Auburn, Indiana, Duke and other picks for men's college basketball big games tomorrow

We have reached the final Saturday of the regular season. There are huge games all over the schedule but lets highlight the best games of Saturday.

No. 6 St. John’s at No. 20 Marquette prediction and pick

This has been a season for the ages for the Red Storm. They are ranked in the top 10 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. They won the Big East regular season title for the first time since the Lou Carnesecca days, and they are legitimate contenders for the Final Four. Rick Pitino is a magician and is getting absolute best out of this roster. The Red Storm play fast, are unbelievable on the glass, protect the rim, and force tons of turnovers to get out in transition. It is a vintage coach Pitino team.

Marquette does a lot of the same things that St. John’s will do. They play extremely fast, get a ton of turnovers, and shoot a ton of threes. The Golden Eagles are not a great rebounding team, and that is one disadvantage they are going to have against the Red Storm. Marquette does have one of the favorites for the Big East player of the year in Kam Jones who will change games for the Golden Eagles. The last meeting with the Red Storm saw Marquette lose by 6 points, will they be able to turn it around and get a huge win heading into the conference tournament?

No. 19 Kentucky at No. 15 Missouri prediction and pick

The Wildcats are finally healthy and have their full compliment of players. There was a stretch this season when two key guards were out for Kentucky and their scoring and defense struggled. Those players help the Wildcats on both ends of the floor, but the impact is felt the most on the defensive end, especially Lamont Butler. Defense is the name of the game for Kentucky. If they are defending, they are hard to beat, the offense is bordering on elite, but there are times when the defense is bad. If Kentucky wants to lock in a make a run in March, it is going to start with their defense.

The Tigers are currently reeling, coming off losses in three of their last five games, including 2 in a row. Missouri, like every other SEC team, can score a lot of points, and they do it by playing fast and shooting a bunch of threes. Just like every other SEC team this season. The Tigers also tend to be very lax on the defensive end, which has led to losing 3 out of their last five games. Missouri is playing at home, and it's senior day. The Tigers will get off their mini-losing streak.

No. 7 Alabama at No.1 Auburn prediction and pick

In case you didn’t enjoy the first meeting between these two teams the first time, here is round 2 for you. I have talked about Alabama a lot this year and how they play. They play fast on offense, get the ball into the paint, take a ton of threes, and get to the free throw line. The Crimson Tide lead the country in scoring and will have zero trouble scoring. Alabama gets into trouble when they don’t play much defense. They play so fast and love to be in track meets that no defense is sometimes by design. I don’t know if that is the case with this Alabama team. They don’t look like they can play much of it, and if they don’t get it figured out over the next week and a half, it could lead to an early exit for Alabama in the NCAA tournament.

Auburn gets their arch-rival on Senior Day in the Jungle as the overwhelming number 1 team in the country. What else could you want for motivation to go out and sweep Alabama. The Tigers are coming off a loss to Texas A&M. After a loss this year, Auburn has come out and blasted their next opponent. That is probably going to happen again, given that the Tigers are on a mission to win the first National Championship in school history.

Ohio State at Indiana prediction and pick

The stakes could not be higher for this one. Ohio State took care of Nebraska on Tuesday night after surviving a comeback in the second half, being down five with 1 minute to go in the first Overtime, and then making all of the plays down the stretch in the second overtime to win by two points. The Buckeyes have now won 3 in a row after losing three in a row in the middle of February. The recent winning streak has put the Buckeyes on the right side of the bubble, and if they can get this win over Indiana, it will mean that no matter what happens in Indianapolis, Ohio State will be in the field of 68.

Indiana is playing for coach Mike Woodson now. As soon as their season is over, coach Woodson is going to retire, and the Hoosiers will be under new leadership. Indiana is on the bubble near the NCAA tournament cut line. The wins of Michigan State and Purdue are aging very well, and the Hoosiers could use nothing more than a win over Ohio State to get some positive momentum heading into Indianapolis for the conference tournament. The Hoosiers have seemed unbeatable lately as they make a huge push for the NCAA tournament.

No. 2 Duke at North Carolina prediction and pick

Duke is already a top seed in the NCAA tournament, has already clinched a share of the ACC regular season title, and is going to be one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament. Even with all of that don’t for one second think that the game against North Carolina won’t matter and the Blue Devils will take a night off. This game means a lot to the state of North Carolina, and Duke is going to love being the team that makes sure that the Tar Heels season ends without an NCAA tournament bid while they finish the year with the best player in the sport and a potential National Championship.

North Carolina needs this game to qualify for the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels have gotten hot at the end of the year but still don’t have a signature win to put a bow on the resume. Duke could be that signature win, and given this game is at the Dean Dome, it just might happen. The Tar Heels are not nearly as good as Duke is and they were destroyed in the first meeting. None of that matters in this rivalry as so many weird things have happened.

Here are the rest of the games from a loaded final Saturday.