CBB With Danny Z: Iron Bowl On The Hardwood, Kansas St. Is An Enigma And A Rough Week For Bettors

PublishedFebruary 13, 2025 6:56 PM EST|UpdatedFebruary 13, 2025 6:57 PM EST

As usual, there's so much going on in college basketball. Selection Sunday is just over a month away, so the season is starting to hit its stride. Let's not waste any more time and get right into the latest edition of CBB With Danny Z.

Have thoughts on college basketball that you want to share? Shoot me an email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com or a tweet @RealDanZak.

Alabama vs. Auburn is the biggest rivalry in college football, but get ready for some heat on the hardwood

College football fans are used to the Alabama-Auburn game (The Iron Bowl) being one of the biggest matchups of the season. But what about college basketball? Well, that's exactly what we've got on Saturday in Tuscaloosa when the No. 1 Auburn Tigers visit the No. 2 Crimson Tide.

Auburn has lost two games this year and both came against current Top 5 opponents (Duke and Florida). They have an impressive resume that includes wins over current Top 10 teams, Houston, Iowa State, Tennessee and Purdue.

Alabama has been incredibly impressive, as well, and enters Saturday's showdown on a seven-game winning streak. The Tide also defeated Houston, but lost to Purdue. However, they also defeated No. 8 Texas A&M, giving them two wins over current Top 10 opponents.

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats shake hands before a game.

(Jake Crandall/USA Today Network)

Both teams have also been good against the spread this season, sporting nearly identical records (Auburn is 14-9-1 ATS and Alabama is 14-10). It's worth noting, though, that the Tide have been much better against SEC opponents (8-3 ATS) than the Tigers (5-6 ATS).

So, what's going to give? According to Team Rankings, Auburn is the overall No. 1 team in predictive analytics, with Alabama at No. 4. Ken Pom also has Auburn at No. 1 but has Alabama all the way down at No. 6.

It's also worth noting that although Alabama has been great in SEC play, it hasn't faced Florida or Tennessee yet this season. In fact, Alabama has a rough schedule down the stretch.

Starting with the Auburn matchup, there is no team left on the Tide schedule ranked outside the Top 25. Four of their seven remaining opponents are in the Top 5, including a second game against Auburn.

But, those are problems for future Alabama. Current Alabama is focused on knocking off No. 1 Auburn, which would almost certainly jump the Tide to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25.

Coleman Coliseum is going to be rocking, as evidenced by the ticket prices. The cheapest seat on the secondary market is more than $350. I can't wait to watch this one.

So, is Kansas State good or bad or what?

Kansas State is such a strange college basketball team. They lost six games in a row from Jan. 4 through Jan. 22. They appeared to be down-and-out, floundering at 7-11 overall and 1-6 in Big 12 play.

But a switch flipped after the team's loss to Baylor at the tail end of the losing streak. They've won six straight since, and included in those victories are wins over ranked opponents Iowa State, Kansas, and Arizona.

Kansas State Wildcats head coach Jerome Tang reacts during a game against the Iowa State Cyclones.

(Reese Strickland/Imagn Images)

Despite the run, they are still outside the NCAA Tournament, as of the latest bracket prediction from FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy. DeCourcy doesn't even have the Wildcats within the last eight teams out, which means they have a long way to go to become tournament viable.

Advanced analytics have Kansas State firmly on the outside looking in, as well. Ken Pom ranks K-State at No. 57 and Team Rankings them at No. 58.

One of the problems for the Wildcats is that they don't have a lot of potential Quad 1 victory opportunities left. The only currently-ranked team remaining on their schedule is Iowa State, the final regular season game for both squads.

However, the Big 12 Tournament could end up being make-or-break for Kansas State. So, are they good or are they bad? Or somewhere in between? Honestly, I don't know. Their good games are REALLY good (they beat Iowa State by 17 points on the road). But their bad games are REALLY bad (they lost to Houston by 30 at home).

But we're going to find out a lot more about the Wildcats over the next month.

Nothing makes college basketball better than the buzzer-beaters. And this was a week that was FULL of them…

Texas Tech went on to win in double-OT after a wild finish to both regulation and the first overtime.

Man, there have been a bunch of game-winning four-point plays this season…

The ladies show that they can hit big shots, too.

The Bulls eventually beat Rice in triple OT.

Bad beat of the week…

This section is going to be longer than normal because I can't limit it to one bad beat. This was a BRUTAL week for some college basketball bettors. Or, an excellent week. Remember that on the other side of every bad beat is someone who is stoked for a cover they didn't deserve.

Michigan -3.5 against Indiana…

This one was bad for a few reasons. First, Michigan led by as many as 18 points and led by 17 points in the second half. Indiana never led in the game. Second, even in the final seconds, Michigan bettors had to feel incredible. After all, the Wolverines had a six-point lead with less than three seconds on the clock. Then, this happened.

There's very little worse than losing with a big underdog in overtime… well, it actually can get worse…

Boston College was a 7-point underdog at Syracuse. They could have lost by three in regulation. But…

Syracuse had a chance to win in overtime with the last shot, but missed. They went to double-OT, where Boston College took a seven-point lead. And then, they blew it. Syracuse had a chance to take the lead with a free throw in the waning seconds, an ideal scenario for BC bettors, but missed. Of course, Syracuse won by nine in triple-OT.

I would forgive someone if they vowed to never bet Boston College again after that terrible beat.

There were other bad beats this week, but this is my column so it's time to talk about me.

Betting parlays is bad business. They don't hit and generally are a waste of money. But, dammit, they're fun. One thing my buddies and I like to do is all go in on some ridiculous parlay each night in college hoops and throw $10-20 on it. We have a group chat dedicated to this ritual. We think of it as a lottery ticket. And it's fun.

Until it isn't.

Wednesday night, I cooked up a 10-leg parlay with roughly 50-1 odds. I felt weirdly good about it, even saying so prior to the games starting.

I was really confident in my 10-leg, +5036 college basketball parlay on Wednesday night.

Everything looked great in the early going. Most of the games were hitting without much problem. But then Wake Forest happened. The Demon Deacons had a 16-point lead with 8:22 left in the game. At that point, their win probability was higher than 98 percent.

Wake Forest had a 98.5% win probability against Florida State with less than 8.5 minutes remaining.

(ESPN.com)

You've probably realized where this is going… Except, it's even worse than you think.

Yeah, that one hurt. Bad.

Heartbreaking loss on my 10-leg, +5036 college basketball parlay on Wednesday night.

(Fanatics Sportsbook)

Some of OutKick's great college basketball coverage this past week…

Roundball roundup…

Doug Gottlieb tracker…

Green Bay lost its 20th consecutive game on Saturday with a loss at Purdue Fort Wayne, extending their school-record losing streak. If there's any good news, the Phoenix hit a late bucket to backdoor cover the 15.5-point spread.

Green Bay is now 2-23 on the season (8-15-2 against-the-spread) and hasn't won a game in nearly four months.

Welcome back, Dickie V

Reminder that the North Carolina Tar Heels have to fire head coach Hubert Davis.

Cooper Flagg is a superstar, but this wasn't his best moment…

That had to hurt…

Well, that's it for me this week. Want to see something included in next week's "CBB With Danny Z"? Shoot me an email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com or a tweet @RealDanZak.