NCAA Basketball Saturday: Free College Hoops Picks & Previews

While the first three days of the week had few Top-25 match-ups, there’s not shortage of top-ranked opponents going at it on Saturday. I have 4 different conferences represented on Saturday, the SEC, Big 12, Mountain West, and the Big East – and the big East is BIG! All games should be good, but Villanova and Syracuse has a special place in my heart, that should be a great one! There aren’t any odds out yet, but I’ll give a prediction of the score below and you can decide on your bet accordingly.

Kentucky Wildcats (2) @ Tennessee Volunteers (17) (12:00pm ET, 2-27 – CBS): This game should be big time. The Volunteers can definitely be up and down, and there’s been some off the court business that has take it’s toll on the Tennessee club, but if one thing is consistent about them, they have competitive guys that step up big for big games. This is what you’d call a big game. The Vols have lost 3 of their last 5 and are just 5-5 over their last 10 games, but this game is big. Kentucky has lost just once this year, but they’ve had their share of close calls. What it comes down to is being at Tennessee, and I think the Vols will be ready to shut down all-world talent John Wall. That should be just enough to get them a huge upset win on Saturday. Tennessee 71, Kentucky 68.

Texas Longhorns (21) @ Texas A&M Aggies (23) (2:00pm ET, 2-27 – ESPN): From ranked #1 all the way down to #21, the Longhorns have seen their season take a turn for the worse. They are now 4th in the Big 12, and have lost 6 of their last 11 games after beating the Aggies in overtime on January 16th. That was a home game for the Longhorns, but now they’re on the road where they’ve gone 2-4 since that win. The Aggies are moving in the other direction, winning 7 of their last 10 games, and showing they can cause some problems in the post-season. I like the Aggies to continue their stellar home basketball (13-1 this season) and beat their in-state rivals. Texas A&M 73, Texas 68.

New Mexico Lobos (12) @ BYU Cougars (11) (4:00pm ET, 2-27): The Lobos haven’t lost in the last 12 games, and you have to go all the way back to the first 10 days of January to find an L on their schedule. During that stretch, they did away witha  couple good MWAC teams, including BYU. But I have to go with the Cougs to win this one – it’s tough to beat a good team twice (and BYU is a very good team) and while New Mexico has shown they are a good road team (only 2 losses on the road or at a neutral site this season) I have to go with the home team finding a way to get a win on Saturday. BYU 76, New Mexico 69.

Villanova Wildcats (8) @ Syracuse Orange (4) (9:00pm ET, 2-27- ESPN): This is my game of the day and it doesn’t need too many words to describe why. Both these teams have a chance at the title, both have really clutch players, and both are coached to do what they do better than how anybody else does it. This is also #1 vs #2 in the Big East standings, and if you haven’t noticed, there’s no conference knocking at the door of the Big East as far as best conference in College Basketball. These two teams haven’t played in over a year, a game which Villanova won 89-86 in one heck of a game. The winning team has scored at least 80 points in each of the last 5 contests, while both teams have score 80+ in each of the last 2. I think this is another close one, maybe too close to call, but I like Villanova to put up one hell of a fight, and in a game they could really use to get that confidence going for the final month of the season (the Dance included) I like them to upset Syracuse. Villanova 82, Syracuse 78.