It’s been a wacky week in college hoops.  The top team in the nation got blown out at home after the best player in the nation’s shoe blew out, and, well, probably best to let that sentence marinate on its own…

But that’s far from the only excitement that may portend a ton of March madness to ensue.  Defending champs Villanova got smoked at Georgetown, Nevada took an L at San Diego State, and outside of Gonzaga who hasn’t been tested in two months – who looks like a clear cut, no-doubt title contender?

It makes the third-to-last Saturday of the regular season even more exciting.  Let’s see if we can make it better with a couple wagering victories.

TODAY’S FREE PICKS:

Auburn Tigers at Kentucky Wildcats -7

UK is rolling.  ROLLING.  Yeah, they had the slip-up loss to LSU in the ultimate trap game two weeks ago, but aside from that, the Wildcats have reeled off 12 wins, including a battering of Tennessee and a string of home blowout wins. Mississippi State,  comparable team, came to Rupp and left with a 20-point L.  Tennessee left shook.  Same with South Carolina, Vandy, Texas A&M and Kansas.

Meanwhile, Auburn continues to be a team that is just not quite as good as hoped before the season. 5-5 in their last ten games with a few decent wins; Arkansas, Florida, Alabama, and a bunch of losses; LSU. Mississippi State, Kentucky, South Carolina.  They’ll make the tourney, but they are in a far different class than Kentucky right now.

UK has been reeling off double digit wins with regularity. I expect it to continue this afternoon at home.

FREE PICK:  KENTUCKY WILDCATS -7

Virginia Tech Hokies -4 at Notre Dame Fighting Irish

I know road favorites give many of you nervous palpitations – and for good reason – there are always a few random games each season where a lousy team rises up on their home floor and knocks off a ranked favored foe.  But I don’t think this is that situation.

Notre Dame has THREE conference wins this season.  A home and home with Boston College and a four-point home win over Georgia Tech.  They have home losses to Wake Forest and Syracuse by double digits and lost by half a million at home to Virginia (no shame).  They just aren’t GOOD this season – a rarity in the Mike Brey era, but an absolute empirical truth in 2019.

Meanwhile, VA Tech has hit a few weird road bumps, but all in all, has been solid the entire season.  They dropped a home game to Louisville and followed it up with a surprising loss at Clemson where they scored 51 points.  They have also held NC State to 24 points and are 9-5 in ACC play.  They are a concerning 4-9-1 ATS in conference play, but Notre Dame is an equally-lousy 4-9 ATS.  The difference is that VA Tech has a lot of close non-covers and an average margin of +3.6 in conference play.  Notre Dame is a dreadful -7.3 ppg.

I’ll take Buzz’s squad on the road to continue Notre Dame’s misery.  Aside from a win over Purdue on a neutral over Christmas, Notre Dame has no real quality wins.  I don’t think they get their first real conference win today either.

FREE PICK:  VIRGINIA TECH -4