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Every weekday, a panel of our college hoops experts discusses the biggest issues, trends and themes in and around college basketball.
1. Who should be on upset watch this weekend?
Andy Katz: Kansas. Utah gets the Jayhawks in Kansas City -- not Allen Fieldhouse. San Diego State even beat Kansas in the Phog a year ago, so it's not unheard-of lately. The Utes are finally playing their best basketball of the season. Now, of course, Kansas is coming off a huge road win at Georgetown. But the Utes are at least up for the challenge.
Eamonn Brennan: Iowa State doesn't really count, seeing as they're playing at Iowa without Bryce Dejean-Jones, but it's worth noting that the Hawkeyes, who turned everyone off with that 0-2 showing at Madison Square Garden in November, have played pretty unimpeachable basketball since. Including a Dec. 3 road win at UNC. Frankly, Iowa should probably be favored, Dejean-Jones or not.
C.L. Brown: Kentucky. Yeah, I said it. With a caveat. Winning or losing has more to do with Kentucky than it does with North Carolina. If the Wildcats play to their potential, then they win. If they show the indifference that they've tended to play with against the Buffalos and Columbias of the world, then the Tar Heels could leave Rupp Arena victorious.
2. Kentucky has toyed with opponents in the first half of games and pulled away in the second. Will the same thing happen this weekend against North Carolina?
Katz: The Wildcats won't have that approach. They will be ready. Marcus Paige must mimic what he did in the second half of last season's game (21 of his 23 points) but for all 40 minutes. He has to be the aggressor for UNC to have a chance. Kentucky will be shorthanded without Alex Poythress and more so if Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker can't go, but the depth is still there.
Brennan: Statistically -- from the good offense and great defense to the offensive rebounding and first-shot prevention -- Kentucky and North Carolina are actually really similar teams. The problem? Whatever the Tar Heels are good at, Kentucky's better at.
Brown: If it happens that way, the first five minutes or so of the second half will be the danger zone for North Carolina. The Wildcats' fast start to the second half is what doomed Texas. If the Heels can't knock down some outside shots early, it may not take until the second half for Kentucky to pull away.
3. While the bulk of attention will be on UNC-Kentucky, there's another big game this weekend. What is the most important thing to keep an eye on in Utah-Kansas?
Katz: Utah must limit the possessions in this game, keep the Jayhawks from transition shots and play the type of defense that stymied BYU's high-powered offense in Provo on Wednesday night.
Brennan: I think it's how 7-foot center Jakob Poeltl matches up against Kansas' frontcourt. Delon Wright will do his thing, but Poeltl is the Utes' well-kept secret -- a 7-foot center grabbing the highest percentage of available offensive rebounds of any player in the country.
Brown: Even in its wins, Utah has played somewhat clumsily down the stretch. That has to change for the Utes to have a chance against the Jayhawks, who finished strong in a pair of close wins over Florida and Georgetown.
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