Buckeye Luck

Greg "Manchild" Oden and his Ohio State Buckeyes come in first this week. Are they #1 for real? No. Win-consin is.

How about tonight's games?

8. Pitt: at Seton Hall. The Pirates look sketchy as of late, with the loss to Louisville and the close call at home with Washington--both this week. But let's face it, Seton Hall will need a miracle to pull off a win here. They can't seem to win at home or on the road. Pitt wins. Pitt entered this game after dropping from #5 to #8 in the Coaches' poll (they should really be about #15). And, the Panthers continue to look like they are over-ranked as they beat lowly Seton Hall by only 3. To be in the top-10 or 15, you have to be able to play deep, but Pitt showed how they will struggle if they lose a key player. Tonight it was Aaron Gray. The NCAA tourney will not be kind to this team. Depth and defensive are the keys to winning this season. Pitt has neither.

6. Kansas: play at Kansas State. ESPN at 9:00 EST. Watch this. KSU has lost one game at home this season, and they will be smelling revenge from the 27-point hurting that the Jayhawks put on them earlier in the season. The Wildcats are a good team, but their biggest flaw is not sharing the rock. If they can look to pass (especially the easy ones down low that lead to high-percentage shots), and if they can get some production from typically quiet guys like Akeem Wright, then they have a good chance to win. In fact, we're going to call the upset. Kansas State wins. OK, check the comments to our entry from yesterday. MUD said Kansas would win by 30. OK, the Jayhawks did win, but this was not even a blowout, as Kansas State led at the half. Yes, we were wrong about the outcome, but we do know more about hoops than our MUD-based friends. Let's also point out that Kansas continues to not share the ball, as we said--SIX assists tonight. AND, as we also said, if Kansas State can get production out of players like Akeem Wright then they have a good chance to win. While they did not win, Wright was high-scorer for Kansas State. MUD, we appreciate your love for Kansas, but we like to look at things with perspective. We have a favorite team as well, but our love for that team does not cloud our judgement. You may want to check us out come tourney time so that you will have a chance to win your office pool.

15. Butler: at Wisconsin-GB. Butler is average, but WGB is bad. Butler wins. Butler fell from 12 to 15 in the Coaches' poll this week, but we think they should not even be ranked. Smelly-bad WGB actually led at the half before Butler managed to win by 10. This Butler team may not even get an NCAA bid. Remember that they struggled to beat Florida Gulf Coast (not even a D-1 team) by 6 last week.

16. Marquette: hosts Villanova. Marquette wins. No need to spend any time on this one. Nova led at the half, but Marquette did win by 13. BTW, Marquette fell from #13 in the Coaches' poll this week after losing three games in a row. Our thought on Marquette? Not a top-25 team.

How about Tuesday?

2. Wisconsin: play at Michigan State. The Badgers will be so upset by not being picked #1 this week that they will take out their frustrations on the lowly Spartans. Win-consin wins again.

13. Air Force: at UNLV. Upset. UNLV is good, and the Falcons are suffering the mid-season blues. UNLV wins.

18. West Virginia: at Providence. Experience and turnovers will be the Mountaineers' downfall. Providence wins.

20. Texas: hosts Texas Tech. Sorry Bobby, your team will fall against the Longhorns, who are looking to prove themselves after just getting back into the rankings this week.

23. Notre Dame: host DePaul. The Irish lost to DePaul less than 2 weeks ago, but they will not lose this one. ND wins.

Goede nacht.