Big college Saturday!

The times they are a changing... I went to before midnight on a Friday night to wake up early to watch this Man City v Man United soccer match that will essentially define the season for my beloved City. I can't help but feel we have the inferior squad here, by far it seems at least on the creatively offensive side, but I remain optimistic even on the road. David Silva already missed a golden opportunity in the early minutes that would've been huge.

In the meantime, today is a pretty monster day in college hoops so I thought it was time to settle in for a few predictions...

A few big bubble games today between teams barely hanging on almost look like knockout games... I like Nebraska and Colorado to win at home against Okie St and K St, but BC falls at home to Maryland. An important Colonial game as well between Old Dominion and VCU. Both these teams look tourney worthy but really need this one. I like Eric Maynor's boys at home.

A few teams should be on upset watch today... Temple needs to be very careful at Dayton but should be able to survive and deal a knockout blow to Dayton's bubble chances. And UNC's kids need to be very wary of the emotional letdown that seems likely to follow a missed chance at Duke. They face a hungry Clemson squad and I think the Tigers pull the upset. I definitely like San Diego St to pick up the loss at UNLV today, where the Rebels barely lose, but I genuinely don't think that is an upset. SDSt still has only one win against a tourney team and is overrated, and I think UNLV should always be a Vegas favorite at home. My big upset watch of the day falls on Texas, who faces a road Baylor team with absolutely nothing to lose. The Bears are just as talented and have not put everything together in a game yet this season. They could well lose by 30, I just have a feeling they could really put a scare in Texas or shock the world.

I've got 5 matchups today between teams in my top 25. Let's take a look...

17 Tennessee @ 13 Florida
The Gators are playing very well, but all of their biggest wins have been tight ones or overtime, including the overtime win at Tennessee the first time around. The Vols just don't have much room to mess around anymore. They still face Vandy and UK too, with 9 losses already. This is Bruce Pearl's second game back. I think the desperate Vols team eke out a road victory. If they don't, I may be done putting my faith in this squad for good.

12 Syracuse @ 16 Louisville
A matchup of Big East teams I really don't believe in, both of whom are hanging surprisingly weak overall resumes' hats on a win over recently-reeling UConn. I can tell I really don't like either of these squads much because I really want to pick each one to lose. Cuse has not been good on the road, but Louisville has been far from dominant at home over average competition. The one thing I believe in this game is the Syracuse 2-3 defense and I'm not sure the Cards have the shooting to beat them. I'll pick the Orange on the road.

14 Kentucky @ 25 Vanderbilt
This is not your UK team of yesteryear. They've lost 5 times on the road already, albeit close ones to good opponents mostly. Vandy meanwhile is the same team they always are. They win the games they should, beat pretty much everyone at home, and don't really have any big wins. Vandy has 6 losses as well, and 5 of them have been hard fought losses either by a final shot or in overtime. Take away the school names, and I think the home team would be a solid 7-10 point favorite. That's how I think this one turns out as well.

1 Pitt @ 11 Villanova
Pittsburgh is without leading scorer Ashton Gibbs, and they may have survived at West Va earlier this week but Nova is a different animal. Villanova is really not the team you'd want to be facing when you're missing your best guard. Hard to say how the Cats will respond coming off that absolutely brutal loss at Rutgers the other night. How do you lose to Rutgers? How do you lose after being up 13 with four and a half minutes left? How do you lose in regulation when you're up 3 with six seconds left? You give up a FOUR POINT PLAY in the final second, that's how. So painful. I like Nova to gut out a hard fought home victory in this one to get back on the rebound.

3 Ohio St @ 21 Wisconsin
Fun fact... Wisconsin has only lost 12 times at the Kohl Center under Bo Ryan, and one of those losses is to North Dakota St. Second fun fact... Wisconsin is really really really hard to beat at home. They've already played all the other tourney teams at home and their closest W this season was a comfy 7 points. Four of Ohio St's five road wins in the Big 10 have come by five or less points. I'm starting to come around to them just racking up win after win, but I really think the Badgers are underrated with their obscenely boring style of play - no turnovers, crazy efficiency, sloooow pace. That's why one of my cardinal rules each March is to just pencil Wisky right into my sweet 16. Just too tough of a matchup for most squads. I genuinely think Wisconsin should be favored in this matchup. I really like them to win at home, possibly even by double digit points.

I just realized that if all of this plays out, my #1, #2, and #3 teams would all go down on one day (assuming longshot Baylor comes through). That would certainly make my rankings interesting. Should be a great day of basketball. And maybe a big day of soccer too! GOOOOOOOAL for City and we are tied up at 1! Lucky as anything, don't even care. Time to buckle down and watch this game that I had almost given up on. Let's go City!!!