Saturday Basketball Preview
Eight Big Ten teams will be in action on Saturday including some big time matchups. The biggest game of the weekend proves to be Texas-Michigan State, where two top 10 teams will face off in East Lansing. It should be the best weekend of the season to date. Let's take a look at a few of the big games on the schedule for Saturday. #8 UCLA at Michigan - 2:00PM CBS This game sounds better than it will actually be. Maybe in a few years when Coach Beilein's system has been fully implemented at Michigan this will be a more exciting game. UCLA comes to town with a 10-1 record, the Bruin's only loss coming at the hands of #5 Texas by just 2 points. Michigan has been very inconsistent to date and it will take a miracle for the Wolverines to pull off an upset. Florida at Ohio State - 4:00PM CBS Oh how the mighty have fallen. Well, sort of. Neither team is as strong as last year in this rematch of last year's National Championship. Florida is 11-1, but lost their only game against a major conference team, a 65-51 home loss to Florida State. More recently, the Gators also struggled in a 52-49 win over Georgia Southern. Ohio State is 7-3 in their first ten, but those three losses have all come to very quality foes Texas A&M, North Carolina, and Butler. #5 Texas at #10 Michigan State - 6:30PM ESPN2 Ex-Wonk John Gasaway previews this game over at Basketball Prospectus much better than we could. If you haven't visited Gasaway and tempo-free genius Ken Pomeroy's new Basketball Prospectus site, you should. Illinois vs Missouri (at St Louis) - 8:30PM ESPN2 The annual border war for Busch Braggin' Rights continues Saturday night in St. Louis. Illinois comes into this season's tilt fresh off an overtime home loss to Miami (OH) Thursday night. Missouri has won three straight home contests to improve their record to 8-3 on the year with losses to Michigan State, Arkansas and California. The Illini will need more production out of their backcourt to have any chance against a fast paced Mizzou squad. Illinois point guard Chester Frazier has made just one of his last 18 shot attempts over the past couple games. |