Super Saturday

Lots of games today. Here we go:

1. Florida: at Auburn. Yes, we noted what Jeff Lebo's Tigers did to Alabama, and we were impressed. However, they have their work cut out for them with #1 Florida, who is rolling on an 11-game win streak. As we mentioned before, Auburn has not lost at home this season, and their scoring is well-balanced, meaning they are hard to guard since each of their starting five can score. The Gators are a good match-up, since they are about as deep as Auburn, but rebounding will be the key to this game. We say Florida will win, but not by much. This game could go to OT. Not even close. The Gators just took the Tigers down. As we said, rebounding was the key as Florida edged out Auburn in this stat 33-25. The real key turned out to be 3-pointers. UF nailed 9 of 14, while the Tigers got 1 of 13.

4. North Carolina: at #19 Arizona. The Wildcats will play hard at home, but the Tar Heels depth will be Arizona's downfall. Heels win. Who thought this would be such a blow-out? Especially with UNC playing without Brandan Wright, their second-leading scorer, and Marcus Ginyard, the master of defense. Lots will be said about this game, but the bottom line is that the Heels were just the better team. With Ty Lawson now a scoring AND ball-handling threat, can anyone beat this team? Five Heels' in double figures. Hello Final Four for Ol' Roy.

5. Ohio State: Michigan State at home. Each team is good, and each team is on a winning streak. Yes, the Spartans beat Texas early in the season, and they are only one game behind the Buckeyes in the Big Ten. We are really unsure about who will win. We usually pick the home team when we think it will be close, but this time we're going with Michigan State. BUT, if Greg Oden dominates it will be a long game for MSU. Oden had a great game, and it was close as OSU wins by only 2. We knew we might miss this game, and we did.

6. Texas A&M: get Oklahoma at home. The Aggies are good, but they can't rebound worth crap. But they have depth, and that will be enough to beat the Sooners NOTE: Oklahoma beat OK State a couple of days ago, so we sense, but won't call, an upset. We're glad we didn't call this as an upset. This was pretty close all the way, but the Aggies prevailed.

7. Oregon: play away at #18 Washington State. Coming off a tough loss to Washington, Oregon will lose another game to the Cougars. Wrong! Oregon wins in OT.

8. Kansas: play Colorado at home. the Buffaloes are no match for the Jayhawks. Kansas wins. And they did win. Kansas is peaking.

9. Pitt: play St. John's at home. Rebounding will be the key in this game as Pitt pulls down more boards to beat the Red Storm. Red Storm. Help me remember what St. John's was called before we got all politically correct. It was some Indian name. Oh, we remember now--St. John's Redmen. Right? Wasn't that it? Oh my, how demeaning (read: sarcasm). Oh, we are good (most of the time). Pitt out-rebounded the Red Whatever by 14 (like we said they would) and won BIG.

11. Butler: they play at Detroit. As we noted earlier, Butler has to blow out everyone in their conference to remain legit. They should bounce back from a close call with Loyola-Chicago to stomp the Titans. OK, Butler needs to win by more than 10 over a team that is now 7-13. Finishing will be Butler's downfall this season. Once again, they need to blow out the pitiful teams in their conference to get a decent ranking in the Big Dance.

12. Alabama: draw Arkansas at home. The Razorbacks cannot finish and will lose to Bama. Arkansas didn't have to finish as they dominated the first half and held on for the ride in the second half. What is it with the SEC this season? No team, except Florida, has stood out, and it seems that anyone can win or lose on any given night. That means the SEC teams are either well-balanced or that they are all average. We'll see, but we do know that they only have 3 teams currently ranked, and one of them, which we will not name (but rhymes with Petucky), that should not be anywhere near a top-25. AND, Bama has lost 4 of their last 6 SEC games. They will fall into the low-20's in Monday's rankings.

13. Air Force: at Brigham Young. The Mormons, oh sorry, the Cougars are not a bad team, but air Force is better. Falcons dominate. The Mormons shot down Air Force to win their 27th-straight at home. Give it up for polygamy! Joseph Smith would be proud. We missed this one. The Falcons are having trouble winning away.

14. Memphis: play Southern Miss at home. The Golden Eagles are no match for Memphis. They lost to the Tigers at home, and Memphis will prevail in this game as well. Southern Miss gave Memphis all they could handle in the second half, but the Tigers win. This was an incredibly well-balanced game, and Memphis was lucky to pull this one out.

15. Nevada: play Utah State at home. Utah State is on a five-game winning streak, and they have only lost five games this season. But, they have not played a top-25 team yet. Nevada will be too much for them as the Wolf Pack wins. Look for this to a close game, though. This was only close in the second half as Nevada wins.

16. Oklahoma State: get Iowa State at home. Man, it seems like most of the top-ranked teams are playing at home on Saturday. The Cowboys are coming off losses to Kansas and Texas A&M, and Iowa State did take Kansas to the wire a week and a half ago, but OK State will dominate. They need to in order to justify their ranking. We believe in this team, though. They are still our pick for the Final Four. Down by 6 in the first half, OK State out-scores Iowa State 45-27 in the second half to win. The Cyclones could not connect as they shot below 40%.

21. Notre Dame: again, play host to Villanova. The Wilcats massacred the Irish a little more than a week ago, and they are on a roll. Notre Dame is struggling. Villanova wins. Close game, but the Irish proved us wrong in a poor-shooting game for both teams.

24. Indiana: once again, this top-ranked team plays at home against Michigan. Michigan did lose early in the season to woeful NC State, but we think the Hoosiers are over-ranked and will lose to the Wolverines. Wow, we are sucking wind tonight as the Hoosiers had no problem with Michigan.

So, we went 9-6 tonight. Not a good showing. Are we losing our edge? Don't count on it. We will bounce back on Sunday's games. Check it out:

2. UCLA: at Stanford. The Pac-10 will put 6 teams in the NCAA Tourney. Tough. Stanford will win at home. We still say UCLA is not the #2 team in the country.

3. Wisconsin: at Iowa. The Hawkeyes are up-and-down this season, and Win-consin is too tough for them. The Badgers are the best team in the nation, and they will prove it as they take down Steve Alford and Iowa.

10. Duke: play Boston College at home. B-C is the better team, and they take care of the basketball better than the Blue Devils (Greg Paulus is Mister Turnover). They also rebound better than Duke. But, when you are playing at Cameron Indoor you have to be poised, and the Eagles are not experienced enough to handle all the "classy" comments and ruckus they will get from 9,314 students from New Jersey. Dook wins.

17. Clemson: host Virginia. Another ACC matchup as the Tigers shut down Sean Singletary and beat the Cavaliers.

20. Marquette: at South Florida. Marquette is glad to see: 1. warm weather, and 2. a very bad team, to win this game away.

22. LSU: plays at Georgia. LSU, battered from 2-straight losses to unranked teams, will struggle again at Georgia. The Bulldogs win.

23. Virginia Tech: play at Georgia Tech. Can the Georgia Tech toddlers beat an experienced Virginia Tech team?? No. Both teams suck on the boards, but the Hokies' (please, for the love, tell me what in the world a Hokie is!!!) depth helps Va. Tech eke out a win.

25. Kentucky: play Tennessee at home. Ashley Judd will have her day cut out for her as UT keeps up with the sub-par Wildcats. Neither team is good, so we have to flip a coin on this one. Give the win to the Volunteers. Sorry to the Judd family.

See you Sunday.