GAME OF THE NIGHT: No. 6 Arizona at San Diego State, 10:05 p.m. (CBS Sports)
The Wildcats will get their biggest test of the season tonight when they face off with Steve Fisher’s Aztecs. Both teams are still trying to figure out their rotations and the best lineups to work with. Sean Miller has started Aaron Gordon at the four, with three guards and Kaleb Tarczewski on the bench, and at the three. He even had the uber-athletic big man playing the two at one point on Monday night.
SDSU is in a tougher situation, as they are replacing so many important pieces from a season ago, most notably Jamaal Franklin and Chase Tapley. Is Winston Shepard ready to take on a bigger role this season? Will he be able to shoot the ball at all? The highlight of this one may be the matchup between Josh Davis and Aaron Gordon.
WHO’S GETTING UPSET?: Texas Southern at Miami, 7:00 p.m.
Mike Davis has himself some talent at Texas Southern this season. Aaric Murray ended up enrolling at the school after flaming out at both La Salle and West Virginia. Ray Penn, who started at Oklahoma State, is on the roster as well. And Miami? They lost to St. Francis NY and got taken to overtime by Eric Ferguson-less Georgia Southern
MID-MAJOR MATCHUP OF THE NIGHT: North Dakota State at St. Mary’s, 11:30 p.m.
This is about as good as it gets at the mid-major level this time of the year. NDSU is the favorite to win the Summit this season, as they bring back essentially their entire team from last season, including potential Player of the Year Taylor Braun. But the Gaels are the Gaels, and if there is anything we know about St. Mary’s, it’s that they keep winning even when they lose their star. Ask Omar Samhan and Mickey McConnell is Matthew Dellavedova’s loss will kill this team. They’ve already beaten Akron and Louisiana Tech at home.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR
1) The No. 13 Memphis Tigers kick their inaugural season members of the American off tonight at 8:00 p.m. (ESPN3) against Austin Peay. This will be the debut of Missouri transfer Michael Dixon.
2) Boston College is good enough to make it back to the NCAA tournament this season, but it’s not going on that well this far. They’re 0-2 on the season with losses to both Providence and UMass. It doesn’t get much easier on Thursday night as the Eagles will take on Toledo at 7:00 p.m.
3) Northwestern heads out to Palo Alto to take on Stanford at 11:00 p.m. tonight on ESPN2 in a battle of former Duke assistant coaches. The Cardinal are coming off of a loss to BYU at home.
4) You want another upset pick? How about UC-Irvine at Washington. The Huskies will be without another big man as Jernard Jarreau tore his ACL, and the Anteaters are a favorite to win the Big West.
5) Texas Tech plays at Alabama at 9:00 p.m. on ESPN2 in a game that would probably be better if the football teams were playing basketball. I kid, I kid.
THE REST OF THE TOP 25
- Detroit at No. 19 UConn, 7:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
- William & Mary at No. 16 Wichita State, 8:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
NOTABLES
- UMES at Iowa, 7:00 p.m. (BTN)
- Yale at Rutgers, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN3)
- Temple at Towson, 7:30 p.m.
- Indiana State at Belmont, 8:00 p.m.