Kansas St

Cole Aldrich (Kansas - 11.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 3.6 bpg)

James Anderson (Oklahoma St - 22.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg)

Sherron Collins (Kansas - 15.5 ppg, 4.1 apg)

Damion James (Texas - 18 ppg, 11 rpg)

Jacob Pullen (Kansas St - 19 ppg, 3.5 apg)

Donald Sloan (Texas A&M - 18.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg)

One of the biggest games of the season, and possibly the best game of the weekend, will take place in one of the most unlikely places - Manhattan, Kansas.

That’s where the ESPN Game Day crew will in all probability witness their largest crowd ever for the show, and where Kansas State will arguably play their most important regular season game in decades, when they face off against in-state rival Kansas.

After Kentucky whipped Arkansas to ensure their move up to number one in the polls few people paid much attention to South Carolina in regards to their chances of upsetting the Wildcats. But thanks to the ability of senior guard Devan Downey to take over a game the Gamecocks stunned Kentucky 68-62 in Columbia. Head coach Darrin Horn has now won his last three meetings over Kentucky, who will most likely drop from the top spot come Monday.

Tuesday's a big day for teams in need to resume-building wins with many games providing teams the opportunity to further their causes. Rhode Island, who fell victim to Jordan Crawford in the second half of their loss at Xavier, could really use a win at Dayton to help their at-large chances. The same goes for the Flyers, who have lost two of their past three (both defeats came on the road). Losing to the Musketeers is by no means a bad thing but the 60-59 loss at St. Joseph's could be one that comes back to haunt Brian Gregory's squad if they don't pick up a few more quality wins.

The weekly Bracketology field is based on how the tourney looks "as of this moment." . In late February, I release Bracketology updates daily as the season approaches crunch time.

 

In order to enjoy success against the top-ranked Texas Longhorns you have to hold your own on the boards. Kansas State, hosting their first matchup of Top 10 teams in school history, may lack in sheer bulk when compared to the Longhorn front line but they had to match (or exceed) the intensity of the visitors if they were to pull off the upset. And thanks to Jamar Samuels and Curtis Kelly they did just that, leading the way in the Wildcats' 71-62 win in Manhattan.

Big Monday delivers one of the best matchups of the week when top-ranked Texas visits the Little Apple to take on Kansas State. Frank Martin's Wildcats could be the team with the best chance to break through the Kansas/Texas tag team atop the Big 12 thanks in large part to guards Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente. These two have accounted for just over 42% of the team's points and 49% of the team's assists so far and when they get rolling KSU is a tough team to slow down.

With final exams beginning across the country at many colleges, it was something of a light week in college basketball – but that does not mean there weren’t plenty of fantastic individual performances.

Is it time to rank Frank Martin's Wildcats? They had an argument before their game against #17 UNLV at Orleans Arena on Saturday evening and if they aren't ranked following the 95-80 win expect some angry fans in the Little Apple. Guards Jacob Pullen (28 points) and Denis Clemente (22 points, nine assists) took control of the game and didn't let go until the verdict was essentially decided early in the second half. As a team the Wildcats shot 57.1% from the field and made more than sixty percent of their shots from behind the arc while limiting the Runnin' Rebels to 28.6% from distance.