What a weekend!

In the sad absence of any sort of football this weekend, college basketball does it's best to offer Saturday entertainment (for those of you that don't watch hunting shows, at least). Maryland visits Cameron Indoor Stadium for what should be a decent game. Baylor looks to continue to improve against fifth-ranked Oklahoma. Memphis and Tennessee renew their rivalry, with Memphis looking for revenge. Finally, the night game finds out who the top dog is in the Big East when UConn travels to South Bend, looking to end Notre Dame's home dominance.... And that's just Saturday's lineup.

We'll start in South Bend:

Notre Dame puts it's record home-win streak on the line against a dangerous team from UConn. Luke Harangody, Kyle McAlarney, Ryan Ayers, and Tory Jackson lead the way for the Irish, whose home-win streak is now at 45 games. Hasheem Thabeet will have his work cut out for him against the 6'8 Harangody, who grabs just under 13 boards per contest while netting 24.8 points per. Believe it or not, that matchup is not the only thing to watch for in the game.

Notre Dame's bench has done a great job so far, and needs to continue to do so if Coach Mike Brey wants to have a true contender come time for The Dance.

Tory Jackson. At 5'11, 195lbs, he's a bit small right? Well, some seem to think that, but this junior knows how to play. He's quick on his feet on defense, and has the ball handling and passing skills to run the offense efficiently. I'm watching to see how tough UConn's guards really are- Jackson gets after it.

Who am I picking? Notre Dame. Noone wins in South Bend but the Irish, and they play with fire at home. The fans don't make it any easier for opponents either.


On to Norman:

No. 23 Baylor visits No. 5 Oklahoma in a Big 12 slugfest. About now, you're probably saying "Baylor? 23?!" Yeah, that's right. Scott Drew has these guys playing some great ball. But Blake Griffin isn't quite ready to forget how close last year's games were. This is going to be one to watch (If you have ESPNU of course)

Baylor has the offense pretty well in order. Any one of their starters can explode on any given night, as Curtis Jerrells proved a week ago against OKST when he contributed 31 points. The problem with the Bears is defense. Kevin Rogers is the only player that averages over 5 boards per game, and is also the only player to average more than 1 block per game- but he only averages 1.1 blocks per game. Speed isn't the problem, it's inconsistency. Baylor will have moments of defensive genius, but also moments of developmental-level defense (Elementary-school type development) Baylor needs to brush up on the D before the stretch.

As for the Sooners, well, Blake Griffin. At 6-10, 251 pounds, he's a monster inside. He averages 22.3ppg and a D-1 best 13.6 rpg. The man shoots 50% from outsideOh by the way, he's already got 15 double-doubles this year. Oklahoma has played 19 games, you do the math. Coach Jeff Capel says he's " a very confident player" (Coach, if I were 6'10 251 pounds and could play like that, I'd be confident too.)

Oklahoma hasn't lost to Baylor in 30 years, and even though that dominance is shaky of late, I don't think it's going to end tonight. Boomer Sooner tonight boys.


I did leave out Maryland-Duke and Memphis-Tennessee, but that doesn't mean they're not good games. I'm taking Duke at home, and Memphis on the road. Enjoy Sunday's games as well: Louisville at Syracuse (Noon, ESPN360- for those who don't get that service, like me, go to channelsurfing.net They should have a feed of the game) Michigan State at Ohio State( 3:45PM, CBS) Pitt at West Virginia in the Morgantown version of the Brawl (4PM, ESPN360).

-Jay