The time is here for more of our sparkling CBB picks, as we look at the schedule for basketball for Saturday night. The Pacific Tigers and UC Irvine Anteaters will have it the Big West Tournament Finals, which can be seen on the college basketball TV schedule on ESPN2.
Big West Tournament Finals Picks: UC Irvine Anteaters vs. Pacific Tigers
Date: Saturday, March 16th, 10:30 ET
Location: Honda Center, Anaheim, CA
UC Irvine vs. Pacific Live TV: ESPN2
For those of you filling out your brackets this coming week, you have to love the idea of backing a team named the Anteaters. Of course, that’s not nearly why we like UC Irvine to make it to the dance, but it’s notable that this would immediately be the coolest nickname of the 68 teams in the field. The difference here truly is simple. Look at the men in the rotation for Pacific. You’ll see a ton of men who are 6’2″-6’5″. There’s a reason why this team is only just barely outrebounding its foes this year and why it is losing the rebounding battle in more of its Big West games than it is winning. No one is averaging more than 3.8 rebounds or 0.5 blocks per game, and that isn’t going to cut it. It’s the third day of a brutal tournament, and legs are tired. Natural height has to help grab some of those loose balls, and odds have it, there will be more missed shots due to fatigue as well. UC Irvine has some bigs out of the lineup, but it also has a team that has a +5.7 rebounding advantage on a nightly basis. The Anteaters were the last team to hand Pacific a loss in conference play, and they’re going to be the ones that strap on their dancing shoes when the night is over with in Anaheim as well.
UC Irvine vs. Pacific Pick: UC Irvine Anteaters
Big West Finals Prediction: UC Irvine 64 – Pacific 60
