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Weekend Preview: The five biggest story lines this weekend

Miami v Duke

DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 21: Acting head coach Jeff Capel of the Duke Blue Devils watches his team l during the game against the Miami Hurricanes at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 21, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

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The biggest story line of the weekend is No. 2 Kansas paying a visit to No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.

We all know that.

We talked all about it on the podcast (here) and in a preview of the game (here).

Beyond that, here are five story lines to track this weekend:

1. Which Duke team is going to show up on Saturday?: As it stands, No. 17 Duke is currently 15-5 overall, but just 3-4 in the ACC. They’ve lost all three of their road games in league play and are coming off of a dreadfully disappointing performance in a home loss to N.C. State on Monday. We detailed what is going wrong with the Blue Devils here, and it’s worth noting that things have gotten bad enough for Duke that Coach K revoked locker room access and has banned the team from wearing clothing with a Duke logo on it.

Which leads us to Saturday.

Duke heads down the road to take on Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. The Demon Deacons are not all that good this year, but they are usually a tough out in their building, frankly, Duke has done nothing in the last six weeks to make us believe they can go on the road anywhere and come out with a win. Duke’s ceiling this season is still as high as anyone’s ceiling, and every game is going to be a test. Are they getting closer to reaching that ceiling, or is this team still not good?

2. The Big Ten bubble picture is heating up: Northwestern is the most under-reported story in college basketball this season. A program that has never - EVER - made the NCAA tournament is currently sitting at 17-4 overall with a 6-2 record in the Big Ten and a very, very good chance at ending that drought this March. Indiana? They are probably the most over-reported story in the conference, a flawed team whose expectations grew out of control with a pair of early-season wins and whose is now trying to find their way through league play and into the tournament without the services of O.G. Anunoby.

Think about that, for a second. Indiana plays at Northwestern on Saturday, and the Hoosiers probably need this win more than Northwestern does.

That’s not the only Big Ten game with heavy bubble implications.

Michigan’s visit to Michigan State will matter as well. Both of those teams seemed destined to sweat it out on Selection Sunday, although the Spartans and Tom Izzo may be in more trouble than John Beilein’s Wolverines. So Michigan State and Indiana, the two flagship program in the conference, desperately need to win games against Michigan and Northwestern.

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3. Will Gonzaga be No. 1?: The Zags are the nation’s lone undefeated team, and with No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas and No. 4 Kentucky all losing on Tuesday, there’s a good chance the the Bulldogs could find themselves climb to No. 1 in the country if they can find a way to avoid losing to 5-15 Pepperdine on Saturday.

And if they can get through the weekend without a loss to their name, it’s very likely that, barring a loss at Saint Mary’s in February, the Zags are going to head into the conference tournaments undefeated. And if they get to the conference tournaments undefeated, they’ll be the No. 1 team in the country for the rest of the year and lock themselves into the No. 1 seed out west.

I don’t want to get into a debate about whether or not that should happen (it should, and if you think otherwise you’re probably dumb), I’m just saying that it’s a thing that will happen.

4. Can Georgia Tech land another upset?: I’m not sure Josh Pastner deserves to be in the National Coach of the Year discussion. He may not even deserve to be in the ACC Coach of the Year discussion, at least not yet. But it’s inarguable that he is doing a fantastic job with this Yellow Jacket team. They were picked to finish 14th in the ACC this season, yet entering this weekend, they are sitting at 4-4 in league play - a half-game ahead of Duke - with wins over North Carolina, Florida State, N.C. State and Clemson. No. 14 Notre Dame is terrific, good enough to win the ACC regular season title, but they are coming off of a loss at home to No. 12 Virginia.

5. So was that N.C. State win at Duke a fluke or nah?: The Wolfpack have been bad this season, but on Monday night, they went into Cameron Indoor Stadium and beat the Blue Devils thanks to 32 points and six assists from Dennis Smith Jr. That’s a terrific win for the program’s bragging rights in the state of North Carolina, but beating Duke sounds better in real life than it looks on paper at the moment. That’s what makes Saturday’s visit to the Yum! Center interesting.

N.C. State has been bad on the road this year. Louisville is tough in their building. But the Cardinals will be without their top two points guards, who are both battling injury. This is N.C. State’s chance to make up for losing to Boston College and Georgia Tech.

North Carolina State v Duke

DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 23: Dennis Smith Jr. #4 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack drives in for a dunk as time expires during their win against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 23, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. North Carolina State won 84-82. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

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