Thursday Lay-up Lines

The big game of the night is up in Minnesota as the Golden Gophers host the Purdue Boilermakers on what ESPN is calling Thursday "Knight" basketball (three guesses who is doing color for that game). While it is still early in the conference season, this game carries all kinds of importance. Purdue sputtered out of the gates during Big Ten play, and is currently sitting at 3-2 in the conference, while Minnesota is coming off of a loss against Northwestern which dropped them to 4-2. With Michigan State losing last night, this is a great opportunity for both teams to make up a game on the Spartans (even more important for Minnesota, who has already lost to them). The key for the Gophers is going to be protecting the ball against the Purdue defense. They turned the ball over 19 times against Northwestern, and Purdue forces a league-high 16.7 per game.

I think Purdue wins this one. The Gophers have a very good defense, but what makes them so good is the fact that they switch between multiple defensive looks. Purdue is well-coached with bunch of smart players, and I don't see them getting thrown off by Minnesota changing defenses.

As is typical with Thursdays, we get four Pac-10 games tonight - the LA schools head to Washington and the Oregon schools make way to the Bay Area.

• 9:00 PM: UCLA (16-2, 4-1) @ Washington State (11-6, 3-2): The Bruins early season struggles look well behind them as they have become a much better team offensively while still playing their typical lockdown defense. Wazzu is 3-2 in the league, but their three wins have come against the Oregon schools and Stanford. I just don't see the Cougars having enough offensive firepower to beat the Bruins (which says a lot). UCLA wins, but neither team breaks 60.
  
• 10:30 PM: Oregon (6-12, 0-6) @ Stanford (12-3, 2-3): Stanford has a good looking record, but two one-point losses on their Washington trip could really hurt them come March. If they plan on making a run at the NCAA's, home games against Oregon have to be wins.
  
• 10:30 PM: Oregon State (6-10, 1-4) @ Cal (15-3, 4-1): Cal just lost to Stanford, but a road loss to your biggest rival when your coach is making his first trip back to the school he is a legend at isn't really all that big of a deal. But, like I said for Stanford, Cal must win these games if they want to reach the NCAA's.
  
• 11:00 USC (12-5, 3-2) @ Washington (13-4, 4-1): Game of the night out west. USC has been a bit of a disappointment this season, but bounce back wins against Arizona and Arizona State threw the Trojans right back into the mix of the Pac-10. Washington is one of the bigger surprises in the country, as they are tied for the lead in the Pac-10. Both of these teams look like they are going to be around the top of the league the rest of the year, and with both teams seemingly destined for the bubble, this game could carry some importance come March. The best match-up in this one will be seeing Taj Gibson go head-to-head with Jon Brockman. Where Brockman is a bruiser in the post and one of the best rebounders in the country, Gibson is more of an athletic, finesse player down low. I think Brockman gets the best of this one, but USC's athleticism on the perimeter will be too much for the smaller Huskies.
  

The rest of the night's games:

• 7:00 PM: West Virginia (13-4, 2-2) @ Georgetown (13-4, 3-2): Interesting match-up of styles. West Virginia is not a great team offensively, but they are a good defensive team that attacks the offensive glass. Georgetown's achilles heel this season has been their rebounding (or lack thereof). While the Mountaineers will put up a good fight, winning on the road in the Big East is damn near impossible.
• 7:00 PM: Wisconsin Green-Bay (14-5, 6-1) @ Butler (16-1, 7-0): The Pheonix are starting to look like they will be Butler's biggest competition in the Horizon League.
• 7:00 PM: Providence (12-6, 4-2) @ Seton Hall (9-8, 0-5): Providence really needs to keep winning against the lesser Big East teams, and eventually they will knock off one of the big boys. If that happens, they have a really good shot at making the tournament.
• 9:00 PM: St. Mary's (16-1, 4-0) @ San Diego (12-7, 4-0): San Diego has been a team devastated by injuries, but they still have managed to start out 4-0 in the top heavy WCC thanks in large part to the return of Trumaine Johnson (13.5 ppg). St. Mary's is rolling along again this year, and may actually be the best team in the conference. The Torreros win this one if Gyno Pomare has a big game against the St. Mary's front line.
• 9:00 PM: Gonzaga (12-4, 3-0) @ Pepperdine (4-15, 1-2)
  
• 9:00 PM: Cincinnati (12-7, 2-4) @ St. John's (10-7, 1-4)