Saturday Feast: Breaking Down The Five Matchups Between Top-25 Teams

No. 6 Syracuse vs. No. 1 Louisville is one of five matchups between top-25 teams Saturday. (usatoday.com)

Conference play is in full force, which means no November games where Duke plays a local junior college team with no player taller than 6-foot-6. Conference play means rivals and legitimate match-ups. Saturday is giving us five games between top-25 teams that are sure to produce exciting moments. This will probably end up being a weekly feature, so don't worry about the brilliant analysis only being limited to five games. Here's the breakdown:

No. 6 Syracuse vs. No. 1 Louisville

This Syracuse team isn't the same without James Southerland (Fab Melo 2.0), who is ruled ineligible for academic reasons, which means guys like Brandon Triche and Michael Carter-Williams will have to carry even more of the load. Louisville is proving to have one of the top defenses in the country and it will be put to the test against Syracuse's scorers. What makes this more exciting is the coaching match-up. Jim Boeheim has more than 900 wins and Rick Pitino has a white suit, and, you know, is also a great, future hall-of-fame coach.

L'Ville's Russ Smith (18.9 ppg) has proven his great play is less fluke and more Wooden Award candidate and is living up to the nickname Pitino gave him, "Russdiculous." So to sum up the game in Pitino speak: Russdiculous will have to play great against Boeheim's Zonediculous defense while Pitino yells from the sideline hopefully wearing his Whitediculous suit. Should be fun — I mean, ridiculous.

No. 8 Gonzaga vs No. 13 Butler
Cinderella fans are about to explode with excitement over this one. Smart move by ESPN starting the College Gameday series at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse as darling Butler takes on the original mid-major darling Gonzaga. And it's a battle of the Bulldogs. What else do you need?

It was almost perfect. ESPN officials were beaming with pride at this scheduling. The only downside, and it's a fairly large one, is Butler will be without top scorer Rotnei Clarke, who suffered a neck injury against Dayton last Saturday. (Dayton just ruined its chance of getting any games on ESPN this year.) The loss of Clarke is probably too much for Butler to overcome. Scoring could be tough to come by with the absence of his 16.3 ppg average and Gonzaga has too many weapons. But don't count out the magic of Hinkle (oh, hey Indiana) and coach Brad Stevens. Butler won't give up without a fight.

No. 17 Missouri vs No. 10 Florida

I know Missouri well from growing up as a fan of the Big Eight-turned-Big 12 and living within a close proximity of part of their fan base. The feeling I got from them at the beginning of the season (once Kentucky started losing) was Florida was good, but they had a legitimate shot at a SEC title. This is still the case, if Mizzou stops losing to teams like Ole Miss. I know, I know, Mizzou didn't have Laurence Bowers, and that's looking to be a big blow, but you still can't score only 49 points against a team like the Rebels who hadn't played a ranked team all year.

Florida not only has the home-court advantage, but they can score in bunches. The Gators are averaging 77 ppg in their last four games. Bowers being out does hurt the Tigers, especially from a scoring aspect. Mizzou is still looking for that signature win to announce its welcome into the SEC, in football and basketball, and this is the type of win that would send a big message to the conference.

No. 11 Ohio State vs. No. 18 Michigan State
Coming off a big home upset of then-No. 2 Michigan on Sunday, Ohio State can't afford a let-down against rival Michigan State. But will they again rise to the challenge? Who knows. The Big Ten might as well be a lottery drawing. Just when we think we've kind of got the conference sorted out, Bo Ryan and Wisconsin come in and destroy everything we once thought. Maybe Illinois is what we originally thought and isn't a title contender? Maybe Michigan runs away with the title? Maybe Iowa wins 12 straight conference games and shocks everyone? Maybe we find out Aaron Craft's red cheeks give him superpowers that suddenly stop working in big games? Truly anything could happen with this conference.

All I know is Michigan State really needs a big conference win for the resume and this is the time to get one. The Buckeyes have been unstable and unable to play a complete game. Now is Michigan State's chance to strike and get a signature win to start a brutal conference stretch.

