildcats are one of the few teams in the country with the personnel to play the 3-point-shy Wright under the screen, and even switch if need be, without giving up an advantage. Throw in coach Sean Miller's pack-line-inspired defensive system, and Arizona is actually quite well-equipped to contain one of the nation's best offensive players.

Best bubble opportunity

No. 15 UNC at Miami, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET
Despite yielding 30 points in five minutes to one player (Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes) Wednesday night, the Hurricanes held on for a win, which kept them in the mix for an NCAA tournament at-large bid -- for now. NC State bolstered its position with recent wins over Louisville and UNC; Miami nearly knocked off the Cardinals on the road before losing 55-53. That makes Saturday's home date against a very beatable UNC team -- which nonetheless sports excellent RPI and schedule numbers and qualifies as something close to a marquee win -- massive.

Toughest bubble opportunity

Boise State at No. 24 San Diego State, Saturday, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2
If there's a tougher bubble demand than "hey, go win at Kansas," it's "hey, go win at San Diego State." The Aztecs are unbeaten at Viejas Arena this season, thanks in equal measure to one of the nation's stingiest defenses and one of the more reliably insane crowds. Leaving the sunny confines of San Diego with a victory feels borderline impossible. The Broncos don't need a win to stay in the bubble picture, but it sure would help.

Big 12 Spirit Award

No. 20 West Virginia at No. 19 Baylor, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU
If we had to guess, we'd say that in six months, when we look back on the 2014-15 Big 12, this is the kind of game we'll remember. West Virginia (along with Iowa State and Oklahoma) still has an outside chance of catching Kansas atop the league standings. But really, this is a game between two really good ranked teams, both of which are locked-in NCAA tournament participants. The result is unlikely to have a tangible effect on the outcome of either team's season. But it's going to be a great game all the same, and that's what this stacked Big 12 has offered more often than any other league.

Best Big Ten check-in

Michigan State at No. 5 Wisconsin, Sunday, 4 p.m. ET
For months, Wisconsin has bestrode the Big Ten like a colossus. The more interesting sub-stories in the league have involved the scramble for the bubble, or Michigan's down year, or Purdue's sudden and long-awaited push into relevance. Wisconsin was chugging along above that fray, scoring 1.27 points per trip in its first 12 league games, overwhelming anyone who stood in its way. After Tuesday's loss at Maryland, though, the Badgers are averaging just 1.0 points per trip in their past three games. Meanwhile, Michigan State has won four of five, although the Spartans did fall to Minnesota at home on Thursday.

Best bounceback

The whole weekend. Weekend Homework is a safe space, so let's just come right out and say it: Last weekend was terrible. The schedule looked terrible, but bad schedules often yield the most surprising, exciting days. But save Gonzaga's win at Saint Mary's, last weekend was just sort of blah. This weekend, though, is what a Saturday in late February should be: great story lines, top-25 teams, exciting matchups. So way to go, college basketball. You really picked up the slack.

• 1.3: On Wednesday night, Duke allowed Virginia Tech to score 1.3 points per possession in the Blue Devils' 91-86 overtime win. For Duke fans, it must have felt like a flashback to mid-January, when NC State and Miami thrashed the Blue Devils on back-to-back nights. This time, though, said thrashing came from the hands of a 2-13 ACC team ranked 13th in the league in points per trip. It will be fascinating to see whether Duke can cinch those gaping defensive holes in Saturday's visit from Syracuse -- or whether this is another troubling indicator for Duke's March prognosis.

• .55: That's how many points per trip ACC title contender Virginia yielded to Wake Forest on Wednesday night. Final score? 70-34. The Cavaliers have taken a noticeable step back offensively since the loss of Justin Anderson, but that master class -- on the road -- against an occasionally pesky Wake team should keep the folks in Charlottesville from freaking out too much. Apparently, when you defend as well as UVa, you don't need your All-American guard.

• 56.2: That's the percentage of 2-point field goals Dayton, which travels to VCU Saturday, has made in Atlantic 10 play. That's an impressive number -- it's the A-10's best -- in its own right. But when you consider that coach Archie Miller has zero players taller than 6-foot-6 in his rotation, and that Dayton gets a large share of those buckets from typically inefficient midrange jumpers (as opposed to very efficient layups), it's downright crazy. The midrange game lives on at UD Arena.