Thursday Lay-up Lines

Tonight's college hoops action is dominated by the West Coast. The biggest game of night pits UCLA (19-4, 8-2) at Arizona State (18-5, 7-4). UCLA, as the best team in the Pac-10, is in the running for a #1 seed come March, but it is going to take the Bruins winning games like this on the road. While they are sixth in the coach's poll, the Bruins are 11th in the AP and the mid-20's in the RPI. The Sun Devils won the first match-up against the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion in OT, but they have been inconsistent in league play (the weeks ago they were swept at home by the Washingtons). The biggest problem is that Arizona State's offense has really struggled to put up points. In their last seven games, the Sun Devils have not scored more than 71, and four times scored 55 or less (including 49 twice). The problem? Teams are really starting to key on James Harden on the perimeter as Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott, and Rihard Kuksiks struggle.

While I still have my doubts about the Bruins, they have really started to play better basketball of late. In the four games since their loss to U-Dub, UCLA has beaten Cal, Stanford, USC, and Notre Dame by an average of 22 points. A big reason for that has been the improved play of Jrue Holiday, who is averaging 12.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 5.8 apg, and 2.0 apg. Holiday is an excellent defender, and I see him giving Harden fits. But where ASU is going to have an advantage is in the post with Jeff Pendergraph. Alfred Aboya has really grown on me as a player, but he is still undersized for the Pac-10 (UPDATE: Drew Gordon may miss the game with back spasms).

I think UCLA pulls this one out on the road. Here is the rest of the night's games you should care about:

• 7:00 PM: Louisville (18-4, 9-1) @ Notre Dame (12-10, 3-7): The Irish need this game, and may need to win out if they want to avoid the NIT. It will be a tough one for ND, because they struggle against ... everyone?
  
• 7:00 PM: Manhattan (14-10, 8-6) @ Siena (19-6, 13-1)
• 7:00 PM: Temple (13-9, 5-3) @ St. Joe's (14-8, 7-1): With Xavier's loss to Dayton last night, St. Joe's is now all alone in first place in the A-10.
• 7:00 PM: Davidson (20-4, 13-1) @ Wofford (13-13, 7-6)
• 9:00 PM: Illinois (19-5, 7-4) @ Northwestern (13-8, 4-6)
• 10:00 PM: Oregon (6-17, 0-11) @ Washington State (12-11, 4-7)
• 10:05 PM: Utah State (23-1, 11-0) @ Idaho (10-12, 4-5)
• 10:30 PM: USC (15-7, 6-4) @ Arizona (16-8, 6-5): The Trojans and the Wildcats are both right on the bubble and right in the middle of the Pac-10 as most pundits have both teams either in their last four in or last four out. Both teams, however, has massive problems. UA is essentially a three man team, while USC has a ton of injury issues (Leonard Washington, Dwight Lewis, Keith Wilkinson, and now Marcus Johnson have missed significant time). I like Arizona getting it done at home.
• 10:30 PM: Oregon State (10-12, 4-7) @ Washington (17-6, 8-3)
• 11:00 PM: Gonzaga (17-5, 8-0) @ St. Mary's (19-4, 6-3): Think about how much more luster this match-up had two weeks ago when these two teams played.