Though technically speaking, Saturday's duel between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Oregon State Beavers is being played on a neutral court, there's no doubt that there will be a lot more yelling "Rock Chalk" than anything else with these two teams head to battle in Kansas City.
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HOW THE OREGON STATE BEAVERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Oregon State might be 5-1 this year, and it might have already won road games at UC Santa Barbara and Rice, but this is a far different challenge against what might be the most talented team in America.
Clearly, there are going to be a lot of points involved in this spread, and that's only going to help out OSU. That said, the Beavers are clearly outclassed from top to bottom in this game.
Often times when underdogs rise up to challenge or beat behemoths, it's due to the efforts of one individual.
Enter: Gary Payton II.
The son of the great Gary Payton is averaging 16.4 points, 8.1 boards and 4.9 assists per game. He's shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from beyond the arc, and you can bet that he isn't leaving the court in this game unless things are all said and done with.
The ball goes through him every single possession, and he's going to have to have a superhuman effort to lead his team to a cover against Kansas.
HOW THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The simple answer to how the Jayhawks can cover is to shut down Payton. If that happens, this game has 95-51 written all over it. That said, that isn't likely to happen, and Bill Self's men are going to have to stay strong in this game to avoid another hiccup like what almost happened against Harvard on Saturday.
What Kansas didn't do in that game against the Crimson was rebound the basketball. Would you believe that a group of Ivy Leaguers were +6 on the boards against the mighty Jayhawks?
Oregon State is badly undersized as a team, and that should be a huge edge for Kansas.
Perry Ellis, Wayne Selden, Frank Mason and Devonte' Graham aren't the biggest players in the world, but they're extremely athletic and badly need to use that athleticism to outclass a suspect Oregon State unit.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
We just don't see this being a game. The Jayhawks use two point guards in Graham and Mason on the court at the same time, and that has provided a ton of challenges for opponents this season. Both Selden and Ellis are shooting better than 52 percent from the field, and if that keeps up in this game, we can't see the Beavers staying all that close.
At least we have the answer to where the ball is going to go if Selden and Ellis aren't getting the job done for the Jayhawks. We don't have the answer to that question if the Beavers aren't getting as much out of Payton as needed. That will be the difference in this one.
Kansas 82, Oregon State 64
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