Arizona and Michigan Set the Stage for a Friday Full of Chaos and Opportunity

Guys, there isn’t much else to say about the Kansas State Wildcats that I haven't already said, other than that their roster resembles the Elite Eight roster, and they have an elite offense.  The Wildcats beat California on Thursday night in one of the better games of the season.  Kansas State came out of the gates firing and jumped out to a massive lead at halftime, but thanks to a 62-point second half, the California Golden Bears gave Kansas State a game.  Cal just couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch to win the game.  

As good as the Kansas State game was, the game of the night was Purdue's win over Alabama in Coleman.  It was a high-level basketball game from start to finish; ultimately, that game validated what most already knew.  Purdue is incredible and every bit of a National Title contender, and Alabama further reinforced how good they potentially could be.  Purdue won the game and Alabama couldn’t make enough threes down the stretch, but the Boilermakers may have lost Trey Kaufmann-Renn, he left the game early with an injury.  Braden Smith, the frontrunner for National Player of the Year, scored 29 and was brilliant down the stretch of that game.

Thursday was a great transition to the Friday schedule that also features two ranked teams playing each other.   In addition to the ranked teams playing each other there are a couple of power teams looking to bounce back after taking some awful losses over their first couple of games.  The upsets may not happen but the schedule sets up for numerous upsets to happen.  The best games of the day are highlighted followed by a pick of the straight up winner for the rest of the games.

Northwestern Wildcats at DePaul Blue Demons - The Battle of Chicago’s two Power conference teams.

The Battle of Chicago heads to WinTrust Arena where DePaul desperately needs a win.  The hope was that head coach Chris Holtmann would turn around the DePaul program quickly, and while the program has made strides and are recruiting at a much higher level than they have been in the past, the Blue Demons still dropped a home game to Buffalo.  Nothing would kick start the DePaul rebuild quicker than a win over the other fellow Chicago power conference team.

Northwestern isn’t expected to do much this year in the Big Ten given how much they lost from last year.  The Wildcats will have the best player on the floor in this game with Nick Martinelli, but he is going to need to start getting some more help on a consistent basis as the season rolls on. Northwestern should win this game but rivalry games are odd and weird things happen, especially when the other team is as desperate as DePaul is.

No. 7. Michigan Wolverines at TCU Horned Frogs- TCU hosts a top 10 team at home with a huge upset in mind.

Michigan blew a giant lead against Wake Forest, before finally winning the game in Overtime.  How did it happen?  The guards for Michigan didn’t play very well and were not defending late in the game.  If the guards don’t play well and can’t get the ball moving the strength of the Michigan offense, the frontcourt, will be neutralized.  The Wolverines' guards are going to have a bounce-back, and if they get going, they might blow TCU out.

TCU comes into this game as only 9 point underdogs which is surprising considering the Horned Frogs have not looked great, already lost to New Orleans in Fort Worth, and are already down a big man for the season. TCU desperately needs a feel-good win, but it will have to play above the level it has shown itself capable of in its first three games.  Crazy things happen in this game, but not today for TCU.

No. 5 Arizona Wildcats vs No. 15 UCLA Bruins- Hall of Fame Series, Los Angeles

Arizona has started the season impressively. There was the huge win over Florida on opening night, which saw true freshman Koa Peat have a 30-point game, and then the Wildcats dismantled their two lower opponents leading up to the showdown in Los Angeles against UCLA.  Arizona is running like a machine right now and has a ton of weapons.

UCLA was a team that many had high hopes for, but they have not looked great in their first three games.  The Bruins have kept too many teams in games and have not been able to keep their foot on the gas.  UCLA most recently played West Georgia. In the first half of that game, the three-point defense was nonexistent. The Bruins' defense improved after halftime, but it was still concerning.  If it doesn’t improve, especially on the perimeter, it could be a long night for UCLA.  

The picks for the rest of the games are as follows: