College basketball will give us endless opportunities Saturday to see how some of the best teams and biggest brands in the sport stack up. Six top-10 teams and a total of 15 ranked teams will be in action, and meanwhile, the likes of Duke and Kentucky -- both off to slow starts to the season -- find themselves set up in big spots to potentially capture some real and much-needed momentum.
Among the games we've circled include a big one in the Big 12 between No. 4 Texas and No. 14 West Virginia, No. 6 Kansas vs. Oklahoma on CBS and Kentucky facing Florida before a late game between Pac-12 rivals Arizona and UCLA. Buckle up.
To celebrate the day ahead and prep accordingly, our experts have made picks both straight up and against the spread for Saturday below.
No. 4 Texas at No. 14 West Virginia
When: 1 p.m. | Where: WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
After preseason All-Big 12 big man Oscar Tshiebwe stepped away from West Virginia and ultimately transferred, Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins -- somewhat controversially -- declared that the result of the decision for his program would be that it would "win more games." The team 1-1 since, but it has seemingly found something with a guard-heavy lineup that operates around big man Derek Culver. And winning a big one on the road over Oklahoma State last week in a dramatic comeback, they have some real momentum coming back home to take out a surging Texas team that could realistically win the league. I like WVU by a hair here and will gladly take the points with them at home. Prediction: West Virginia 75, Texas 71 -- Kyle Boone
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Oklahoma at No. 6 Kansas
When: 4:30 p.m. | Where: Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas
TV: CBS | Live stream: CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App (Free)
OTT: CBS Sports App (Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast)
Getting smacked at home by the Longhorns appears to have been a wake up call for this Kansas team. With Garrett expected to be back in the lineup for this game with Oklahoma, look for the Jayhawks to stymie Oklahoma's perimeter attack and pull away in the second half. Prediction: Kansas 74, Oklahoma 64 -- David Cobb
Kentucky at Florida
When: 5 p.m. | Where: Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Florida
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
This is a big test to see just how real Kentucky's recent turnaround is. Florida's 5-2 and has an upperclassmen-laden roster that plays smart and hard. Kentucky, meanwhile, is young and inexperienced -- but still has loads of talent and enters the game on a two-game winning streak. With UK set to welcome a vitally important player back for this game, I'm sensing that the tide is slowly shifting in Kentucky for the better, so I'll take UK to win this one straight-up in an upset. Prediction: Kentucky 71, Florida 70 -- Boone
Georgetown at Syracuse
When: 7 p.m. | Where: Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
It's been a dreadful start to the season for Georgetown and, odds are, it'll only get worse Saturday as it faces Syracuse on the road. The Hoyas are 3-7 with their lone Big East win of the season thus far coming in overtime to St. John's by three points ... a month ago. Since then, they've fallen flat in four consecutive games. Syracuse on the other hand enters the game 6-2 (1-1 in ACC play) having just barely missed on a home win over Pitt earlier in the week. It should be a fun rekindling of an old Big East rivalry as the two programs meet up, but I'm betting that Syracuse will especially enjoy this one given Georgetown's serious struggles of late. Prediction: Syracuse 75, Georgetown 58 -- Boone
UCLA at Arizona
When: 9 p.m. | Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Save for a meltdown at home Thursday night against USC, Arizona's been competitive -- and consistently quite good -- for the better part of the season. So I'm going to turn a blind eye and pretend it didn't just get blown out as a home favorite and trust the larger sample. And the larger sample tells me UA is the better team that has otherwise been nails at home this season in the win column. Nice little bounce-back spot to get right against a UCLA team still trying to find its identity without Chris Smith, even with consecutive wins without him. Prediction: Arizona 79, UCLA 72 -- Boone
So who wins every college basketball game today? And which underdogs pull off stunning upsets? Visit SportsLine now to get picks for every game, all from the unbiased model that simulates every game 10,000 times, and find out.
