How does Shaq look in orange and purple? How badly can Iverson carve up the Wizards’ weaklings at point guard? Can anyone stop the Jazz? All questions potentially answered this weekend…

Friday
7:00 PM – LA Lakers @ Orlando: This is Pau Gasol‘s first test against a legit big man. He admitted to being bothered slightly by his sore back after the Lakers’ three-point loss to Atlanta. Facing Dwight Howard (possibly without Kobe) isn’t going to make his back feel any better.

8:00 PM – Boston @ Minnesota, ESPN: KG isn’t going to play. But there’s a chance that more people will be at the Target Center than there have been all year in anticipation that he’ll take center court in a pre-game ceremony.

10:05 PM – No-23 Saint Mary’s @ San Francisco: Aussie shooter Patty Mills spoiled Eddie Sutton‘s hope for 800 wins when they faced off on Jan. 26th. He dropped 24 points, 12 of which came from deep. But the pressure is off Sutton now, as he’s one of five coaches to touch the 800-win mark in men’s hoops. However, Eddie’s quick to distinguish himself from another member of that club, Bobby Knight. “I don’t cuss as much,” Sutton said. “I want that on the record.”

10:30 PM – Washington @ Denver, ESPN: No team needs a win more desperately than the Wizards right now. They’ve dropped five in a row, and aren’t getting a reprieve from a stacked schedule when the travel to Denver. And goodness we know you don’t want to see what Allen Iverson (28.7 points, 10.7 assists over his last four) is going to do to Roger Mason, Jr.

Saturday
12:00 PM – No-16 Marquette @ No-21 Notre Dame, ESPN: The Fighting Irish get to prove on national TV just how much better they are than a team ranked five spots ahead of them in the national polls. Who will stop Luke Harangody? Lazar Hayward? Hmm…No.

1:00 PM – Boston College @ No-2 Duke, CBS: If you get to the TV by 1:30, don’t even bother turning this game on. I’d be curious to see just how quickly Duke can decimate the Eagles.

3:30 PM – USC @ No-17 Washington State, ABC: At what point does Tony Bennett lose his mind? He’s a pretty even-keel coach, but his team has lost four of their last five games, and will be overmatched by the super-athletic Trojans.

9:00 PM – Chicago @ Utah: If the Jazz can make it out of ARCO Arena with a win on Friday, they’ll have rattled off 11 straight when they come back home to EnergySolutions. We’ll say it… the Bulls don’t stand a chance.

9:00 PM – No-6 Georgetown @ Louisville, ESPN: After Utah/Chicago gets out of hand, check out the best college game of the weekend. The Cardinals are finally playing up to their bidding – just in time to host the Hoyas. But JTIII’s had all week to prepare for this one. Georgetown steamrolled USF on Tuesday while Louisville struggled past Marquette on Monday.

10:30 PM – Sacramento @ Golden State, FOX Bay: Hopefully C-Webb finds it in his heart to put forth a greater effort than he did last night when he goes up against one of his former teams Saturday night.

Sunday
1:00 PM – San Antonio @ Boston, ABC: I’ll spend my weekend praying that Garnett returns for this game. If he’s back, is this the preview?

3:30 PM – LA Lakers @ Miami, ABC: How great is it that TV execs dreamed this game up before the season thinking that they could hype the Kobe/Shaq feud some more?

6:30 PM – Clemson @ No-3 UNC, FSN: The Tigers’ guard K.C. Rivers is coming off of a crazy 32 point, 8 three-pointers performance against Virginia. Can the Heels rebound from the loss to Duke and handle him without Ty Lawson?

9:30 PM – Washington @ Phoenix, ESPN: End your weekend the right way – watch the Diesel in his ideal debut. If he’s healthy, he’ll beast Brendan Haywood inside and watch the rest of his squad run circles around the Wiz in front of adoring Suns fans.