Precap 2/21 - Big games for Texas A&M and Kansas State, MACtion, and Marquette-Creighton

2/21

Recap

Since we have a huge preview for Tuesday and not a very big recap for Monday, there’s not going to be a lot here

• Two big Big-12 games

West Virginia had a big game yesterday, as they won what may end up being their last win of the regular season. It was a must-win against Oklahoma State, as though they’re on the right side of the bubble, they’re on the bubble, and don’t have a lot of wiggle room as they only played ranked teams in their last 3 games of the season. This was a big bounce back game from a loss against Texas Tech, but I am still worried about how West Virginia will be in their away games. Coming off an 18-point win, this is the best they have looked all season, so we’ll see if they are able to change the “can’t win away” narrative at Kansas and Iowa State.

This game went very, very slowly and boringly, as TCU-Kansas was very low-scoring in what was one of the best games of the week. TCU was coming off a big string of losses without all-American Mike Miles, but when he came back, they obliterated Oklahoma State, a tournament team. Now, they face #3 Kansas, who just had one of the most impressive comebacks of the season against Baylor. In this game, Kansas was ahead for most of the game, and TCU just wasn’t able to get over the hump behind their poor shooting efficiency and Kansas’ defense. I think that if we had seen the TCU team that had beaten Kansas in Lawrence, they would have won by double digits. They have some solid games to start to build momentum against good competition ahead of the Big 12 tournament in Texas Tech and Texas.

Preview

• Texas A&M, Kansas State looks to prove themselves

After making a run to the SEC tournament finals in 2022 and getting robbed from a tournament bid, the Aggies started this season with high expectations, looking to make the tournament with no controversy. However, the season did not get off to a very smooth start, losing to Murray State and Wofford among other non-tournament teams. They entered SEC play virtually eliminated from the tournament and with low expectations. However, they have been a different team in SEC play, going 12-2 while sitting at second place and 3 games ahead from third. However, there is one concern - they haven’t beaten a currently ranked team. They’ve beaten tournament teams, but not a ranked team just yet. Today against an inconsistent Tennessee team (ranked 11th), we’ll see if they can play up to that level. 

Kansas State also looks to prove themselves today, but this time, for a different reason than A&M. The Wildcats have lost 5 of their last 8, and though they did recently beat Iowa State at home, the Cyclones had injuries, so this game didn’t exactly tell us they were back. They meet a Baylor team who is coming off of a game at Kansas in which they looked like the best team in the country the whole first half, but they completely fell apart in the second half, losing by 16. If we can see that first half side of Baylor for the rest of the season, they’ll be my national title favorites, as they have all the pieces you could ask for in a national champion. There’s a lot of things to watch in this game, so make sure to tune in.

• Marquette - Creighton

I’ve said this about numerous Big East games this season, but I think that this game will be the Big East conference game of the year. It seems like it’s every day that two ranked teams from the Big East play each other, but this one has some special storylines and implications. First of all, it’ll be a very close game, as though #10 Marquette is the better team on paper, #19 Creighton is at home, where the Bluejays are undefeated in Big East play. Standings-wise, Creighton could tie Marquette for first with a win here and move a half a game ahead of the other “big 4” in Providence and Xavier. If we’re talking about the game, there are a lot of specific matchups to watch. PGs Tyler Kolek and Ryan Nembhard are both top 5 Big East in their position, as are SGs Kam Jones and Trey Alexander, as are SFs David Joplin and Baylor Scheierman, as are PFs Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Arthur Kaluma, as are big men Oso Ighodaro and Ryan Kalkbrenner. Creighton and Marquette have the two most stacked starting lineups in the Big East and are also up there nationally, so make sure to watch if Creighton can get revenge after losing to Marquette in December. 

• MACtion

As do most Tuesdays, today has some nice mid-major games.

It’s a big night in the MAC, as all of the top 4 teams play each other. Unfortunately, one of the two games isn’t Kent State - Akron, as we’ll have to wait a bit longer for that one. However, we have #1 Kent State visiting #4 Ball State, which should be a very fun one. Ball State is two games behind first, and with an absolute juggernaut of a remaining schedule, we’ll see how good this team is really going to be. After playing one of the best mid-majors in the country in Kent State, the Cardinals have to go to Eastern Michigan and play Emoni Bates, then they have to visit #3 Akron, then they follow that up with a home game against #2 Toledo. It’s very possible that they lose all of these games, so make sure to catch if Ball State is a MAC contender or pretender.

The second game of the night is #2 Toledo vs. #3 Akron. Any game between the top 3 teams in this conference could go any way on any night, and this night is no different. Toledo is the hottest team in the conference and one of the hottest in the country, as they’ve won 11 straight and already beat Akron at Akron. I won't be surprised if Akron somehow beat Toledo at Toledo, but I don’t think it’ll happen. Can Akron jump Toledo for second in the standings, or will Toledo continue their hot streak?

• Other notable high-major matchups

This preview has already been pretty long, so I'll go over the last few games quickly. We’ll start Iowa State at Texas, and this game is interesting because both of these teams have been struggling recently. Texas just lost to Texas Tech and went to OT with Oklahoma, while Iowa State has lost 7 of their last 11 without Caleb Grill. We don't know when Grill will be back, and though he could return for this game, it’s not likely. Iowa State has really struggled without him and could pick up a huge win at Texas today to build some momentum going into the conference tournament and the last few games of the regular season.

The last game of today is Michigan State being visited by Indiana. Michigan State is a team that I thought looked really good and could win the national title this year, but they just haven’t been that good since conference play has started. They’re 8-7 in the Big 10, and are currently projected as a 7 seed. I think they could be so much better than just that, but they just need to have one breakout game. This game has to be it. It’s their last game against a ranked opponent and their second last against a current tournament team, and they’re at home against an Indiana team who everyone’s calling the hottest in the country. If they can pick up this win, they have the experience to win the rest of their games, win the Big 10 tournament (or at least get far), and earn a top-5 seed.