The MB Blog took a sideways turn yesterday as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat red-hot South Florida but failed to cover the seven points.

Tonight we are heading to Austin, Texas---for a gigantic Big 12 showdown between the best team in the country, the Kansas Jayhawks (22-1, 8-0) and the struggling Texas Longhorns (19-4, 5-3).   Kansas is smoking hot, winners of their last eight games.   They are playing together as a team, and they shooting well from the floor.    The Jayhawk roster is littered with future NBA ballplayers, leading the way is guard Sherron Collins who is averaging almost 16 points per game.   Kansas also has three other players averaging in double digits, Marcus Morris, Xavier Henry, and Cole Aldrich all are scoring 13, 13, and 11.6 points per game respectively.    Aldrich is also pulling down an impressive 10 rebounds per game.   Jayhawk coach Bill Self has found a nice combination of depth, as he has 9 players averaging in double-digit minutes.

Texas has been baffling inconsistent.   The Longhorns have lost four of their last six games, losing to Kansas State, Connecticut, Baylor and Oklahoma.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a hall of fame coach to figure out how to beat the Longhorns.    They can't make free throws.    Against Oklahoma, The Longhorns got to the line 27 times and made a mind-crushig 10 of those.    This is "Hack-a-Longhorn" 101.    Texas coach Rick Barnes expressed his obvious frustration by saying "...there's junior high teams that can do better than that".    Ouch.    Texas forward Gary Johnson critcized his own team further by saying "Guys on this team have egos, they feel like they have to go and do things by themselves".  

As badly as things have gone from the line for Texas, they still have managed to be the second highest scoring team in the Big 12, behind---you guessed it, Kansas.   Kansas is a statistical monster.    They lead the Big 12 in scoring, 3-point shooting, field-goal percentage, and are second in the Big 12 in rebounding.   Texas is shooting an anemic 61% from the free throw line, but they do have the second highest field goal percentage in the Big 12.

Many bettors are expecting the Longhorns to break out of this slump, and figure what better time than a monster showdown on ESPN's Big Monday against the number one ranked Jayhawks?   But I don't think Rick Barnes has been able to figure out his best rotation, and that is causing his team problems.    Barnes' incessant juggling of his roster is a symptom of his team's problems.    If Barnes plays small, the Jayhawks will crush him on the glass.   If Barnes plays big, I don't think the Longhorns can matchup on the perimeter.   

The play here for me is Kansas laying the points.    I suspect the Longhorns will give a great effort and this game will hang in the balance right down to the last 7-10 minutes.   In the end however, I think the Jayhawks are just too talented and have too much chemistry right now for Texas to overcome.  

As always, best of luck to everyone.  

Another winning Blog selection yesterday with the Gonzaga Bulldogs going on the road and beating the Memphis Tigers, as pointed out right here---the game went to form.   Gonzaga owned the boards, and Memphis struggeld from the Free Throw line allowing Gonzaga to win by eight.

Today we are back into Big East play, and focusing on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (16-7, 5-5) who play host to the South Florida Bulls(15-7, 5-5).

Notre Dame is coming off the most impressive performance of their season, an 18-point win over Cincinnati.

South Florida is on fire right now, they have won their last four games including a road-win over 7th ranked Georgetown.   

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey has called for additional practice time, bringing in his players at 8AM last week to address their defensive weaknesses.   It worked against Cincinnati, as the Irish were much more physical, and they forced more turnovers than they had all season.    Luke Harangody had a monster game, scoring 37 points and adding 14 rebounds.    Tim Abromaitis who has been an incredible story this year for the Irish continued his impressive season by adding 22 points, and hitting 3-4 from behind the 3-point line.    Most impressive for the Irish though was their effort on the glass.   The Irish outrebounded a much more athletic Cincinnati team.    Notre Dame was relentless rebounding, even guard Ben Hansbrough managed to pull down 8 rebounds in their win.

South Florida has been more impressive than Notre Dame the past few weeks.   They have won 5 of their last 6, and they are getting it done with their offense.   Dominque Jones is the story here.   He is scoring at will.   He lit up Pittsburgh for 37, and then followed it up with 29 against Georgetown.  

These two teams played back in January and Notre Dame held off a furious South Florida rally to win 74-73.   The Irish led by as many as 14 in the second half but needed to knock down some important free throws to preserve the win.

