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College basketball picks, schedule: Predictions for Kansas vs. Baylor and other Top 25 games Saturday – CBS Sports
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Each year, when the college basketball season begins, it does so in the shadows of college football season and considered by many an afterthought while the NFL is going on. But now that the Super Bowl is in the rearview mirror and Selection Sunday is less than a month away, it’s time for the sport to shine on its own now as the stakes are high and the drama is thick while teams push to either make the NCAA Tournament or improve their seeding within the field.
There will be plenty of that to go around on Saturday with major conference clashes across America from early afternoon to late in the evening. No. 18 Creighton and No. 20 UConn are in action as they chase Marquette in the Big East hunt against St. John’s and Seton Hall, respectively. No. 10 Tennessee faces a desperate Kentucky team in Rupp Arena, while Illinois gets a fiesty No. 14 Indiana team inside Assembly Hall. That’s just a sampling of the goodies!
In the Big 12, there’s even more action with No. 9 Baylor facing No. 5 Kansas in the only top-10 showdown of the slate. That comes after one of only two ranked vs. ranked matchups on the day also in the Big 12 with a 2 p.m. ET tip between No. 19 Iowa State at No. 12 Kansas State.
Our experts have picks and predictions for the day’s biggest games here.
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook | All times Eastern
4 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) — An argument could be made that Baylor — not Kansas or Texas, but Baylor — has looked and played like the best team in the Big 12 over the last month. BartTorvik.com’s data seems to back that up. I’m not picking KU to stumble on its home floor given the edge it has in Lawrence, Kansas, but the Bears keeping this within the number and covering is my play here. Very even matchup between two of the best teams in the sport, so I’ll take the team that’s getting points. Prediction: Baylor +5 — Boone
Noon | Fox, fuboTV (Try for free) — UConn lost by a point when it faced Seton Hall last month in Newark, New Jersey, but this Huskies team has snapped its slump and emerged back into the form that made it a top-five team earlier in the season. They’ve lost just once all season inside Gampel Pavilion and notched some massive wins, so I’m expecting that trend continues. Prediction: UConn -10 — Boone
1 p.m. | CBS, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App (Free) — Tennessee found its mojo again by knocking off top-ranked Alabama on Wednesday. The Volunteers will be riding high into Rupp Arena as they seek revenge for an embarrassing home loss to the Wildcats from last month. UK has been vulnerable at home this season and Tennessee has three victories inside the venue under eighth-year coach Rick Barnes. Look for the Vols to shoot better than they did in the first meeting and come out with a convincing win. Prediction: Tennessee -2 — Cobb
2 p.m. | ESPN+, fuboTV (Try for free) — OU isn’t laying down just yet despite four double-digit losses to open February; it smacked Kansas State last week and showed it still has the talent on both sides to be competitive. On the road against this top-10 Texas team would be a tall ask for it to get into the win column again, but this is a rivalry game, after all. The Sooners will keep this within the number. Prediction: Oklahoma +10.5 — Boone
2 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) — If I’m going on a ledge for a potential upset this weekend, this is the one on which I’m willing to teeter out. Kansas State has stumbled hard of late with four losses in its last five games, including in consecutive outings to the next-to-last and last-place teams in the league: Texas Tech and OU. K-State tends to be a tough out in Manhattan, but Iowa State knocked this team off several weeks ago in Ames and could do the same here. Prediction: Iowa State +3 — Boone
Who will win and cover in every college basketball game? Visit SportsLine to get picks from the model that simulates each game 10,000 times and is up more than $1,200 for $100 players on its top-rated spread picks the past six years.
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