Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama and more picks for college basketball big games tomorrow

Tuesday was a huge day of college basketball. There were bubble teams, ranked teams, and conference leaders all playing key games. The Wednesday schedule has more of the same. Here is the preview and the picks for the biggest games for Wednesday.

Vanderbilt at No. 17 Kentucky prediction and pick

The Commodores are firmly on the bubble in the first year of the Mark Byington era and have gotten there with some giant wins in January. Vanderbilt has beaten Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky in the league and has avoided losses to the lower-level teams in the SEC. Doing that in one of the best conferences in the country earns you a bubble spot. The Commodores just blew a 14-point halftime lead at Tennessee on Saturday. That win in Knoxville would have likely been enough for Vanderbilt. Now, the Commodores must beat Kentucky on the road to continue on the bubble.

Kentucky has had an extraordinary season. They are one of the best teams in the country when healthy, as evidenced by their wins over Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State. The problem for the Wildcats and head coach Mark Pope is there have been a ton of injuries and the team has been wildly inconsistent. Kentucky has lost to Georgia, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Clemson, Texas, and Arkansas. The teams they have lost to apart from Clemson are all on the bubble, riding the wave of the Kentucky win as their signature win. The Wildcats are not healthy heading into this game, making them very thin at guard. They are going to have to fight through it and pick up a big win at Rupp Arena. Only one of their losses has been at home.

Arkansas at No. 1 Auburn prediction and pick

Arkansas gets another opportunity to pick up a huge season-defining win. A win over Auburn would be enough to get them into the field because it would be a win that no other team on the bubble has or will get. The only problem is that it is against Auburn who is potentially one of the greatest college teams of all time. Arkansas has lost close games to top teams this year and has beaten a couple already this season. The Razorbacks have wins against Michigan and have beaten Kentucky and Texas on the road. Those are the games that have gotten on the bubble. They are capable, but they have failed every other test outside of a two-week stretch in the SEC. These failures have caused coach John Calipari to call his team soft to get a response out of them.

If what Auburn has done with the No. 1 strength of schedule and a 23-2 record was not enough for you already. Their dominant win over Alabama should have been enough to impress you. The Tigers are on track to be one of the historically great teams, and everything suggests they are going to show the same type of domination in the NCAA tournament as UConn has done over the last two seasons. Arkansas has no one to neutralize star Johni Broome, and he is looking for another huge game on his way to becoming the National Player of the Year. It doesn’t seem like anything can stand in the way of Auburn at this point, and they will certainly not lose at the Jungle again.

No. 4 Alabama at No. 15 Missouri prediction and pick

The Crimson Tide missed a huge opportunity to beat their arch-rival on Saturday after Auburn dominated them at Coleman. That loss does nothing for the Tide, though; they are still a lock for a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, they are still a favorite for the National Championship, and they are still a team that forces teams out of their comfort zone with the way they play. Alabama shoots a ton of threes, moves the ball into the paint for easy rolls to the basket, and gets to the free throw line. When the Tide get to the free throw line, they are almost impossible to beat.

Normally, Alabama would be a load for anyone to handle, but Missouri is different. They play the same style as Alabama and have the athletes to put pressure on Alabama in the paint. Missouri loves to get out in transition; they will take a ton of threes and will get to the free-throw line. This one will be a lot of fun and could wind up in the high 90s for scoring. Missouri is easily in the NCAA tournament, but everyone can use a signature win.

Here are the rest of the games from a packed and exciting Wednesday.