College Basketball Saturday: Free NCAA Hoops Picks

I’m 1-1 headed into the weekend, and Saturday has a gaggle of good games ready to get your sports weekend going. There might not be a better Sunday in football, but don’t feel as if you’re cheating your love by getting your fix on Saturday with some college hoops. Here are my 3 match-ups where Top 25 teams go at it in some big conference showdowns while Ohio State battles an out of conference foe when they travel to West Virginia.

Ohio State Buckeyes (+6.5) @ West Virginia Mountaineers (2:00pm ET, 1-23): Evan Turner is for real. I’m telling you, if you haven’t seen this guy play, it’s a must watch show. John Wall, the phenomenal point guard playing for the Kentucky Wildcats is one heck of a player, probably the #1 pro prospect in the land, but if I had to pick the best college basketball player in the game, my vote would go to Turner. The Ohio State Mr. Everything does it all for the Buckeyes. Last time out, against Northwestern, the kid went for 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists. He also grabbed two steals and blocked a shot. Better yet, Ohio State has lost just 2 games with Turner in the line-up, and one . The kid averages 18.6 points per game, 9.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists. He’s getting back to form after his back injury, and he could be the difference in this one.

Texas Longhorns (-2.5) @ Connecticut Huskies (4:00pm ET, 1-23): The Longhorns might have just one loss on the season, but they’ve lost their last 5 games against the spread, and really haven’t looked all that impressive away from home. But this UConn team has struggled, and while I’d love to make that underdog Huskies pick and look brilliant in the process, I see UConn playing well after their first loss of the season. Aside from Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker, the Huskies have been very inconsistent. Texas shot poorly against K-State, I don’t think that happens again.

Duke Blue Devils (-0.5) @ Clemson Tigers (9:00pm ET, 1-23): Duke has losses to Georgia Tech and NC State over the last 4 games, but they beat Clemson earlier this month in Durham. In fact, the Tigers were down right embarrassed in a 21 point piecing at the hands of the Blue Devils. The Tigers beat North Carolina and the same NC State team that upset the Devils. In their other like-opponent, Boston College, the Devils won by 20 while the Tigers won by 16. Hmmm. I still think Duke is the better team, and Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer will shoot better than a combined 11 for 32 like they did in a loss to the Wolf Pack earlier this week. The Devils have some talented guards that don’t turn the ball over too often, that should work well against the Tigers. I’ll take the Devils while hoping every second of the game that I’m wrong. Should be one hell of a weekend!