Mountaineer Mania!

West Virginia is the big story today as they knock off powerhouse UCLA. We wish we had called this upset, but we did say it would be close (so does that count?). How about the other games? Come and see:

1. Florida: at #18 Kentucky. The Wildcats have not beaten a top-25 team this season. And, they have struggled against teams that are not good (SEE: allowing 12-10 South Carolina to score 61 points in the second half on Wednesday as the Wildcats barely won). Florida, as we have said, does tend to play "comfortable" in the second half of games, allowing opponents to get closer than they should. Kentucky has lost just 2 games at home this season, both by just 5 points, so we know they are tough at home (SEE: Ashley Judd). Florida looked beatable at Georgia earlier this week as they struggled to beat the Bulldogs. Both teams go 7-8 deep. We're going to call an upset here. Kentucky wins. We were close, as Florida AGAIN allowed a team to outscore them in the second half. Kentucky only lost by 3, and if the game had been 2 minutes longer they would have won. Florida #1? Uh, we don't concur.

2. UCLA: at West Virginia. The Mountaineers are coming off a disappointing loss to Pitt, and they just can't seem to get their scoring going, despite some pretty strong offensive weapons. UCLA is riding high after beating USC. The Bruins will win this game, but it may be close. Neither team was particularly strong offensively, and the Bruins actually were dominant in rebounding (especially offensive), but the Mountaineers took care of the basketball better, and played better defense than UCLA.

3. Ohio State: hosts Purdue. Oden will shut down Landry, thus taking out most of the Boilermaker offense. The Buckeyes win again. Atlanta for OSU? We'll see. NBA for Oden? We're saying no. Sorry Celtics. Purdue played the best game they are capable of, but it was not enough as OSU stays perfect at home for the season.

4. Wisconsin: play host to Iowa. Despite that pesky loss to Indiana, Win-consin is rolling and proving their worth. We see no problem for them with Iowa. Badgers win. Yes, Wisconsin should not have let Iowa hang around for the entire game. This should have been a 30-point win. But, don't doubt Win-consin. They are on their way to Hot-lanta.

5. UNC: host Weak Forest. Are the Heels worn out from their comeback at Duke? Can the Demon Deacons (what's with all the Satanic mascots in the ACC?) possibly beat this very talented Carolina team at the Dean Dome? Well, it really depends on who wants it more. If UNC comes out thinking they are going to win, then they will lose. We think that will not happen. Weak Forest just has no scorers. That's the bottom line. Heels win. Absolutely no contest here. Wake had a small run, but UNC quickly buried the Satanic Deacons. With UCLA losing, the Heels should move up to #4 in the Coaches' poll next week. NOTE: if they can play an entire game as well as they play in spurts, then they are unbeatable. Ol' Roy just needs to find the right formula. This is a team that, on their best night, cannot be beaten. Period.

6. Pitt: hosts Providence. Logic says that despite the fact that Pitt is over-rated, they will win this game. We'll side with logic here. And logic wins, as does Pitt. We still are not taken by the Panthers. They are not a top-10 team.

7. Texas A&M: at Nebraska. High-speed train picking up speed meets small car stalled on the tracks. The Aggies dominate. The Aggies didn't quite demolish the Huskers like we thought, but they did win.

8. Kansas: at Missouri. No need to comment. Jayhawks win. OK, the Jayhawks did win big, but they only outscored Missouri by 4 in the second half. Folks, how many times do we have to emphasize that in order to advance in the Big Dance (that rhymes, by-the-way) you have to finish strong?

9. Butler: at Wright State. Battle for first place in the Horizon. Butler just has more offense. They will win. We have been wondering when Butler's weak schedule was going to call them out, and it was today. They are not a top-10 team. Let's just rank them around 22 please. Please?

10. Memphis: hosts Tulane. Just no way Tulane can pull out a win here. Memphis is streaking hard. Memphis crushed Tulane. This Tigers' team is beginning to look for real. They move up to 6 or 7 in the poll next week.

12. Marquette: at #23 Georgetown. This game begs for some expert analysis. That's why we're here. Both teams have been very impressive the past couple of weeks. Both teams go 8-10 deep. The keys will be rebounding and FG percentage. The team that comes out on top in both of those stats will win the game. This is a very hard call, but we will go with Marquette. As we said, the team that comes out on top in rebounding and FG% will win. Georgetown did just that and they won. We missed our prediction, but we called the keys to the game. We are pretty good.

