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Each weekday, our college hoops experts discuss the biggest issues, trends and themes in college basketball. 1. Who do you have on upset watch this weekend? Andy Katz: North Carolina. The Tar Heels are the better team, but the Irish will have the emotion of College GameDay and the need for a quality win to complement the road win at Duke. Beating the Tar Heels would certainly add to their profile. C.L. Brown: Arizona. The Wildcats blasted Washington 99-67 at home on Jan. 14, but a closer look reveals it was only a three-point margin at halftime. The youthful Huskies got caught up in the environment of their first Pac-12 road trip and wilted under the pressure. That won't happen to Washington at home, and it's possible that Arizona just might walk into the game a bit overconfident given the first meeting. Jeff Goodman: I'll go with Pittsburgh over Virginia at "The Pete." The Panthers are traditionally tough to beat in that building, and they need this one desperately for that résumé victory that they're lacking. Pitt also has the toughness, experience and a couple of frontcourt guys to win this one. The key is guard play. 2. Iowa State (5-4 in Big 12 play) has lost two straight and has its next two on the road. Do you still consider the Cyclones a threat in the Big 12? Katz: No. Losing home games to Baylor (Jan. 9) and West Virginia (Feb. 2) essentially took the Cyclones out of the chase for the top spot. Iowa State's depth and injuries have limited its ability to be consistently good. The Cyclones can still be a tough out in the Big 12 tournament in March and again in the NCAA tournament, but winning the conference is probably a stretch. Brown: Iowa State's margin of error is thin now with two Big 12 losses at home. But it's too early to count out the Cyclones. They're two games behind Oklahoma and West Virginia, but in this Big 12, no team is likely to run the table the rest of the way. Goodman: I don't think Iowa State can win the league, but the Cyclones can still make some noise come March. Jameel McKay needs to get healthy and Georges Niang needs to stay out of foul trouble. The issue with this group is depth. Deonte Burton needs to be consistent coming off the bench. 3. Which of the 6-3 SEC teams -- South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky -- do you view as the stiffest competition to Texas A&M and LSU, both 7-2? Katz: As much as Kentucky is struggling on the road, I would hesitate to dismiss the Wildcats as the toughest competitor for the Aggies. Brown: Kentucky still has the most talent among those teams, but South Carolina may have the best schedule to do it. Among the top-tier teams, the Gamecocks get LSU, Kentucky and Florida all at home and will only have to venture out to A&M. They also have road dates with the two teams at the bottom of the standings in Mississippi State and Missouri. Goodman: Kentucky for sure. I know people have written them off (again) after the loss at Tennessee, but the Wildcats are obviously more talented than those two other teams. They barely lost at Kansas, and they need their frontcourt to stay out of foul trouble.
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