All the signs here would suggest South Florida may not only get the cover here, but they could win in South Bend.    I don't see it that way.    Notre Dame is a much different team at home.   And they have that air of desperation about them that is needed at this time of the season.    Notre Dame sits at 5-5 in the conference right now with eight games remaining.   If they want any shot at an NCAA tournament berth they absolutely have to win today at home.   In fact, the Irish need to win 5 of their remaining 8 games to secure a winning Big East regular season and that should get them into the discussion of earning that precious tournament spot.

Luke Harangody will put his Irish team on his back again, and I think Notre Dame wins by double digits.   South Florida is keep it close early, but I think the road atmosphere will eventually force a few turnovers that Notre Dame will take advantage of.

The selection here is Notre Dame (-7), and I would even suggest taking a look at that first half line of (-4).    Notre Dame has been able to get off to torrid starts in games they needed to win at home (West Virginia, Cincinnati).

As always, best of luck to everyone!

I have been blogging my picks for 2 weeks now in college hoops and I am on a nice run. 8-2-1 over the last week and a half.

Well today, I blogged Gonzaga----+4.5 and on the ML. Hit them both and was feeling good about myself so I made another play.

2 team parlay----Pitt in the first half -2, and New Mexico in the first half -4 for 200---to win 520.

With 36 second left in the half New Mexico and San Diego State were tied and SD State had the ball. They turned it over, New Mexico got to the line with 31 seconds. They made both FT's....New Mexico up 2. SD State is clearly holding the ball for the last shot of the half----then the ball bounces off a SD State player----New Mexico's Darington Hobson picks up the ball and throws it in from 60 feet-----half ends, New Mexico up 5.

There was no skill in my selection. That was as lucky as hitting the lottery-----but I will take it. I would rather be lucky than good anyway.

Last night was ugly for the MB Blog, as the Harvard Crimson let us down with a less-than inspired effort against Princeton.

Today we are stepping into a cross-country matchup between the 17^th-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs (18-4) and the Memphis Tigers (16-6).

Gonzaga will be making the trip to Memphis after beating Portland on Thursday night.    The Bulldogs traditionally play a very tough non-conference schedule, as they have already made road trips to Michigan State, Cincinnati, Duke, and Illinois.    Gonzaga's last featured big game against Duke didn't go so well, as Duke laid down a 35-point beating on the Bulldogs.

Gonzaga's head coach Mark Few has been telling the media for weeks that he didn't like the attitude of his team, and he went so far as to complain openly about their effort following his team's shocking loss to San Francisco last weekend.      The message may have worked, as the ‘Zags looked like a different team in their win on Thursday night.    They were aggressive on the defensive side of the ball, they shot well, and rebounded with intensity.      All three things Few had been looking for since his team's win over Wisconsin earlier in the season.

Make no mistake, Gonzaga is a very talented team.     Gonzaga had won 9 in a row prior to their loss at San Francisco.   They had been making small mistakes, turning the ball over, missing crucial free throws, and not playing smart basketball.   The loss at San Francisco puts their conference winning streak in jeopardy, and it should serve as the crux to get them focused heading toward the post-season.  Guard Matt Bouldin leads his team in scoring, averaging 16.6 points per game, right behind is forward Elias Harris who is scoring 16 points per game.  Eilias leads the Bulldogs in rebounding with 8 boards per game.   Bouldin is the team's assist leader, 3-point shooting leader, and he also happens to be their best free-throw shooter.    As he goes today against Memphis, so go the Bulldogs.

Shockingly, Memphis finds themselves tied for 3rd-place in Conference USA.      That has to be an odd feeling for the Tigers,  because the last time they lost a conference game was back in 2006.    Memphis coach Josh Pastner is the youngest coach in Division 1-A basketball and his youth may explain his team's baffling inconsistency.     The Tigers roster is littered with mega-star recruits, but Pastner can't seem to get the same effort out of his club every time out.  

Memphis has their share of warts.    The Tigers do not rebound well, and they have demonstrated a puzzling lack of defense.     Perhaps worst of all though is their free-throw shooting.    This team is horrible, and it has caused them down the stretch of a few games this season.   Eilliot Williams leads the Tigers, averaging 20 points per contest.     The Tigers do not have a player on their roster who averages more than 6 rebounds a game.

I like Gonzaga here +4.5.   I even will take a small play on the money line with the ‘Zags in this spot.   Memphis is talented, but they clearly lack chemistry.     They appear to play as individuals trying to live up to their press clippings, and it was obvious in last weekend's loss to SMU.

