{"id":629012,"date":"2026-02-27T21:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/629012\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T21:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:30:16","slug":"college-basketball-expert-picks-for-saturdays-loaded-top-25-slate-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/629012\/","title":{"rendered":"College basketball expert picks for Saturday’s loaded Top 25 slate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The penultimate weekend of college basketball’s regular season is upon us, replete with conference-shaping showdowns in the Big 12, ACC and SEC, along with Gonzaga’s<\/a> final regular-season game as a member of the WCC (in a game that will determine the league’s champion).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please prepare your body accordingly.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s slate is particularly packed, beginning with a noon ET tip between No. 1 Duke<\/a> and No. 11 Virginia<\/a>. We also have a handful of afternoon tips worth watching, which include No. 2 Arizona<\/a> and No. 14 Kansas<\/a> in Tucson and No. 4 Iowa State<\/a> and No. 16 Texas Tech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the evening window, No. 7 Florida<\/a> can assert itself as the king of the SEC as No. 20 Arkansas<\/a> comes to Gainesville with the Gators up two games in the conference standings. We also have the aforementioned Gonzaga game to watch for — a 10:30 p.m. ET tip! — as it travels to face Saint Mary’s<\/a> for a chance to win the league.<\/p>\n

Our team of experts has picks for every major game below straight up and against the spread.<\/p>\n

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a> | All times ET <\/p>\n

No. 11 Virginia at No. 1 Duke<\/p>\n

12 p.m. on ESPN,\u00a0fuboTV<\/a>\u00a0(try for free):\u00a0Duke is coming off a game in which it blasted Notre Dame<\/a> by 44 points — and it did so just three days removed from downing the then-No. 1 Michigan Wolverines<\/a> on a neutral court. It’s hard to pick against this Blue Devils team. So I won’t. But Virginia, winners of nine straight, is equipped to keep this one close, even inside Cameron Indoor. I’d take the points here with UVA and expect Ryan Odom’s team to play Duke tight in an eventual Duke win.\u00a0Pick: Virginia +9.5 (Boone) <\/p>\n

San Diego State vs. New Mexico<\/p>\n

2 p.m. on CBS,\u00a0CBSSports.com<\/a>,\u00a0CBS Sports App<\/a>,\u00a0Paramount+ Premium<\/a>:\u00a0The MWC remains wide open with a few games remaining, setting SDSU-New Mexico to be a pivotal one on CBS. The Lobos are favored here by three, and I think rightfully so. The Pit will be packed and ready to apply pressure to the visiting Aztecs, with the stakes high. New Mexico<\/a> and Eric Olen’s team take this one after losing the first game of the series in January by four.\u00a0Pick: New Mexico -3 (Boone)<\/p>\n

No. 16 Texas Tech vs. No. 4 Iowa State<\/p>\n

4 p.m. on Fox, fuboTV<\/a>\u00a0(try for free):\u00a0No team has won inside Hilton Coliseum this season aside from Iowa State, and despite how well Texas Tech has played of late, I don’t think that fact changes. I do think, however, that the Christian Anderson-led Red Raiders can give the Cyclones a real push. Anderson is coming off 21- and 31-point outings in TTU wins, and he is positioned to potentially keep this one close vs. an ISU team that won two of its last three home games by a single possession.\u00a0Pick: Texas Tech +7 (Boone) <\/p>\n

No. 14 Kansas vs. No. 2 Arizona<\/p>\n

4 p.m. on ESPN,\u00a0fuboTV<\/a>\u00a0(try for free):\u00a0Kansas downed Arizona three weeks ago in Lawrence and is coming off a 69-56 home win over top-five Houston<\/a>. But, in between that, the Jayhawks have losses by 18 to Iowa State and Cincinnati<\/a> and a road win over NIT-bound Oklahoma State<\/a>. Arizona can make inconsistent teams pay with consistency. I think they do that on Saturday.\u00a0Pick: Arizona -10 (Boone) <\/p>\n

No. 17 Alabama vs. No. 22 Tennessee<\/p>\n

6 p.m. on ESPN,\u00a0fuboTV<\/a>\u00a0(try for free):\u00a0Alabama<\/a> has won seven straight and faces its toughest test in that stretch with a road trip to Tennessee<\/a>. The Vols have been up and down in SEC play, but more up than down — and near-perfect at home. I’ll take the home team as the narrow favorite to win a close one.\u00a0Pick: Alabama +4 (Boone)<\/p>\n

No. 20 Arkansas vs. No. 7 Florida<\/p>\n

4 p.m. on ESPN,\u00a0fuboTV<\/a>\u00a0(try for free):\u00a0All but one of us on our team is taking Arkansas to cover the spread and Florida to win. So we’re expecting the Razorbacks to keep it within a respectable number. Darius Acuff Jr<\/a>. has looked like one of the sport’s biggest stars the last couple of weeks, and his prolific scoring prowess keeps Arkansas in a close one that Florida eventually takes.\u00a0Pick: Arkansas +8 (Boone)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The penultimate weekend of college basketball’s regular season is upon us, replete with conference-shaping showdowns in the Big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7998,382,1982,598,7,3294,10846,7150,217,64100,59378,49426,37839,64101,41665,17641,666,691,950,4250,2811,7367,3755,7368,3275,6658,2469,3730,3075,27218,1043,231,772,1544,11974,783,14720,1825,12513,2464,10413,11973,1797,1640,4262,1774,12809],"class_list":["post-629012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-alabama-crimson-tide","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-wildcats","tag-arkansas-razorbacks","tag-basketball","tag-byu-cougars","tag-cincinnati-bearcats","tag-clemson-tigers","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-lines","tag-college-basketball-picks","tag-college-basketball-predictions","tag-college-basketball-schedule","tag-college-basketball-spreads","tag-darius-acuff-jr","tag-darryn-peterson","tag-duke","tag-duke-blue-devils","tag-florida-gators","tag-gonzaga-bulldogs","tag-houston-cougars","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-iowa-hawkeyes","tag-iowa-state-cyclones","tag-jaland-lowe","tag-jayden-quaintance","tag-kansas","tag-kansas-jayhawks","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-koa-peat","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-new-mexico-lobos","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-oklahoma-state-cowboys","tag-oregon-ducks","tag-purdue-boilermakers","tag-richie-saunders","tag-saint-marys-gaels","tag-san-diego-state-aztecs","tag-tennessee-volunteers","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","tag-ucla-bruins","tag-virginia-cavaliers","tag-virginia-tech-hokies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}