It’s been a fun and tumultuous week of college hoops. The revolving rankings have continued to spin as eleven of the Top Twenty teams have already taken losses THIS WEEK, and four of the teams have taken a pair (Texas Tech, Arizona State, Seton Hall and Clemson). The Big Ten seems wide-open after Michigan State’s dismal performances against Michigan and Ohio State, the ACC is far-from-certain thanks to Duke’s pair of losses this season to Boston College and NC State, and the SEC seemed to make a lot more sense before Texas A&M went from #5 in the country to 0-5 in conference play.

The Big Twelve have stolen most of the pub this season, and deservedly so, thanks to the nearly-unheard of depth and excellence of the league. SO often in the shadows of the ACC and Big Ten, the Big Twelve is not only the best league in the country, once could make the argument it is as good as any conference has been in the modern NCAA Field of 68 Era. Yes, the old Big East produced some behemoths, and the ACC has often featured a dozen dazzling teams, but they all had weaknesses as well. There was always a DePaul or Boston College to drag down the ranks.

There is NO free win in this season’s Big Twelve. The WORST team in the league is Iowa State, who is 10-7 with wins over Iowa, Northern Iowa and Baylor. The ninth place team? Oklahoma State, Baylor or Kansas State – all who would easily make the Field of 68 if they were in a different league.

The league is simply ridiculously loaded and a ton of fun. From runaway National POY, Trae Young, to Top Twenty teams like Press Virginia, Texas Tech. Even bottom-tier teams like Texas are dangerous and feature Lottery Picks like Mo Bomba.

Which brings me to Kansas. And the most remarkable streak since UCLA in the 60’s/70’s. There is little understating the ‘yuuuuge’ness of the Jayhawks win this week in Morgantown. It puts them squarely in position to win or share their 13^th straight Big Twelve title – easily a record for major conference dominance, and they will do it in yet ANOTHER year where the National Player of the Year was lurking in the same league. Amazing, amazing stuff…

OK, it’s a massive day of college hoops, so let’s get to some free picks. Apologies for some gaps in columns lately. I took a month sabbatical in Costa Rica – and while it was refreshing to get away from business and the world, I definitely found my way to the local casino and sportsbook plenty often and paid for a few Guaro Sours! (Thank you Jayhawks for the underdog straight-up winner, drinks for everyone!)

Here we go!

TODAY’S TOP COLLEGE BASKETBALL PICKS:

Purdue Boilermakers -10.5 at Iowa Hawkeyes

Purdue could very well be the best team in the country. They have yet to lose inside the continental United States, and even their foibles abroad look better today; the win over Arizona is fantastic, and the three point loss to Tennessee seems reasonable. More importantly, they haven’t lost in 2018 and their margin of victory has only been single-digits once; a hard-fought road win at Michigan. They most recently dispatched Minnesota on the road and Wisconsin by a combined 62 points.

Purdue is big, physical, athletic, smart, and can shoot. They don’t take bad shots. The value the basketball and they are allowing less than 60 points a night in conference play. Granted, the Big Ten schedule has opened kindly. Aside from a roadie at Michigan and the other two aforementioned games, they have beaten Rutgers and Nebraska. So perhaps it is premature to crown this team Big Ten Champs. But it also seems foolish to think Iowa is hanging around today. Iowa is 1-6 in conference play with a blowout loss to Indiana and losses to Penn State, Illinois and a 16-pointer this week at Rutgers.

Look for Purdue to exploit the Hawkeyes many, many weaknesses and roll to a big victory.

MY PICK: PURDUE -10.5

 

Arizona Wildcats -5 at Stanford Cardinal

I’m stubborn on this one, admittedly, but while the whole nation sold their Arizona stock back in November, I loaded up more. I’m still a strong BUY on the most talented team in the nation, Arizona. Excepting those three disastrous days in the Bahamas, Arizona is 15-1, 5-1 in conference play, and owns wins over Arizona State and Texas A&M. And the still have baby Dwight Howard with a jump shot, DeAndre Ayton (and Rusic, Trier, Awlkins, etc.)

Stanford is the surprise of the Pac-12, checking in tied for the conference lead with Arizona at 5-1. However, they are just 11-8 overall with losses to Eastern Washington, Portland State and Long Beach State. So, either this is the greatest turnaround in recent memory, or the Pac 12 is a little down this season and they had a nice night this week against Arizona State…

Perhaps it is somewhere in-between. Wins over USC and UCLA prove that Stanford’s early losses are certainly odd and now in the rearview mirror, but those losses also prove this team is probably not in the class of the Wildcats. I’m still a believer in Arizona and will need to see something glaring to change my mind. It’s a road game tonight at Maples, so the Cardinal have a chance, but…

I don’t think we’ll see it tonight. I’m still all-in on ‘Zona.

MY PICK: ARIZONA WILDCATS -5

 

Tennessee Volunteers -3.5 at South Carolina Gamecocks

The road is a tough place to win in SEC conference play. Ask Kentucky, who made the same trip Tennessee has today earlier this week. UK had the game under control for 34 minutes before the feverish home crowd and Gamecock pressure surged to victory. We could see a very similar scenario tonight. Tennessee has been ranked most of the season and South Carolina never even close to earning a spot in the Top 25, but let’s face it – is there really a ton of difference between these two (or nearly any two SEC) teams???

I’ll take the points at home. I like this Tennessee team, but the SEC feels like a 10-12 team jumble. In the face of parity, take points and the home crowd.

MY PICK: SOUTH CAROLINA +3.5

 

Other leans tonight include Kentucky -3 at home over Florida, Arizona State stabilizing themselves on the road at a bad Cal team, Seton Hall at home over a Xavier team that has struggled in most games despite often winning, and Gonzaga unleashing a flurry of frustration on Santa Clara tonight after their tough loss at home to hated rival St. Mary’s (and potentially costing themselves their seemingly eternal reign over the WCC).

Good luck – and enjoy some awesome hoops!!