A Three Pack For Tuesday

A look at the three biggest games on Tuesday night's schedule:

Kentucky at Tennessee
It's been a rough few weeks seed-wise for Tennessee, which now finds itself on the seven line, and behind new SEC front-runner Arkansas, after losing (again) to Gonzaga last week. Wins over Georgetown and Marquette certainly look nice on the resume, but the Vols will need to go on a good early run in the weak SEC if they want to return to the top four seed lines, where they spent the early part of the season. If Tennessee makes a push, Tyler Smith will need to be a big part of it; the junior fought off a leg injury and looked great (24 points, 11 rebounds) against Georgia on Saturday. Kentucky, meanwhile, could use a signature road win - or a big win period, for that matter - as it continues its early conference schedule. A win over West Virginia is the only bright spot on the Wildcats' OOC resume, and considering the fact that they play four of their next five on the road, their position on the bubble is looking a little precarious.

Memphis at Tulsa
Is there any way Conference USA gets two bids? If it does, Memphis is going to need to clean up (as usual) in conference play and offset an OOC resume that is full of good losses but features no standout wins. Still, a 2-3 loss conference season probably gets them in even if they were to fall in the conference tournament. This game is one that could give Memphis trouble - Tulsa has some talent and they've played well of late, winning seven of eight. The Golden Hurricane have only one bad loss (at Ohio) and it wouldn't be shocking if they pulled an upset here. To do so, they'll need to slow down stud frosh Tyreke Evans, who is slowly but surely adapting to his new role at the point.

Florida State at North Carolina State
Stop us if you've heard this story before: It's the middle of January and Florida State finds itself living life on the bubble. They're on the right side of it for now, thanks to wins over Florida and Cal (a win that's looking better and better every day), but if they are going to stay afloat in the stacked ACC, they are going to have to show a lot more on the offensive end than they did against Duke on Saturday. FSU is certainly big (the biggest on average in Division I) and the 'Noles can play a little defense - a good recipe come March - but they'll have to win games like this if they want to put that recipe to use.

Also receiving votes: Kansas State at Kansas, Indiana at Ohio State, TCU at BYU, Bradley at Indiana State