13. Air Force: at New Mexico. Air Force SHOULD beat New Mexico, but we have discovered that the Falcons are inconsistent, especially in games when they really should have no problem. However, we'll give AF another chance and declare them the victors in this game. Realistically, if they can't knock off teams like this (SEE: Utah) then they can't get very far in the NCAA Dance. We did give them another chance, and they held up to their promise by beating New Mexico. BUT (and this is a huge but) they looked very vulnerable in the first half, scoring just 19 points. We are still holding out judgement for this team until the end of the regular season. They could easily lose 3 of their last 5 games.

14. Washington State: hosts California. We believe in this Cougars team. California is coming off a 5-game losing streak. While the Golden Bears will be hungry for a win, they cannot compete with WSU. Cougars win. How can you not like this Washington State team? They have their best season in 15 years, and they are climbing hard in the rankings. They need to turn up the volume and finish strong in the Pac-10, because in their last 5 regular season games they will face 3 teams that are in the top-25. Oh, and they won today.

15. Oregon: play host to Arizona. This will be a good game. We wouldn't want to play the Wounded Wildcats right now. They have been humiliated over the past several weeks, and are trying to join the ranks of "teams on the bubble." The Ducks need to win this game to bounce back from some bad losses and close wins (against woeful teams). We pick Zona. And we were right. Some may ask "Is it hard being right most of the time? Isn't the pressure to pick winners unbearable?" It really isn't. The fact is that we love college basketball, and as we have told you before, we are here to make YOU, the reader, successful in your office NCAA Tourney pools. That's it.

17. Oklahoma State: hosts Texas Tech. Both teams are imploding coming into this game. We think the Cowboys will be so elated to play at home after 2-straight road losses that they should win this game. BUT, if OK State does win, it hands Bobby Knight his 5th loss in a row. Don't you think Knight's players will be so damn scared to lose that they will do anything they can to win, lest they face the whipping post Sunday morning? Yeah, Texas Tech wins. Please pray for the Texas Tech players as they have now lost 5 in a row. Bobby Knight will keep his coaching staff up all night tonight watching the tape of this game over and over and asking "will we ever win another game" 50 times. Practice tomorrow will be something that the Texas Tech players will remember on their deathbeds. Let's just hope that Bob can keep his hands to himself.

19. Alabama: at Mississippi. Bama is not all that good, so the Rebels will beat them. Bama is not good, and, as we said, Mississippi wins. Alabama does not belong in the top-25.

20. Southern Illinois: hosts Creighton. Hey, don't laugh. Both of these teams are atop the Missouri Valley Conference, and both are coming off impressive winning streaks. And, both teams are statistically even in each category. For example: Creighton scores 1.34 points per possession, while S. Illinois scores 1.32. We're kind of mystified here, and we'll have to go with the home team. The Salukis (?????????) win. A Saluki is a hound dog. It kind of looks like a greyhound with shaggy ears. So, the shaggy-eared hound dogs win, as we said. Ruff!

24. Indiana: hosts Illinois. While our beloved ESPN team of analysts today were saying "out" for the Illini for the Big Dance, we would have to respectfully disagree. They are better than Indiana, and will prove it as they win this game. We blew this one, but it was close enough to prove that Illinois needs to have some respect. We think they belong somewhere in the top-25.

25. Texas: play host to Iowa State. Let's face it, Texas is only in the top-25 because everyone is infatuated with Kevin Durant. Overall, the Longhorns are average. We hope that Rick Barnes enjoys "Life with Kevin" now, because this time next year Durant will be playing for Boston or Golden State with a fat checking account and a pimped-out ride. All that to say. Texas wins this game at home. One win closer to the NBA for Kevin Durant.

We're pretty satisfied with going 13-6 today. Let's check out the action for tomorrow:

16. Duke: at Maryland. Both teams NEED to win this game. The Terps have lost 5 of their last 8, and the Blue Satans are reeling from 3 straight losses--2 of them at home. Both teams are average in all of the important stats, but Maryland is averaging 79 points a game while Duke is just managing 69. Depth? About even, although the Terps hold the edge. Both teams go 7-8 deep, but Maryland gets more quality production from that depth than Duke does. Ouch, this is a hard one to call. We're going with our gut and calling Maryland the winner. It will be a fun game to watch, especially since both coaches are so intense (Gary Williams sweats about a gallon of smelly liquid each game, and Mike Cry curses enough each game to buy him a front seat in Hell).

Get some sleep.