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Two of college basketball’s blue bloods will square off in one of the early games in a Saturday filled with action. The UCLA Bruins have had a lot of distractions to deal with over the last week and a road game may help them clear their heads and get their minds off of everything that has been going on with the school and the program. As for the Michigan Wolverines, this is a chance for the school to get another nice win to its credit in hopes of bolstering a potential NCAA Tournament resume.
This war on the floor will go down Saturday, December 9, 2017, at 12 p.m. ET at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The game will be televised live on CBS. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
It’s been a crazy week for UCLA. The LiAngelo Ball saga reached a crescendo when LaVar Ball announced he was pulling his son out of the school without his son ever playing a minute at the university. It’s been a whirlwind over the past month or so ever since Ball and two other teammates were arrested and detained for shoplifting in China, but maybe this will give the team some closure.
That’s not the most pressing matter for the Bruins now though. Wildfires have been destroying huge swaths of land in Southern California and those have been so bad that UCLA was compelled to cancel its home game against Montana on Wednesday night. Many players are from the area and have their family and friend to worry about, and this has probably weighed heavily on the team.
Let’s turn our attention to what has happened on the court. The Bruins are 7-1, but had some middling results in their first four games of the season. They failed to cover their first four games and almost lost at home to Central Arkansas. Things have improved of late though with the team winning its last four and covering three of those games.
Michigan is 7-3 on the year, but has been a very different team at home when compared to on the road. The Wolverines are 5-0 at home this season and have beaten all of their opponents by double-digits. In neutral site and road games, things were dicey as the team lost to Ohio State, North Carolina, and LSU, and its one decent win came against VCU.
Matchup to Watch
These two teams are right next to each other in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, but play drastically different styles of basketball.
UCLA is all about playing up-tempo under Steve Alford and will push the pace as much as possible. While the Bruins aren’t running as much as they did last year with Lonzo Ball, they are still able to move the ball pretty effectively with Jaylen Hands and Aaron Holiday.
Meanwhile, Michigan plays at a snail’s pace and relies on its defense to win games. This is one of the slowest tempo teams in the country and it’s numbers are heavily skewed based on how few possessions are in a typical Wolverines game.
Player to Watch
Moritz Wagner has been the star for the Wolverines so far in this young season. The German leads the team in both points and rebounds and has proven himself to be a solid defensive player as well.
He is a very efficient shooter and can be relied upon to get good shots in the paint most of the time. Wagner was one of the few Wolverines to have a good game against North Carolina and will try to use his size to create mismatches against the Bruins.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
This spread should come out as an essential toss-up with UCLA as the slightly better team, but the game is in Michigan. Whoever can set the pace will win this game and I expect that to be the Wolverines.
College Basketball Odds: Michigan 71, UCLA 65
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