No. 21 Oregon vs. No. 24 UCLA
Oregon has been a great rebuilding story that reached its height with an upset win over then-undefeated Arizona last Thursday. UCLA has a coach, Ben Howland, on the hot seat and a group of freshmen still learning to play together. Both the Ducks and Bruins come into this game undefeated in conference play, both trying to convince the public that the hype (UCLA's came at the beginning of the season, Oregon's is now) is deserving.

UCLA has more big-name stars in Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson, but don't overlook the balance of Oregon. UCLA gets the advantage playing at Pauley Pavilion, so it just depends which Bruins team shows up: the one that scored 97 against Missouri or the one that scored 57 against Utah.

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The Horizon League Conference Preview: Life Without Butler

The long wait will soon be over when the first official NCAA basketball game of the 2012-13 season will tip-off on Nov. 15. Some of our favorite players have moved on the ranks of professional athletes, new recruits have been polishing their games in gyms with recognizable logos on the court, and schools have switched conference allegiances. Through a series of conference previews, the BDD crew will do its best to prepare you for the next 4.5 months of collegiate hoops.

Ryan Broekhoff looks to lead Valparaiso to a Horizon title this season. (Ray Acevedo)

Favorite: Valparaiso

The Horizon League will be in search for a new standard-bearer following the departure of the Butler Bulldogs to the Atlantic 10 Conference. In the near-term, the most likely contender is Valparaiso. Bryce Drew, famous for his buzzer-beating shot to send No. 13-seed Valparaiso to victory in the first round of the 1998 NCAA tournament, took over the helm for his father in 2011 and led Valpo to a regular season championship. The Crusaders look to be the favorites again after graduating only two seniors, who averaged 1.4 and 0.4 points per game, respectively.

Dark Horse: Youngstown State

Youngstown St. finished a distant 6th in the 2011-12 regular season standings. However, the Penguins return their top three scorers in 2012, including stand-out guard Kendrick Perry, the league's top scorer at 16.8 ppg. Cleveland State, Milwaukee, and Detroit will challenge Valparaiso with their talent alone, but the experience of Youngstown St. makes them a true dark horse candidate in a relatively weak field.

POY: Ryan Broekhoff, Valparaiso

Broekhoff looks poised to edge out Detroit's Ray McCallum, Jr. for his second straight Player of the Year honor. The 6-7 power forward from Australia averaged 14.9 ppg and led the league with 8.5 rebounds per game in his junior year. By the way, he also shot 39 percent from 3-point range. Broekhoff nearly made it to the final cut for the Australian national team this summer and has continued to develop all facets of his game. If he continues to make strides in his senior campaign, look for him to make noise on the national scene and potentially find his way into the first round of the NBA draft.

Coach of the Year: Porter Moser, Loyola Chicago

Bryce Drew won the honor of Horizon League Coach of the Year in his first season with Valparaiso. I'm guessing the pattern will continue with Loyola's first-year head coach Porter Moser. The Ramblers have received positive reviews for their hire of the former St. Louis associate head coach. Kansas head coach Bill Self said:

"Porter is very familiar with Chicago and has already gained some valuable head coaching experience at a young age. He is someone whom [St. Louis head coach Rick] Majerus gave a lot of responsibility to because of his abilities. He is a great fit for Loyola and the University. Alums and fans will love having him as their head coach."

Porter will begin with a team that returns three of its five leading scorers from last season, along with a strong recruiting class. In fact, he recently attracted University of Kansas recruit Milton Doyle (one can assume that Self helped direct Doyle to the Ramblers, given his positive opinion of Moser). After Loyola finished dead last in the Horizon League with a 1-17 conference mark, there's plenty of room to improve and impress.

Newcomer: Junior Lomomba, Cleveland State

Cleveland St. scored a big recruiting victory with Lomomba. The Vikings beat out the likes of Baylor, Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Xavier for the 6-4, 175-pound small forward from Madison, Wisc. ESPN's scouting report gives Lomomba three stars and calls him a slasher, writing, "Junior runs the floor and attacks from the wing in transition and has no problem finishing through contact on a regular basis." With Cleveland St. losing its three leading scorers from 2011-12, there should be plenty of opportunity for Lomomba to get playing time and make a name for himself right away.


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