This article is part of our College Basketball Picks series.
Now on an eight-day profitable streak, here are my bets for a Saturday that brings us several marquee matchups while featuring some of the more prominent teams.
Arizona vs. 
Purdue
Arizona is flying high and still unbeaten at 8-0 while playing like a potential top seed come March. The Wildcats have already defeated Duke, Michigan State, and Wisconsin to give us a well-tested team and one that hasn't shown any weakness. Arizona ranks top-10 in the nation for offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency, offensive rebounding rate, and defensive rebounding, which matches up well with virtually any other team in the nation.
Purdue, although not unbeaten, still enters Saturday with lofty expectations. The Boilermakers have similarly already collected several impressive wins over Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, and Alabama, just to name a few. By now, most college hoops fans know all about reigning Wooden Award winner Zach Edey, so there's not much more to say other than that Purdue is still a great squad despite suffering its first loss of the season at Northwestern a couple of weeks ago.
Comparing them side-by-side, the matchup is nearly even across the board with Arizona still showing an advantage in many categories. Specifically, the Wildcats rank higher than the Boilermakers in rebounding, defensive efficiency, and two-point field goal percentage allowed. More importantly, Purdue has two major areas of concern. Firstly, it doesn't generate any turnovers ranking 336th in defensive turnover percentage. And secondly, Purdue is getting the ball stolen at a high rate at 266th in offensive steal percentage That's bad news because Arizona's defense boasts the 36th-highest defensive steal rate.
All in all, based on the numbers, it's hard not to favor Arizona in this spot. The Wildcats are better on the boards and better in the turnover department, two critical factors that will likely play a role in the outcome. I'm taking Arizona.
College Basketball Best Bet: Arizona -2
Kentucky vs. 
North Carolina
Kentucky is once again loaded with immense talent, though its lack of experience has shown itself a couple of times this year. Namely, the Wildcats couldn't close out their game against Kansas, survived against Saint Joseph's in overtime, and then more recently lost straight up at home to UNC Wilmington. There's no doubt this team is capable of scoring plenty of points on any given day, yet also prone to losing any given day as we saw against the Seahawks.
North Carolina has also suffered a pair of losses, both coming against high-quality opponents in Villanova and Connecticut. The Tar Heels have already defeated the likes of Arkansas and Tennessee, so they're proving to be a much more cohesive and consistent group compared to last year's disappointing squad.
When looking at how these teams stack up against each other, they're both similar in that they offer explosive offensive attacks and both aren't as sharp on defense. That being said, Kentucky does have a couple of noticeable areas where it lags behind North Carolina. The Tar Heels are superior on the glass ranking in the top-100 in rebounding percentages on both ends of the court. The Wildcats rank 280th in offensive rebounding, so one wouldn't expect as many put-back opportunities for them in this matchup. And North Carolina is one of the most aggressive teams at attacking the paint, leading to the 16th-highest free-throw attempt rate among all D1 teams. Kentucky is at the opposite end of the spectrum ranking 309th in offensive free-throw attempt rate.
Overall, both teams rely on a similar formula for winning games. Both are among the best offensive teams in the country that don't always play lock-down defense but are often good enough to overcome it. One key difference is that Kentucky still has a lot to prove. It looked decent against Kansas, but that was just one outing and it has since shown a couple of moments of vulnerability. North Carolina, in contrast, dropped 100 points on one of the best defensive teams in the country in Tennessee, an extremely impressive win given the Volunteers' profile. Considering the overall numbers and resume of each team thus far, I'm going with the Tar Heels in this matchup.
I also like our chances of seeing a high-scoring game. As mentioned above, both teams prefer playing extremely fast and often engage in shootouts with their opponents. Kentucky has scored at least 80 points in all but one game while North Carolina has produced at least 76 points in all but one with a season-low coming against Connecticut. I'm taking the over.
College Basketball Best Bet: North Carolina -1.5 and Over 165.5
Saturday College Basketball Best Bets:
Here's a recap of my best college basketball bets for Saturday:
- Arizona -2
- North Carolina -1.5
- Kentucky vs. North Carolina Over 165.5
For up-to-date information on the latest college basketball betting odds and props from multiple sportsbooks, check out the college basketball odds page on RotoWire.
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