Kentucky -13 over WV *****
Think this is a bad match up for WV...WV plays great defense,presses,leads in creating turnovers,traps,etc WV has created over 40 turn overs in the two tourney games....Staten is probably the best ball handling gd in the country..coming off an injury still looks good..Huggy Bear knows his only chance is putting big time pressure on the Cats gds...and after watching Harrison vs Hampton and the other gds Huggy is licking his chops..Ulis is good but a puppy...WV likes to wear down teams...and this could be the best pressure Cats have seen all year..but Cats have more depth then any team WV has seen...but Cats also have a great defense....vs a WV offense that is just avg...Williams inside is tough but he is a power fd...those inside down low moves will be tough in the land of the giants...Staten who can penetrate vs anybody goes where once he attacks the bds...the " bigs" will either block his shot,alter it or make him kick out to a shooter...Calipari should have someone on the kick out receiver...on offense the cats with its bigs Towns,Cauley-Stein,Johnson and Lyles...are tough to defend..WV has no front line to stop that...if Williams gets in foul trouble which he might WV is in trouble...
One of the keys of the game is to see how freshman Ulis handles the press...with its size Cats should go over the press and then attack...because once they get the ball to midcourt we might see some big time jams...then Huggy might have to pull back..with less pressure...WV gambles on their press...and lets not forget WV leads the country in some defensive stats...but....they also lead the nation in fouling and Cats can shoot FT's...both teams play a lot of players...
Think this will be close until the last 10-15 minutes...Cats will figure out the press and score in transition...plus Miles should have kept his mouth shut talking smack about Cats being 31-1..why give Calipari locker room material...
Zona -11 over XU ***
Zona has a great starting 5..TJ will cause XU big time problems..