Gonzaga meanwhile has become the little engine that can.    They  have become a perennial top-20 program, and they have enough talent, and significantly more team chemistry.    I also think the Bulldogs have a significant coaching advantage with Mark Few over Josh Pastner.    Pastner is a Calipari product, and that usually means having a roster full of 5-star players with little team chemistry.

The selection is Gonzaga +4.5

As always, best of luck to everyone!

 

The Martin Blank Blog is on a serious roll, last night's Notre Dame victory over Cincinnati, makes it a 5-1-1 streak, including a 3-0-1 run among Big East games the last four evenings.

Tonight we are focusing on the smart kids, and heading into the Ivy League where the Harvard Crimson (14-4, 3-1) play host to the Princeton Tigers (11-5, 2-0).

Harvard started slow last week, and literally got smacked around for 40 minutes in their 36-point loss to the Cornell Big Red.     Harvard coach Tommy Amaker has to be careful his team hasn't lost its confidence.    Harvard has played well this season, including a win at Boston College earlier in the season.    

Taking a closer look at the Harvard-Cornell game, one thing is obvious.     Cornell was the best defensive team Harvard had played all year.    The Big Red forced 25 turnovers from Harvard, and Harvard's starting guards Christian Webster and Jeremy Lin were never able to set up their team's offense.

I expect tonight to be very different.     Princeton doesn't present the same quality of athletes that posed all the problems for Harvard last weekend in Ithaca.   Princeton will not press Harvard, and they won't try and run the court with the Crimson.

Princeton has come a very long way since last season.     Beginning with their last two wins.    They were impressive road wins over Yale and Brown.     The Tigers knocked off Yale by 13, and Brown by 17.   Those are two impressive road win in the Ivy League.

The Tigers though are inconsistent.     Earlier in the season they went through a 4-game losing streak, where they struggled to shoot the ball effectively.    The Tigers are very patient on the offensive end, they shorten the game by working for their shot and making opposing defenses play the entire 35-second shot clock. 

Leading the Tigers in scoring is Doug Davis.  Davis is averaging 14 points per game.     Statistically though, the Tigers aren't impressive.    They are dead last in the Ivy League in rebounding, and they are the second lowest scoring team in the Ivy as well.     Harvard on the other hand, is the best shooting team in the Ivy League, making almost 49% of all their shots.     The Crimson are the second highest scoring team in the Ivy League, the second-best rebounding team, and they commit the fewest fouls per game among Ivy League teams.

This game is going to hinge on one important aspect, and to me that is Harvard's state of mind.    If Harvard enters the game confident and is able to shake off their lousy performance against Cornell, I fully expect the Crimson to have little difficulty in getting this win and covering the line.    The only potential problem I can see is Princeton's deliberate style of play frustrating Harvard, and Harvard forcing shots and turning the ball over.

The latter won't happen.    Tommy Amaker will have his squad prepared and motivated to play tonight.

My selection is the Harvard Crimson laying the 8 points against the rival Princeton Tigers.   While the Tigers have had some nice wins the last few weeks, their streak ends tonight in Boston.  

As always, best of luck to everyone!

My MB Blog is rolling along, another win last night with West Virginia beating up on Pitt.

That makes this blog 4-1-1 over the last 6 nights.

And, here we go again, yet another Big East matchup and another game to like a lot.    This marks the fourth straight Big East selection for the MartinBlank Blog.     However, there is strong value in Notre Dame over Cincinnati.

There are some rumblings beginning in South Bend about the future of coach Mike Brey.     This program is stuck in middle-of-the-packitis.     They are desperate for a win, and need this game badly.

The Irish feature the John Wooden Player of the Year Candidate in Luke Harangody.      It was just two years ago that Harangody was the Big East Player of the Year, and he returned for his senior year to improve his NBA stock and to get the Irish into the NCAA tournament again.   The Irish are 15-7, and 3-4 in Big East play, and that will not get it done when the NCAA makes their selection.    There is still time however, and this team has enough offensive talent to make a run.     Notre Dame has lost four of their last five, including a horrible road loss at Rutgers.     The schedule does get easier though, as they are facing Cincinnati at home, followed by Seton Hall, South Florida and St. John's.   So a win here could portend to a nice little winning streak for the Golden Domers.

The Irish are led by Harangody.    He is pressing though, and you can see that in his shot selection.    Harangody is attempting almost 4 three's a game and he is only making 29% of those shots.   He is averaging almost 25 points per game, and 10 boards, and he is a relentless hustler.     For Notre Dame to win though, Harangody needs help.    Forward Tim Abromaitis has been a pleasant surprise for Mike Brey.  Abromaitis is averaging 17 points per game and is a very good shooter.     When ND does do well, it is usually because Abromaitis is able to open things up for Harangody inside.   Senior guard Tory Jackson runs the ND offense, and has an amazing 6:1 assist to turnover ratio, which is among the NCAA leaders.  

