Weekend Preview: Five storylines to follow

Biggest story line this weekend: Is Virginia Tech for real?

Beating a young Iowa team at home is really not all that impressive, even if Iowa is supposed to be better this season. Beating an under-manned Oklahoma State team pulls a little bit more weight, but even then, the Cowboys were probably overranked as a top 15 team. And, again, that win came in Blacksburg. On Saturday at 4:00 p.m., the Hokies will get their first true test of the season, as they travel to Morgantown to take on a tough and physical West Virginia team.

Road games are a different beast than playing at home, and we’ll see just how well Virginia Tech responds. The Hokies, led by Erick Green, who is having an all-american caliber season, are playing a more run-and-gun style this year, but with a lack of depth and no home crowd backing them, it will be interesting to see if they can sustain their success in a different arena. It’s also worth noting that the Mountaineers, while just 3-3 on the year, are still a good basketball team. They have a pair of talented guards in Juwan Staten and Jabarie Hinds and a couple of big, physical bodies up front.

Five other story lines to follow this weekend:

The battle of the disappointments: At 5:15 p.m. on Saturday night, UCLA heads to Austin to take on Texas in a matchup that features two teams that have failed to live up to expectations. For the Longhorn’s, it’s not exactly their fault. They didn’t ask Myck Kabongo to get suspended by the NCAA and they didn’t injure Jaylen Bond intentionally. Without those two players in the fold, Texas has looked downright atrocious on the offensive end of the floor. UCLA, on the other hand, has struggled despite bringing in Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad while watching two players up and leave the team just a few weeks into the season.

Old rivalries salvaged?: Over the last few years, as both VCU and Old Dominion managed to push their way into the national consciousness while playing in the CAA, the two teams developed a nice, healthy rivalry. Well, as you know, the Rams took off for the Atlantic 10 this summer while the Monarchs will be headed to Conference USA this summer. While ODU has been bad this season, expect them to put up a fight against some old faces. You can check out VCU vs. Old Dominion on Friday night at 9:00 p.m. on the NBC Sports Network.

Will Duke get their revenge on Temple?: The Blue Devils went into Philly last year and left with a loss after getting smacked around by the Owls. This season, Temple makes the return trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium with an undefeated record and coming off of a 15 point win over Villanova. And while Temple has some talent on their perimeter, I’m not sure how they plan on trying to slow down Mason Plumlee in the paint.

What do you know about Butler and Northwestern?: Because the only thing I know about those two teams is that I don’t really know anything at all. Butler has lost to Xavier, gotten blown out by Illinois, beaten Marquette and embarrassed North Carolina. Northwestern beat Illinois State, got blown out by Maryland, lost at home to Illinois-Chicago and beat Baylor in Waco. Huh? Hopefully, something that happens on Saturday will help us get a feel for this group.

There just aren’t many good games this weekend: This happens every year. As we get closer to finals week, we get uglier and uglier basketball games. There is only one game between two ranked teams all weekend, and that game doesn’t come close to being must-see TV and happens at 10 p.m. on a Saturday. We had a terrific first month of the season, complete with great matchups and better performances. We’ll have to deal with one ugly week.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.