Marquette and Michigan and other picks for college basketball big games tomorrow

There may only be 20 games on Friday, which is a good primer for the Saturday schedule but there are two games that are huge in terms of the bubble and conference tournament seeding. Here are the picks for the big games on Friday.

No. 16 Marquette at Villanova prediction and pick

The Golden Eagles have shown that they are one of the most consistent teams in the country year in and year out under head coach Shaka Smart. Marquette does it by playing fast, getting out in transition, and playing lockdown defense. When Marquette gets rolling, they are very hard to stop. Marquette was not given a top 16 seed in the NCAA tournament bracket reveal, presumably due to the three-game losing streak they just endured. I can confidently say they are not a team you want to see roaming around the 5 seed line when the brackets are revealed in less than a month. Marquette and superstar Kam Jones need to win as many games as possible to help improve their seed line. Losing to Villanova wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it wouldn’t be great.

Villanova is technically still on the bubble, given that the bubble is not great this year. The Wildcats are going to rack up wins and get a lot of help to make the field. In their last game Villanova had a lead against UConn but then didn’t score for the final three minutes of game time and took a tough loss. The UConn win would not have gotten Villanova on the right side of the bubble, but it would have been a step in the right direction, especially when so many bubble teams are having a hard time winning games right now. Can they get back on track against Marquette?

No. 14 Michigan State at No. 12 Michigan prediction and pick

Michigan State is back to being an elite program under Tom Izzo. Izzo now has the most wins in Big Ten history and has his team ready to make a deep run in March. The Spartans don’t shoot the ball that well from outside, but they do get to the rim, get fouled, get out in transition, and rebound extremely well. It is a vintage coach Izzo team, and if Michigan State can win at the Crisler Center, they will be in outright first place in the Big Ten again. This is the first in a brutal stretch for the Spartans to close out the regular season.

Wolverines’ fans are hoping to go 2 for 2 in their rivalry games over the last week. Michigan just beat Ohio State on the road to take over first place in the Big Ten. Michigan comes into the game against the Spartans, winners of 6 in a row and playing great basketball. They are currently undefeated at home and likely won’t lose at their own building this year. Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin are two skilled big men who can neutralize the Spartans frontcourt. The only problem is, can Michigan not pile up a ton of turnovers?  That has been their Achilles heel this year.

Here are the rest of the games for Friday