Cincinnati is also in a difficult position.     They enter the contest  with a 14-7 record and they are 5-4 in the Big East.    They also need this game to continue toward an NCAA bid.    Cincinnati is riding a three-game road losing streak in the Big East.    They have been wildly inconsistent this season, and that may go to the fact that they have a relatively young team on the floor.    True frosh, and 5-star recruit Lance Stephenson was expected to ride his NY City Prep reputation to the heights of the Big East, but it isn't happening.   Stephenson is learning the hard way that college basketball, especially in the Big East is a difficult road to navigate.  

These two teams played on January 16^th in Cincinnati, and the Bearcats won by 2, 60-58.    Both teams struggled to score points in that one.

While taking a close look at this game, one thing stood out.    Notre Dame is a different team at home, and Mike Brey's team has demonstrated an ability to bounce back, especially after a particularly ugly loss like Rutgers.  

Notre Dame is going to win this game.    Cincinnati is too young and too unpredictable to expect a win on the road in the Big East.

I recommend taking Notre Dame and 3.5.      Mike Brey's team will win this game and get his team moving toward that NCAA bid they are desperate for.     Even more important for Brey, are the wolves that are beginning to circle about his job.    Desperation and home court advantage are enough to give ND the cover.

As always, good luck to everyone!

Last night's play ended in a push, bringing the last four MB's Blog selections to a 3-1-1 record over the last 5 nights.

We stay in the Big East for Wednesday's selection.    And we are heading to Morgantown, West Virginia for the backyard brawl between West Virginia (17-3, 6-2) and the Pittsburgh Panthers (16-5, 6-3).

This game should be fun to watch.    West Virginia is hot lately, winning five of their last six.    They have home wins over Ohio State and Louisville, and their lone loss was a 1-point setback against 5^th-ranked Syracuse.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has to be pleased with his squad.   They are a top ten team and they don't make mistakes.    They rely on defense to force turnovers and they have some dynamic scoring threats to pose a problem for any team they play.

Leading the way for the Mountaineers is Da'Sean Butler.   Butler is on the cusp of breaking just about every West Virginia record in their books.    Butler just posted his 93^rd game where he scored in double digits.    Butler is scoring at a 16 point per game clip, adding almost 7 rebounds a game to his resume.

West Virginia has some nice talent to complement Butler.    Forwards Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks  rebound very well with both averaging about 8 boards per contest.    They are also the team's second and third leading scorers.    Rounding out Huggins' talented roster are Darryl Bryant and Wellington Smith.     Huggins' squad isn't particularly deep, with only five players averaging more than 20 minutes per game.   

Pitt has been a model of consistency in the Big East.    Panther coach Jamie Dixon has recruited well and his teams are always physical and play great team defense.     This was supposed to be a rebuilding year in Pittsburgh, but this has been a pleasant surprise for Panther faithful.   This year's team just continues  that winning trend. 

The Panthers though have hit a bit of a slide.   They have lost their last two Big East road games, and have lost three of four overall.    Hurting the Panthers is the injury to their best defender, guard Jermaine Dixon.    Dixon missed the South Florida game, and it showed.    South Florida's Dominique Jones lit up Pittsburgh for 37 points.    It makes me wonder, who will guard WVU's Da'Sean Butler?  If Dixon is unable to play, the Panthers will have matchup problems trying to guard Butler.   If they try and slide help toward Butler, it will open things up for other Mountaineers.

Statistically this should be a defensive gem.    These are the top two scoring defenses in the Big East.    The nod goes to West Virginia though in scoring offenses.   WVU averages almost 9 points more than the Panthers do per game.    The two teams have nearly identical free throw shooting percentages as well as field goal percentage.     A significant advantage moves to West Virginia's side when you look at three point shooting.   The Mountaineers have dropped almost 50 more three-pointers than the Panthers have.    West Virginia is also the best rebounding team in the Big East, and playing at home that should matter.  

All the signs here are just pointed toward Bob Huggins' WVU team.    They are playing better as of late, they score better, and they are healthier.     Pitt has struggled lately on the road, and Morgantown isn't exactly the place to try and snap that such a streak.

