Arizona Wildcats vs Colorado Buffaloes Point Spread Picks

Arizona's motivation here has to be questioned. The Wildcats have already locked up the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. They have no need to play their starters big minutes and risk injury. The Wildcats are fat and happy off impressive home victories against Iowa State and Kansas. Colorado, unlike Arizona, has an incentive. The Buffaloes are playing for tournament seeding and respect. Colorado is extremely tough at home, going 13-4. The Buffaloes lost to Kansas at home by only six points and to Texas Tech at home by just two points, when the Red Raiders had their star player, JT Toppin. The Buffaloes have won and covered their past four home games, including a win over TCU as a slight underdog. Take Colorado.

Arizona played a tough early schedule, but the Wildcats have gotten a good start in conference play. Overall the Cats are 12-6 on the season and 6-1 in Big-12 action. They will host a struggling Colorado team that is 9-9 and winless in conference play at 0-7. Despite the struggles for the Buffalo's they have been a lot more competitive than the overll numbers appear. Colorado has lost just 2 of their last 11 games by more than 10 points. Arizona is a good team, but they have had their own issues, and despite the recent play, Colorado owns wins over UConn, and San Diego St. This equals the most points Colorado has been given all season. I like Colorado in this one.

Colorado has a winning record but is a big underdog. Colorado winds up a three-game road trip after a 67-59 win at Arizona State as a +4 dog. The defense keeps them in games, fourth in the Pac-12 in points surrendered, fifth in 3-point shooting defense (.323%), second in steals, and third in rebounding margin (+4.41). Colorado coach Tad Boyle is 36-25 ATS after playing back-to-back games as an underdog, as well as 14-3 ATS as a road dog of 12.5 or more points. Arizona prefers to run but Colorado will look to slow things down. The Wildcats are last in the conference in points given up (70.70 per game). Arizona is 43-69 ATS at home when working with one or fewer days of rest, plus 41-63 ATS after a game committing 8 or fewer turnovers. And college basketball home favorites of 10 to 19.5 points like Arizona that have an 80%+ winning percentage are 44-79 ATS after having covered six or seven of the past eight. Play Colorado as a Max Play.