College Basketball Analysis

*Three plays Thursday:

Pittsburgh (pick) vs Villanova - 11:15am Pacific - Big East - Game #607-608

Pittsburgh has made the Big East tournament final four straight years. Their strong defense and hard nosed style are clearly suited well for this type of setting. Second year head coach Jamie Dixon does an outstanding job preparing this team. The Panthers have had some lapses at times this year but closed the season with two impressive wins at Boston College and at Notre Dame, perhaps their best back to back performances of the season. Six Big East teams ended with a winning record in conference play. Villanova finished just 3-4 vs these opponents with all three wins coming on their home court. Pitt meanwhile went 6-2 vs the same group including an super strong 4-1 in road games. Villanova won the only regular season meeting between the two teams with home fans storming the court after the game. Pitt will look for revenge today.

Official Play: Pittsburgh pick 1 UNIT

DePaul (-1) vs UAB - 12:15pm Pacific - C-USA - Game #651-652

I really like the way Depaul is playing right now. Guard Sammy Meija is one of the better sophomores in the country. He is really starting to assert himself in recent games. In regular season finale vs Louisville he had 21 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals. In Wednesday's opening round win over Tulane he just missed a triple double with 18 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. Meija was mistakenly left off the all C-USA team while two of his teammates forward Quemont Greer and guard Drake Deiner made 1st & 3rd team respectively. The Blue Demons have now won 11 of their last 16 games despite losing three heartbreakers at Charlotte by 4 in a game they led most of the way, in OT at UAB by 1, and vs league champion Louisville by 4 in a game that went down to the wire. UAB has lacked its usual firepower of late as they have been without C-USA 6th man of the year Ronell Taylor. He has not played in a month after suffering a broken foot. No official word has been given on whether he will participate in C-USA tournament, but even if he does he is sure to be rusty. UAB is 10-6 in conference play but that is mostly due to a very favorable schedule. They played Memphis, Louisville, Charlottle, Cincinnati and Depaul each only once and had four of the five at home. They played bottom feeders USF, Tulane, and East Carolina each twice. Depaul outplayed UAB in meeting last week but fell short by 1 in OT. UAB's home court advantage definitely played a factor in the outcome of that game. Expect Depaul to avenge the loss today.

Official Play: Depaul -1 1 UNIT

Kansas State vs Texas A&M (-3.5) - 4:00pm Pacific - Big 12 - Game #645-646

First year head coach Billy Gillipsie has done a remarkable job turning around this program. He has already been named Big 12 coach of the year and is a finalist for the national coach of the year. After not winning a single conference game last year, the Aggies finished 8-8 in Big 12 play. They were also very competitive on the road vs the conferences best teams losing by only 5 at Kansas, by only 4 at Oklahoma, and by only 6 at Oklahoma State 8 days ago. That game was a 1 point game in the final minutes before OSU went on a free throw parade that could have been argued as undeserving. A&M still finished the season winning four of their last five games and appear poised to get their first Big 12 tournament win in 9 years. Gillipsie could not have had success so quickly without some talent. Junior forward Antoine Wright has blossomed this year into an a first team Big 12 performer and NBA prospect. Lead guard Acie Law is one of the better guards in the conference and Gillipsie says freshman forward Joseph Jones will be one of the school's all time greats before he is through. KSU has not impressed much at all this year going 6-10 in conference play after a non-conference schedule of mostly cupcakes. A&M won the only regular season meeting handily 75-61 in College Station. A&M has given 110% just about every time out this year and tonight should be no different. Give the points.

Official Play: Texas A&M -3.5 1 UNIT