The selection here is going to be West Virginia (-8.5) and is clearly the strongest play on the card tonight.   WVU has enough scoring threats to cause Pitt problems, especially with a hobbled Jermaine Dixon.  I like Da'Sean Butler to score 20 plus and lead his team to a solid home win over a bitter rival.

As always, best of luck to everyone!

 

 

Another big win last night with Louisville over Connecticut, which makes it 3 of the last 4 here on the MB Blog.

The MartinBlank blog rolls along into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to focus upon the Big East matchup between the first-place  Villanova Wildcats (19-1, 8-0) and the Seton Hall Pirates (12-7, 3-5). 

Villanova is playing great basketball and is off to the school's best start in their storied history.   

Jay Wright's team has had exceptional guard play all season long, led by All-American candidate Scottie Reynolds.     Reynolds is averaging almost 19 points per game, and is shooting better than 40% from behind the 3-point line, and is an 80% free throw shooter.     He has a 3:2 assist-to-turnover ratio and it explains why Villanova has had so much success.   Reynolds is not the only talented guard Jay Wright can roll out.  Guards Corey Fisher, Reggie Redding, Corey Stokes, Maalik Wayns, and Dominic Cheek have all been important pieces of Wright's offensive machine.    Fisher is the team's second leading scorer, and Redding,  Stokes, and Wayns all shoot the three very well.

Villanova causes teams problems because of these guards.    Wright throws them at teams in waves which causes turnovers and gets the Wildcats into their fast paced style of play.    

In order to beat Villanova a team must be very patient in their half-court set.    And they have to have a dominating inside presence.  

Seton Hall doesn't fit that description.     In fact, Seton Hall likes to get up the court as much as Villanova does, and that is not how you beat the Wildcats.   Seton Hall has some nice players, Jeremy Hazell and Herb Pope are good college basketball players, but the Pirates lack the depth, speed and athleticism of Villanova.

Villanova leads the Big East in scoring; averaging almost 86 points per game, and Seton Hall has the 15^th ranked scoring defense in the Big East.    Ouch.    This game could get ugly.

Seton Hall has lost all of its Big East road games this season, and I expect that to continue tonight at Villanova.

If you are looking for more statistical evidence to support the Wildcats, there is plenty.   Villanova is the best free-throw shooting team in the Big East, they have the second highest scoring differential, they are the third-best 3-point shooting team by percentage, and they lead the conference in 3-point field goals made.    While Villanova may be a guard dominated team, they do rebound.   They are the second-leading offensive rebounding team in the conference, and the Wildcats possess the third highest rebounding differential in Big East play.    You would be hard pressed to find one statistical advantage for Seton Hall.    They just don't match-up particularly well.

The other persuading factor for me is this.   Villanova is a well rested team.     They haven't played since last Wednesday's home win over Notre Dame.    A rested team playing at home where they have won all eleven of their games?  That is a recipe for success.        

Seton Hall has played impressively this season.   They beat Louisville and Pitt in a three-day span just over a week ago.   But college basketball is about matchups, and this game is the worst possible matchup for the Pirates.     The Wildcats do exactly what Seton Hall wants them to do, but the problem is Villanova does it better than any other team in the country right now.    Villanova just has too much guard depth for the Pirates to overcome.

And, as mentioned, Seton Hall doesn't possess enough inside play to slow down Villanova and make them play in the half court.

My selection is an obvious one.     It is Villanova (-).     I just don't see the Wildcats not covering this line.

As always, best of luck to everyone!

The Blog picks are rolling.   A 2-1 weekend with wins from Harvard and Ohio State.

Tonight it is going to continue with the Louisville Cardinals, who are hosting the Connecticut Huskies..    Louisville is 13-8, 4-4 and while Louisville is 1-4 in their last five games, three of those four losses were on the road against the likes of Villanova, Pitt, and West Virginia.   Louisville lost late leads against Pitt and West Virginia, losing the games by a combined eight points.   

The loser of this season can pretty much kiss an NCAA tournament big goodbye.    For Louisville, they still have a brutal schedule remaining and they desperately need this game to right their ship.

Connecticut is perhaps in even worse shape, they have lost five of their last seven and they do not resemble the team that beat Texas a week ago.   They lost to Providence by 15 on the road, and then followed it up with a home loss to Marquette.   Calhoun's absence is clearly affecting his team as they have absolutely no consistency of effort and they are really lacking on the defensive end of the floor.

