Best Bracketology Games of the Weekend (January 6-8)

Highlighting the best "Opportunity" games of the weekend. This article (which I'll try to post every Friday) will focus on games between a) bubble teams trying to advance their case for admission in the field, b) teams who are safely in the field for now, but who are building resumes in order to earn a high seed (i.e. better seed), or c) some combination of the first two options. The stakes must be high for both teams in order to make this list. For sake of time, I listed my top three or four games per day. All games are listed in order of tipoff time. 

(most recent JK Bracketology Seed in parentheses)

• Creighton (8) at UConn (1): This is sneakily the best game of the weekend, if only for future seeding purposes. The Blue Jays want to prove that they "are who we thought they were" (RIP Dennis Green) at the beginning of the season, and a road victory would vault them up the seed line. The Huskies want to break their losing streak, re-establish dominance in the Big East, and hold on to that last 1-seed (Arizona and Tennessee are breathing down their necks, but a convincing win would help UConn maintain that spot). Does either team need this game? No, not really. But this is the kind of game that both teams will want to have on their resume when the Committee is putting together their bracket in the second weekend of March. 
  
  
• Texas (3) at Oklahoma St. (First 4 Out): The common line of thinking is that "Bubble Games" only happen in late February or early March. But this is not the case. The Cowboys are currently one of our first four teams out, but they can change that with a win over a top-ten Texas team. The Longhorns, meanwhile, lost a wild one earlier this week, and they just (officially) lost their head coach. The committee is usually gracious about extenuating circumstances, but if Texas wants to prove that they are the same, high-quality team with or without Chris Beard, then that starts by taking care of business on the road against an unranked but hungry opponent. 
  
  
• Kentucky (6) at Alabama (3): Kentucky is not currently in any danger of falling out of the field, but at some point, if the Wildcats want the respect that will earn them a higher seed, they have to grab a quality road win. This is their first real chance of the Conference season. As for the Tide? Well, even though Nate Oats's squad has some huge wins (Houston, UNC), they have some high quality teams ahead of them on the seed list. This isn't a vintage UK team, but they're still pretty good, and beating up on Coach Cal's 'Cats is always going to be the kind of thing that grabs viewers' (and the Committee's) attention. 
  
  
• Wisconsin (7) at Illinois (7): Two teams going in different directions. The Badgers are trying to climb the seed list. The Illini are trying to avoid the word "freefall." Something's gotta give in Champaign.