Saturday, four of the nation’s more prestigious college basketball teams: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA will the featured in the second annual CBS Sports Classic. All fours schools have a combined 25 National Championships, a possible 10 NBA draft picks and four coaches – Roy Williams, John Calipari, Thad Matta and Steve Alford – who have been to multiple Final Fours in the last nine years.
No. 22-ranked UCLA takes on No. 11-ranked North Carolina at 1:00PM, ET, and is followed by No. 1-ranked Kentucky vs Ohio State at 3:30 PM, ET.
UCLA, which has won their last five games – including defeating the number one ranked Kentucky Wildcats – will look to keep their win-streak alive against a North Carolina team looking to gain momentum headed into tough a ACC conference schedule. Despite each of them defeating top five ranked squads, both teams have something to prove, not only to the world, but to themselves and a quality win against a quality opponent would go a long way in doing that.
Could Ohio State, a team which is 5-5 with four straight non-conference losses, defeat the nation’s top team? Conventional wisdom says no, but this is college basketball and anything can happen. The Wildcats are beatable (UCLA proved that) and they have struggled against less formidable opponents. The question is, do the Buckeyes have enough talent to get ahead early and weather an inevitable hurricane type run from Kentucky? It’s certainly not unspeakable, but OSU would have to play a perfect game to even have a chance.
The day’s action tips off with Road to the Final Four. CBS Sports will also stream the CBS Sports Classic on CBSSports.com. I’ll be in Brooklyn covering the games, so make sure to follow me @VashtiHurt for live updates.