By Terrence Mayrose
Rivalry Week Signals Shift of Focus For Sports Fans
For all you football fanatics out there, make sure you savor the Super Bowl, because as of this
morning, it’s time to focus on hoops. Despite the endless analysis, highlights and “breakdown” sessions ESPN may have shoved down your throat last week, you should be beside yourself about the slew of college basketball games coming up over the next seven days. Rivalry Week, as it’s become known, is easily the best single week of the regular season. It’s like the best appetizer on the menu. You make sure you order it. Things start on tonight on ESPN’s Big Monday when Kansas(1) travels to Texas (10) and Villanova (2) travels to West Virginia(6).
Let’s start with Texas vs Kansas. Texas is 19-3 and in no way a “bubble team”, but it should be noted that after a 16-0 start, the Longhorns are 3-3 in their last six. The recent struggles make us feel very skeptical about Texas’s ability to become a NCAA championship frontrunner this year; a theme that has haunted this squad in recent years. The core of Damion James, Avery Bradley, and Dexter Pittman will need to right the ship vs Kansas or the Longhorns could be headed into a tailspin over the final month.
