Hoop Thoughts

Here's the latest College Sports Rush Podcast to help shape your handcapping of Saturday's college basketball card. The podcast provides analysis of the following games:

-- Virgina at Duke -- Texas at Texas A&M -- Vanderbilt at Kentucky -- Gonzaga at Saint Mary's -- Missouri at Mississippi State -- McNeese State at New Orleans -- Oklahoma at LSU

RBROWNBETS: Michigan (-1.5) at Illinois is the marquee game on Friday night's limited college basketball menu. Michigan is the better team, but may have to overcome Illinois' best effort since the Illini will be playing in front of a "juiced up" home crowd. These are the two top offenses in the Big Ten. Illinois leads the conference in made 3-pointers per game (11.3), but Michigan ranks at the top of the Big Ten in 3-point defense (29.5 percent). Another thing to consider is Keaton Wagler's health. Wagler, the likely Big Ten Freshman of the Year, injured his non-shooting shoulder during Illinois' loss to UCLA last weekend. He's had a week of treatment, but there's still a chance he could be at less than 100 percent healthy. We're going to take a chance with a moneyline wager on Michigan (-120) and hope Illinois doesn't turn in the exceptional performance it will need to win.

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