MSU men at No. 4 Wisconsin
Noon Saturday, Kohl Center
TK — What a shame — I really think MSU would have finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak if not for its recent Oregon Trail-like bad news. ("Drew Neitzel has an upper respiratory infection. Your momentum has died.") Instead, the Spartans will limp into the Big Ten Tournament, and their first-round game against Northwestern or Penn State almost becomes a must-win to stay in the Big Dance. Granted, that's not much of an ultimatum, but who wants to take chances at this point of the season?
Wisconsin 65, MSU 57
EC — The Badgers fought like a buzz saw on the road against MSU and Ohio State, and came up just short in both games. Now that they're back in Madison, Wisc., with a rowdy student section giving them a boost of energy, they'll get back on the winning track just before the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans will make it interesting, but Wisconsin will pull away midway through the second half.
Wisconsin 63, MSU 51
MB — Since my record is already in the crapper, I don't think I'm going to join forces with these negative nancies here. Assuming everyone is healthy, MSU can go to Madison, Wisc., and finally steal one for the first time since I've been a student here. And Bo Ryan is mean. On an unrelated note, if you ever see Tom Keller, be sure to ask him about his Bo Ryan story from Big Ten Media Day. You won't regret it (OK, you probably will, but nag him anyway).
MSU 51, Wisconsin 49
SH — After watching my reporters flounder all season with their predictions, I thought it was about time I teach them a lesson before we turn it up a notch for the NCAA Tournament. Lesson No. 1: If one team is 7-0 at home in conference play and the other team is 1-6 on the road in conference play, the home team is the correct pick.
Wisconsin 68, MSU 52
No. 15 Texas vs. No. 3 Kansas
Noon Saturday
TK — With the exception of MSU, all of the Longhorns' losses have come to teams that just plain outscored them in shootout games. Well, Kevin Durant, say hello to the Kansas Jayhawks, who've hit the 80-point mark 16 times this season and have enough depth to outlast Texas' run-and-gun attack.
Kansas 91, Texas 82
EC — It sure would have been nice if I could've waited to make this pick until Texas played Texas A&M Wednesday night, but my lazy editor wants progs in Wednesday afternoon.
Anyway, I like Texas' chances in this game, and the matchup between Kevin Durant and Julian Wright is intriguing to no end.
But the Jayhawks already lost one big home game this season. I can't imagine they'll lose another one.
Kansas 82, Texas 80
(Durant: 32 points and 17 rebounds)
MB — If you ever got a hold of Ethan Conley's laptop, you'd probably see a picture of Kevin Durant dunking on Maurice Joseph. If I have to hear about Durant, Dwight Howard, the Phoenix Suns or Bill Simmons one more time from this guy, stuff's gonna happen. As for this game, the Jayhawks will get hooked by the 'Horns. Bank on it!
Texas 84, Kansas 79
SH — Lesson No 2: Fire any reporter who needs one more game to predict a winner after both teams are about 30 games into the season.
Aside from that, I'm astonished Conley picked against the Longhorns, mostly because of his infatuation with Durant. If I got a peek at Conley's celebrity crush list, I imagine it'd look something like this: Jessica Alba, Erin Andrews and Durant (in no particular order). I guess he went with his head instead of his heart because Kansas — fighting for a No. 1 seed — is the correct pick here.
Kansas 83, Texas 72
No. 14 Duke vs. No. 8 North Carolina
4 p.m. Sunday
TK — Has there been a pair of teams more underwhelming the last month than these two? Duke has "bounced back" from a four-game skid with four less-than-convincing wins, and the Heels haven't won more than two in a row in a month. Yet, we'll still be subjected to 72 hours of "OH, MAN, THIS IS THE BEST RIVALRY IN THE HISTORY OF BASKETS AND/OR BALLS!" commentary beforehand. Yawn.
(Aw, who am I kidding — I'll still be watching.)
North Carolina 74, Duke 72
EC — This one will end the same way as the last matchup between the two teams: The Tar Heels get the victory, and Josh McRoberts cries into a towel.
North Carolina 84, Duke 72
MB — My goodness, we have some vanilla picks this week. Hey, Mr. Highfield, pick some actual competitive games for us to prog. I'm going against the grain because you guys are all stuck in a rut. I still remember picking Vermont to shock Syracuse in the 2005 NCAA Tournament in this space. Would my cohorts have made that pick? Not a chance. You pick a winner on that one.
Duke 75, North Carolina 72
SH — I don't care if Duke rolled out its 1992 national championship team and North Carolina rehired Matt Doherty to coach this game — there's no way I can pick Duke.
It's especially easy to pick against Duke as long as Greg Paulus is on the team. He was the nation's No. 1 point guard coming out of high school, and was also a star quarterback that Rivals.com compared with Joe Montana. But right now, his future is as a Duke assistant coach. I can't live for that kind of underachieving.
North Carolina 71, Duke 67
Prediction for MSU women in Big Ten Tournament
March 2-5
TK — The Minnesota/Northwestern game is almost a gimmie, and Purdue is a favorable matchup, so I don't see an MSU trip to the finals as much of a stretch. The question there would be: Can the Spartans find a way to beat Ohio State again? I say yes. The Buckeyes are trending down since the loss of Brandie Hoskins, and the Spartans are trending up despite the hiccup at Illinois last week. Ohio State knocked MSU out of this tournament last year — revenge is a dish best served DeHaan.
EC — We know the women can win away from home, as evidenced by road wins over Ohio State and Purdue. We also know they can play down to the level of their competition — just look at that 80-70 loss at Illinois.
The Spartans should advance to the semifinal round quite easily. But they'll likely see a rematch with Purdue in the semis, and with a throng of Boilermakers fans likely to invade Indianapolis, MSU will fall short of the championship game.
MB — This is tough. Purdue should have a ton of fans in the building if that potential semifinal matchup happens. Will MSU be caught up in the postseason hype? Probably not. Will they get the ball inside with consistency? We'll see. If so, the Spartans could win it all. If not, it'll be another exit in the semifinals.
SH — The women will have no trouble disposing of the Minnesota/Northwestern winner, who will be playing on back-to-back days. And despite all the talk about the disappointing loss to Illinois, the women still have won six of their last seven. They'll show up to play in the semifinals and beat Purdue, but that's where the fun ends. The Spartans played their tails off to upset Ohio State a few weeks ago, but it's too much to ask for a repeat performance in MSU's third game in four days.
