A great schedule of games set for Saturday, and should provide tons of excitement and entertainment. Our best bets of today include a Big 12, ACC, and PAC 12 matchups.
Our first matchup of the day begins with our Big 12 matchup between #20 Texas and West Virginia. This should be an intense matchup between two great basketball programs. West Virginia has struggled against great teams all season, but they can compete and possibly pull off the upset today. Our next matchup of the day is our ACC matchup between #7 Duke and Syracuse. These games are always entertaining and somehow come down to the final minutes no matter the difference between the two teams. We expect another close matchup, but as a Syracuse fan I just hope we don’t lose by 20. The final matchup of our best bets for Saturday is our PAC 12 matchup with #12 UCLA andOregon State. Oregon State has three wins on the season and UCLA is number 12 in the country, this will be like a varsity team playing against a JV team.
Now let’s take a closer look at our best bets for Saturday
A Big 12 matchup between #20 Texas and West Virginia. This is a rematch from New Year’s Day, where Texas beat West Virginia 74-59. Texas has been a great team all season and West Virginia is a good team, but struggles against great teams.
Texas is having a great season with a 20-8 record. Texas did start the season in the top ten, but overall are having a great season. Texas has been efficient on defense all season and it showed in the first game against West Virginia. Texas got off to a great start last game by only allowing 20 points in the first half to West Virginia. Texas was forcing many extra passes, which led to poor shots all game for West Virginia. Texas has a great defense and they will rely on it for this game again. Texas only allows 58 points per game to opponents. Texas also is solid on the offensive end as well averaging 68 points per game, but has looked inconsistent at times. Texas played great on offense last game against West Virginia, specifically shooting threes. Texas has done it before and there is no reason they cannot easily win this game again.
West Virginia is having a tough season with a 14-14 record. They have lost five in a row and they have not looked good at all. Two of their losses were within five points, but the other three were all bad losses. West Virginia has played awful on defense during these five losses. They have not stopped an opponent from scoring over 70 points in any of the five games. West Virginia only allows opponents 68 points per game, but that has surely gone up from before with their awful play as of late. West Virginia needs to figure out their recent defensive struggles because their offense has not helped them out all season. West Virginia struggled offensively against Texas in the first matchup and it is expected to happen in this game too.
With West Virginia’s poor play as of late and considering the first matchup Texas is the easy pick. That’s why our pick is for Texas to cover the 2.5 point spread,
An ACC matchup between #7 Duke and Syracuse. One of the best matchups every year between these two schools. This is a rematch from earlier in the season where Duke won by 20. Two hall of fame coaches are going at it one last time before coach K retires, this will be a must watch game for college basketball fans.
As a Syracuse fan they are not having a good season for what we have been used to. Syracuse is still 15-13 and has played decent throughout the season. They are coming off of a loss where they once again have struggled on defense. They have looked putrid on defense all season. Syracuse allows 74 points per game to opponents, clearly the zone defense has not worked this season. Syracuse has relied on their offense too much this season and need their defense to step up in this matchup. Last matchup Syracuse was dominated by Duke, but you cannot count out ‘Cuse in the Dome. Syracuse has played good enough teams so far to know what they need to do to win tonight. Jim Boeheim should have the team ready and I would not be surprised if this team can somehow pull it off.
Duke is having a great season with a 24-4 record. They have been one of the top teams from day one of the season. They have so much talent on this team with Paolo Banchero, Wendell Moore, Trevor Kees, Mark Williams, and Aj Griffin. They have the talent to make noise much further down in the season, but for now they are looking to sweep rival Syracuse. They dominated the last game by winning 79-59. Last game Duke could not miss from three and Syracuse could not hit threes all game. Duke should be able to play that successfully on offense again against the struggling Syracuse defense, but Duke will need to shut down their offense again. Duke only allowed 59 points in the first matchup, but Syracuse is bound to score much more this game. Duke only allows 65 points to opponents per game, if they can hold Syracuse to under 70 they will easily win this game.
Duke is a great team, but you can never bet against Syracuse in the dome. We like Syracuse to cover the 7.5 spread.
A PAC 12 matchup between #12 UCLA and Oregon State. A huge difference in talent between these two teams. This is a rematch where UCLA dominated and they should be able to easily do it again.
UCLA is having a great season with a 20-6 record. They have been great since the start of the year. They are coming off of a loss to Oregon though, where they lost 68-63. It was a game where UCLA surprisingly struggled on offense. UCLA has a great offense with tons of talent. UCLA averages 76 points per game on offense and put up 81 points in the first matchup against Oregon State. UCLA should have no problem putting up 70+ points and even 80 again if they play how they did in the first matchup. UCLA will easily win this game, the question is just by how much?
Oregon State is looking to end the season as soon as possible. Oregon State is 3-23, easily one of the worst teams in college basketball. They do play in a great conference, but 3-23 is pretty awful. Oregon State struggles on offense and struggles on defense, there is not one positive about their team. They have gone from a Cinderella story last season to one of the worst teams this season. They lost 81-65 in the first matchup against UCLA, this matchup will most likely be very similar to the first one.
It’s not even close because Oregon State is awful this year, that is why we like UCLA to cover the 13.5 point spread.
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