Tuesday's Pregame Beat

8:00 pm: Kansas State @ Baylor: I'm fairly confident we can all agree that Kansas and Texas are the two favorites in the Big XII. But after that, it gets a little dicey as there are five teams with two losses in the league. Two of those teams tango tonight, with the Wildcats heading to Waco to take on Baylor.

Kansas State looked as if they were starting to isolate themselves from the pack, and possibly putting themselves in the conversation for the Big XII title. But after a home loss to Oklahoma State, their second league loss, few still are of that opinion. Baylor has a gaudy record at 15-3, but unless they beat one of the three ranked teams in the Big XII, they will enter the tournament without a marquee victory and a loss to Colorado. As good as Baylor looked in their loss to Kansas, the Bears really need to pick up this win at home.

As far as the matchup goes, this should be a very entertaining game as these are two similar teams. Both have very talented back courts - Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente for K-State, Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn for Baylor - and both have big, long, athletic front lines. Baylor likes to play a 2-3 zone, and as long as they can get a hand up when Pullen and Clemente shoot, on paper it looks like a good defensive matchup. That said, K-State is the second-best offensive rebounding team in the country (by mere hundreths of a percent), and we all know the difficulty of rebounding when you play zone.

Kansas State, on the other hand, likes to pressure and create turnovers, and Baylor has had some turnovers problems this season. As much as Baylor needs this win, and as much as I like the Bears this season, I think K-State picks up the road win.

7:00 pm: Rhode Island @ Dayton: All kinds of bubble implications here. Let's face it - as good as the A-10 is this season, a team in the middle of this conference isn't going to earn a bid like a team in the middle of, say, the Big East. Both URI and Dayton are sitting at 3-2 in the league, and both have a chance to earn an at-large bid this year. If it comes down to a choice between these two schools, could the result of this game be a tie-breaker?

9:00 pm: Kentucky @ South Carolina: The Wildcats had a chat with the President this afternoon, thanking them for their work in helping out Haiti. What is the over/under on the number of times that is mentioned on ESPN's broadcast tonight? Devan Downey may be the best scorer in the country, but it will be a tall task to knock off Kentucky in their first game as with a No. 1 ranking.

Other notable games

• 7:00 pm: Michigan State @ Michigan: Manny Harris will be back in the lineup for the Wolverines, but Michigan seems destined for the NIT this year. Kalin Lucas has averaged 16.0 ppg since he was benched for a practice by Tom Izzo, hitting quite a few big shots along the way, and with a guy like Draymond Green to playing in the middle against the zone Beilein likes to run, I think the Spartans will get this done on the road.
• 7:00 pm: Clemson @ BC: Clemson has dropped two games in a row, to Duke and Georgia Tech, and could really use a bounceback win against the Eagles.
• 7:00 pm: Miami FL @ Maryland: Maryland is currently leading the ACC, but Miami is a talented team that has been underperforming this season.
  
• 8:00 pm: Tulsa @ UAB: A nice matchup between C-USA contenders and possible bubble teams.
• 8:30 pm: West Virginia @ DePaul
• 9:00 pm: Northwestern @ Minnesota: Another game with big time bubble implications. Minnesota has lost three straight, and things only seem to be getting worse as Al Nolen joins the list of ineligible Gophers.
• 9:00 pm: UNC @ NC State: UNC is fading fast as they deal with injuries and inexperience. They need this win.
  
• 10:00 pm: Seattle @ Washington: Perhaps the most interesting story line of the night. Washington got a commitment from Charles Garcia, the 6'11" center for Seattle that is averaging 20.7 ppg and 9.1 rpg, but were unable to get him into the school. Would the Huskies be better with his inside presence?