The Kansas State Wildcats will host the Missouri Tigers on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at Bramlage Coliseum. Both teams have just three conference games remaining so each one is bigger than the next. This particular one, though, is pretty significant for K-State.
If I had to guess, K-State has a good case for the field of 68 in the NCAA tournament right now. Their victory over then-No. 1 Kansas helped things a lot and they're starting to come into their own winning five of their last six (and the one loss coming on a buzzer beater KSU made a split second too late).
The problem with K-State is their schedule. They host Missouri on Saturday and travel to Texas on Monday. You could argue this is their toughest two-game stretch of the season and it comes at the most critical of times. I don't know what a loss in both these game does to their tournament chances and I imagine they don't want to find out.
Of those two games, beating Mizzou at home, rather than travel to Texas, is obviously the easier task. So if K-State wants to avoid a lot of bubble watch talk, they need to beat Mizzou on Saturday. (Maybe K-State has seen Mizzou play on the road and feels confident)
Kansas State's season has been consistently inconsistent except for the month of February. They do not look like a 19-9 bubble team right now. This month they have a win over then-No. 1 Kansas and a home and away against Nebraska. Solid wins that show you they're playing well.
It almost seems too easy to pick K-State in this game. They're playing well, they're at home and they need this more than Mizzou. I'm not sure who I'm picking but I'm definitely leaning to K-State.
For more on Mizzou, check out Rock M Nation, and for K-State, check out Bring On The Cats.