SPORTS: A Glimpse at This Weekend's Action

As many baseball enthusiasts are well aware, some of the most exciting action in the next week will not be taking place on dirt, grass, ice or the hardwood. Depending on the outcome of upcoming free agent signings and next week's winter meetings (Dec. 4-7), what happens this weekend could go largely unnoticed by a nice chunk of the sports viewing population. Don't get caught out of the loop, take a look at the daily breakdown below. Times listed are in Eastern Standard Time.

Friday
NCAA Basketball - A slow night, but watch No. 9 Marquette and Tennessee win big and a decent matchup between Vermont and Towson ... NCAA Football - Southern Miss and Houston play for the Conference USA title (8 p.m., ESPN2) ... NBA - Chicago takes its recent signs of life into Oklahoma City for an 8 p.m. meeting with the Hornets, and the Kings take a run at the Mavericks' 11-game winning streak ... in an upset alert game, look for Atlanta to challenge Cleveland (2-4 on the road) at home.

Saturday
NCAA Basketball - Lots of intriguing matchups and a few trap games ... Kentucky at No. 6 North Carolina (Noon, CBS), No. 23 Georgetown at No. 10 Duke (7 p.m., ESPN2), No. 22 Wichita State at No. 14 Syracuse, Illinois at No. 16 Arizona (5:15 p.m. EST, ESPN) and No. 21 Gonzaga at No. 25 Texas (3 p.m., ESPN) highlight the schedule ... NCAA Football - No. 2 USC at UCLA (4:30 p.m., ABC) is the only game with national championship implications, but check out the various conference championship games, including No. 8 Arkansas at No. 4 Florida (6 p.m., CBS) in the SEC ... NBA - Seattle at Utah -- how do the Jazz respond after being blown out by the Lakers? ... Cleveland (at Houston) and Indiana (at Denver) both attempt to un-skew the Eastern vs. Western Conference results, but have to win on the road to do it.

Wichita State upsets Tennessee in the 2006 NCAA Tournament


Sunday
NCAA Basketball - No. 3 Pittsburgh continues its walk on the tight rope at Auburn, and No. 20 Nevada (at Cal) and No. 24 Georgia Tech (at Miami) get put to the test on the road ... NCAA Football - With 51 touchdowns, Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan stands just three shy of David Klingler's NCAA record of 54 and should set a new record against Oregon State (TBA, ESPN) ... NFL - Shawne Merriman returns to the Chargers lineup against the resurgent Bills, and the JP Losman Injury Alert goes from Yellow to Orange ... Titans QB Vince Young's progression continues against the 10-1 Colts (1 p.m.), and Dallas vs. New York (4:15 p.m.), Jacksonville at Miami (4:05 p.m.) and Seattle at Denver (8:15 p.m.) all have playoff implications ... Rookie QB Jay Cutler makes his Broncos debut in primetime against the Seahawks.