Texas A&M, Houston, Alabama and more college basketball picks for big games tomorrow

Are you all ready for another loaded Saturday of games?  The season is on the home stretch and there is going to be a lot of movement in the NCAA tournament brackets over the last two weeks. Life is going to be stressful for bubble teams. Like every Saturday there are a ton of huge games taking place. Here are the five best ones along with the rest of the picks for the games tomorrow.

No. 6 Tennessee at No. 7 Texas A&M prediction and pick

The SEC has unbelievable games every single day, and this being the game that we all get to kick off the day on Saturday is fantastic. Tennessee has one of the game's best defenses, and they will be hard to score on. If the defense is locked in for the Volunteers, they can make life extremely hard for their opponent on the defensive end of the floor. This year, the Vols have a much better offense than in years past and can win in a shootout if they need to. They most recently did that against Vanderbilt last Saturday and against Missouri previously. The Vols will prefer to keep the game low-scoring.

Texas A&M is one of the teams that doesn’t get nearly enough respect for being as good as they are. Everyone talks about Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee with good reason, but the Aggies are one of the nation's very best. The Aggies offense isn’t super-efficient, but they lead the country in offensive rebounding and get a ton of extra possessions. They are physical and can get hot from deep to really extend a game. They don’t do anything flashy, but they are solid and will never quit playing. This game is likely going to be close and low-scoring.

No. 8 Iowa State at No. 5 Houston prediction and pick

There was a time when Iowa State was thought of as the best team in the country. They took some questionable losses in the middle of January that took them out of the top spot in the rankings conversation and cost them a shot at one seed in the NCAA tournament. The Cyclones are still arguably the second-best team in the Big 12, and they do it with their guard play and their ability to get to the rim. This is the best offensive team that head coach TJ Otzelberger has ever had and when they get going, they can hit like an avalanche. Iowa State is the best team that will face Houston since early November. The only problem is they are playing at the Fertitta Center.

Houston has lost one game since November, and they are back to playing Houston basketball. The defense is smothering, they are physical, and rebound well. The Cougars will use turnovers to get out in transition for easy baskets. This Houston team is different than in years past because Jamal Shead is not leading them on the offensive end, but these Cougars also shoot the ball extremely well from deep. They shoot the ball better than any other Houston team in the last five seasons. Houston is already impossible to beat, but they are a lot harder to beat at home.

No. 24 Ole Miss at Vanderbilt prediction and pick

Ole Miss is another ranked team in the SEC and is currently a lock to make the NCAA tournament. Head coach Chris Beard has used his no-middles defensive strategy and surrounded it with a ton of three-point shooting and an athletic big man to create mismatches on offense. The Rebels play a lot of close games but do have the ability to blow teams out when their shots are falling. The one thing about the top teams in the SEC is that they don’t lose to teams below them, and this game isn’t going to be any different.

Vanderbilt is firmly on the bubble and is clinging to their tournament lives every time they take the floor. They have a lot of shooting to go along with two athletic big men who can do damage inside the paint. Their last time out, they got blown out by Kentucky on the road. It is now the third straight loss for the Commodores who need to win as many games as possible down the stretch to find their way into the field. The bottom-tier teams in the SEC have struggled to break through against the top teams in the SEC. This one could get ugly.

No. 18 Clemson at SMU prediction and pick

The Tigers beat Duke at Littlejohn two weeks ago, and that cemented their spot in the field of 68. They became the second lock out of the ACC. The ACC is not very good this year and has been historically bad for most of the year. The point of this being that good thing that Clemson is a lock because the ACC does have a lot of landmines to navigate, and Clemson has done a great job of that. The Tigers are well-coached and are going to put up points by playing fast and making a ton of threes. They are a hard matchup to prepare for when they are hitting shots.

SMU is firmly on the bubble. They only have six losses on the season, but they have yet to win a quad 1 game all season. That can all change if they can get this game against Clemson, and it will go a long way towards\ the Mustangs finding their way into the NCAA tournament field in three weeks on Selection Sunday. At this point SMU just needs to avoid the blowouts and win their home games. If they can do that, they will put themselves in a good position to hear their name called. A win in Dallas against a ranked Clemson team would be a huge start.

No. 17 Kentucky at No. 4 Alabama prediction and pick

The Wildcats might be missing two starters in this one, but it has not seemed to affect them much so far. Lamont Butler and Jaxon Robinson are out injured and those two are crucial for what Kentucky wants to do on the offensive end of the floor. The Wildcats want to run, will take, and make a ton of threes, and the defense can be porous but is better than most think. Butler and Robinson are two huge keys on the defensive end as well. Kentucky is one of the highest-scoring teams in the country.

Alabama gets yet another ranked team in their brutal gauntlet of a schedule over the last two weeks. This time, though, Alabama is going to come in and hopefully play better at home. The Tide have been exposed in a big way on the defensive end of the floor, giving up 204 points over the last two games. It doesn’t matter how many points you score it must be better than that. This one is going to be high-scoring as the Tide are the highest-scoring team in the country and will play as fast as possible to maximize their possessions. Alabama needs to keep winning to keep its place as a one-seed in the NCAA tournament.

These are five of the biggest games but there are bubble teams all over the schedule on Saturday. Here are the picks for the rest of the games. Enjoy the hoops!