Louisville is shooting the ball exceptionally well right now, they are having some tough luck though.   A ball bouncing off the foot of Samardo Samuels led to a Pitt score and another bizarre Louisville turnover allowed Pitt to comeback and win the game.   At West Virginia, foul trouble was the story in that one, as the Cardinals were whistled nearly 30 times in the game.    A visibly shaken Pitino was angry and upset and cut his post-game press conference in that one a brief one question response.   Pitino has always been a good motivator, and I think he will use those close losses to get his team to feel the need and desperation to win this game.   

I don't think the public and the national sports media is making enough of Calhoun not being on the court with his team.   Calhoun is an exceptional basketball coach, and replacing him with George Blaney, a 70-year old longtime assistant for an extended period of time is affecting the Huskies.   Calhoun knows when to use his timeouts, and when to juggle his rotation.   He also has demonstrated an incredible instinct as to when he should switch his defense, when to press, and when to push the ball.    There doesn't seem to be the same level of intensity, but rather Calhoun's absence seems to have robbed his team of confidence, especially when things are not going their way on the road.  

Connecticut's remaining schedule is a nightmare.    They have road games against Villanova, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and South Florida.  They also have Louisville and Cincinnati at home.    With the Huskies standing at 3-5 in conference play as of today, I don't see them having a winning big east record at the end of the regular season.   This certainly wasn't expected in Storrs back in October, and not with the talent Calhoun assembled on campus.

All the signs here are pointing to Louisville.   They are angry, and they are confident.    They are shooting well, they are playing physical and they have Rick Pitino.    Connecticut is a team without any confidence in what they are doing, and they lack their leader.

I love Louisville -6.5 and you should too.

As always, best of luck to everyone!

Today we focus on Columbus, Ohio, where the Ohio State Buckeyes (5-3, 15-6) host the Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-7, 4-4).

What a great beginning to sunday college hoops.     Minnesota won the first matchup when these two teams played on January 9th.   And things were not pretty.   At the end of the game things got nasty, as both teams were pushing and jawing at the other.    There were accusations of punches being thrown and all kinds of unsportsmenlike conduct.    This feature to be a continuation of the bad blood, and should make for some exciting hoops.

The Buckeyes have been playing exceptionally well as of late logging a road win over Purdue and following it up with a home win over Wisconsin.   Last weekend they led by double-digits before falling to #11 West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Superstar Evan Turner has been extraordinary since his return from injury.    He is averaging nearly 19 points a game, and 9.9 rebounds a game.   With Turner on the floor, the Buckeyes are simply a much better team.    Since his return, Buckeyes G William Buford, G Jon Diebler, and F David Lighty have started to score.   All three are averaging over 13 points per game on the season, and Diebler's three-point shooting has been lights out.   Diebler is shooting 44% from three point range, and is averaging almost 3-three pointers a game.   F Dallas Lauderdale does a nice job on the glass for the Buckeyes, averaging almost six boards a game.    The key here though is Turner.   The future NBA lottery pick has the ability to take over games at will.   In Ohio State' road win over Purdue, Turner scored 32 points and was as dynamic a player as we have seen in college basketball this season.

Thad Matta's Buckeyes are not particularly deep, four of his starters average more than 30 minutes per game.    PJ Hill and Kyle Madsen are the only two Ohio State players that average double digit minutes coming off the bench for Matta.     As the season progresses, fatigue may be a factor, but I don't see it here.   I think Turner takes enough scoring pressure off his teammates that they will be able to log 30+plus minutes and still be able to contribute in a tight game.

Minnesota has lost three of their last four games.    Even falling to disappointing Indiana.

In the January 9th matchup, Minnesota was able to use their guard play to cause the Buckeyes problems.     Senior point guard Al Nolen was the difference.   He played smart basketball, and controlled the tempo of that game.    Nolen was declared academically ineligible last week and will not be playing today.   That will matter.   More importantly, Evan Turner has regained his legs.    Back in January, Turner had just played a few games heading into that contest.  

Minnesota still has G Lawrence Westbrook and G Blake Hoffarber.    Tubby Smith uses a different approach than Thad Matta.  Virtually Smith's entire roster will see court time.   

Statistically, something will have to give in today's game.   Minnesota is the second highest scoring tea

m in the Big 10, and Ohio State is the second leading defensive team in the Big 10.    Conversely, Ohio State also sports the best FG% shooting in the Big 10, while Minnesota sports the best FG% defense in the Big 10.   

The teams have identical FT shooting percentages, as well as 3-point shooting success.

For me, the game comes down to time and situation.    Ohio State is peaking at the right time, and Minnesota isn't in a good situation.   I am laying the 7 and going with the Buckeyes in today's game.

As always, best of luck to everyone!