Arizona Will Dominate Slumping Iowa State

Iowa State vs. Arizona, 9:00 ET

You will hear a lot about conference tournaments this week, and I would actually argue that the better week of basketball is next week. Sure, we all love the opening weekend of the March Madness NCAA Tournament. You can't beat that Thursday and Friday when there are games going all day long. However, the Conference Tournament week features games every day with teams familiar with each other and usually some pretty great upsets and matchups in general. Before we get there, we have a great game on tap tonight as Iowa State takes on Arizona in what could be a Big 12 Championship preview.

Iowa State has stumbled a bit lately, and I am a little bit surprised about that. They are still 24-5, so it isn't like this team is crumbling or something. They just have had a bit of a hiccup over their past three contests. They went on the road and lost to BYU by 10 points. That, normally, wouldn't be that big of a surprise because BYU has one of the best young players in the country. However, the Cougars are playing very poorly right now, so beating Iowa State was shocking. It was crazy to me that the Cyclones didn't take advantage of the situation. Then, this weekend, they lost to Texas Tech (a team I'm becoming more and more impressed with). To make matters worse, the Red Raiders were missing their best scorer because he tore his ACL a few games ago. So, is Iowa State just stumbling or is this a sign of things to come? 

 Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Arizona has just two losses this season, and both have come in the last month. They are 27-2 overall, and the losses have come at the hands of Kansas and the aforementioned Texas Tech. This is a really dominant Wildcats team. They can play well in transition, but their half-court offense is more calm than you might think for a team. Arizona will work the ball around and doesn't necessarily settle for threes. I like that they will attack and dish if they can't get something going. Arizona has a reliable scorer that they can go to as well in crunch time in Brayden Burries. I wouldn't say they are relentless on defense, I'd typically reserve that for a team like Houston. However, the Wildcats are certainly aggressive knowing that if their guards get beat, there are rim protectors to help out. For the most part, their rebounding is reliable as well. There just aren't many holes in their game. 

Arizona was able to get a bit of revenge in their last game as they took down Kansas. It was one that I was somewhat surprised about, and also not surprised at all at the same time. I knew Arizona would win the game, it is just a pretty common occurrence when a team knocks you off that you get the revenge, especially at the college level. However, I was a bit shocked that it came by 23 points. Iowa State is coming off of a loss, but I can't assume they were looking ahead to this game. I think Arizona will win this one again, and I think they cover the spread. Four of the Cyclone losses have been on the road and they have been by 21, 9, 7, and 10 points. It isn't just a one or two possession game when they are losing. Give me the Wildcats -7.5. 

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