What to watch this weekend

Senior guard Jack McClinton will be back to lead Miami on Saturday against Kentucky. AP

Every Friday, SI.com's Seth Davis makes his picks on the weekend's top games. These are his first picks of the 2008-09 season.

Starting Five

No. 21 Miami (4-2) at Kentucky (5-2)

Saturday, 5:30 p.m.

The Hurricanes got good news on Thursday when they learned their leading scorer, senior guard Jack McClinton, will not be suspended as a result of the swing he took at Ohio State guard Anthony Crater. (The slap led to McClinton's ejection during Tuesday night's loss to the Buckeyes. ACC officials reviewed the video and determined that no further action was required.) Backup point guard Eddie Rios is also rejoining the team after serving a one-game suspension for violating a team rule. At full strength, Miami is the third-best team in the ACC, and having lost the opportunity to prove it against the Buckeyes, they should come out with great focus and intensity against UK. Besides boasting one of the truly elite scoring guards in the country in McClinton, the Hurricanes have great athleticism at all five positions. That will be problematic for a Kentucky squad that is ranked last in the SEC in turnover margin (-5.29).

Miami 79, Kentucky 67

Wisconsin (6-1) at No. 25 Marquette(6-1)

Saturday, 9:30 p.m

I know I promised I was through doubting Bo Ryan's teams, but at this early stage it seems that these Badgers have not yet found their defensive mojo. Wisconsin is ranked ninth in the Big Ten in field goal defense (42.7 percent) and last in three-point defense (39.8 percent). Then again, Marquette is playing some pretty mediocre defense as well (the Golden Eagles allowed Dayton to shoot 52.6 percent in last week's loss to the Flyers) and is still not a good three-point shooting team despite being so guard-oriented. (No Marquette player is shooting higher than 36 percent from behind the arc.) These are two teams that could find themselves on the NCAA tournament bubble, so this game, besides being a passionate rivalry, is going to be important for their tournament profiles. When teams are this closely matched, I lean towards the one that is a little more experienced and playing at home.

Marquette 66, Wisconsin 62

N.C. State (4-0) at No. 22 Davidson (5-1)

Saturday, 12 p.m.

Most major teams have played at least seven games by now, but for some reason N.C. State has only played four. The Wolfpack was the odd team out so it did not participate in the ACC/Big Ten challenge this year. Perhaps it's just as well, because they are once again without their starting point guard, Farnold Degan, who is suffering from tendinitis in the left knee he had surgery on last December, which cost him the final 2 1/2 months of the season. N.C. State edged out Davidson last year by one point in Raleigh partly by outscoring the Wildcats from the free throw line 18-6. It will be hard to duplicate that advantage on the road. I also don't expect N.C. State to double-team Stephen Curry the way Loyola did en route to a 30-point loss. Davidson is at full strength, it's playing at home and it has already played in a big-time game this season (at Oklahoma). N.C. State can't say any of those things.

Davidson 79, N.C. State 70

Baylor (6-1) at Washington State (6-1)

Saturday, 11:30 p.m.

Is it harder to a) slow down a running team or b) speed up a slow-down team? When the slow-down team is Washington State, the answer is b. The Cougars may have lost Derrick Lowe and Kyle Weaver from last year's Sweet 16 squad, but as long as 6-1 senior Taylor Rochestie is running the point, it is nearly impossible to force Wazzu into committing the turnovers a team needs to force a quicker tempo. What's more, as athletic as the Bears are on the perimeter, they have no one who can match up with the Big Aussie Aron Baynes inside. (In Baylor's loss to Wake Forest on Nov. 30, they were out-rebounded by a whopping 25 boards.) I think by March, Baylor will be a better team than Washington State, but this early in the season, the challenge of traveling to Pullman to face such an uncomfortable style is a little too hard to handle.

Washington State 62, Baylor 59

Ohio State (4-0) at Notre Dame (6-1)

Saturday, 4 p.m.

Even when he has pneumonia, Luke Harangody is better than 90 percent of the players in America. And even when they don't have Harangody, the Irish are still better than 90 percent of the teams in America. Unfortunately, that includes Ohio State, which appeared to be on its way to suffering its first defeat of the season at Miami Tuesday night until Jack McClinton's ejection midway through the first half. The Buckeyes have a pretty good sharp shooter in 6-6 sophomore Jon Diebler (46.4 percent three-point shooting, 20 points vs. Miami), but he is no match for Notre Dame's resident sniper Kyle McAlarney. While Ohio State is in rebuilding mode as it tries to replace Kosta Koufos and perenially underrated Jamar Butler, Notre Dame has one of the most veteran rosters in the entire country -- and that's without Harangody, the 6-8 junior and reigning Big East Player of the Year who is out indefinitely with phenomia. The Buckeyes were also supposed to have two of the top freshmen in the country in 6-5 William Buford and 7-foot center B.J. Mullens, but so far both have been playing limited roles off the bench. In this game, which will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the youngsters are no match for the old guys.

Notre Dame 84, Ohio State 69

The Second Five

No. 4 Duke (8-0) at Michigan (5-2)

Coming three weeks after the Blue Devils beat the Wolverines in MSG, and four days after Duke's throttling of Purdue, this could be a classic trap game. It says here the Blue Devils are too smart to fall into it. Duke 76, Michigan 67

No. 23 Florida (6-1) at Florida State (7-1)

If you're a Florida fan, what better way to soothe your hangover from the SEC championship game than by watching your hoopsters beat a Florida State squad that just lost at home by 14 points to -- oy vay -- Northwestern. Florida 82, Florida State 69

Creighton (4-2) at St. Joseph's (3-3)

This should have been a marquee game between two of the to mid-major programs, but both schools have struggled out of the gate. The edge here goes to Saint Joseph's, which has homecourt advantage and a superior big man in Ahmad Nivins. Saint Joseph's 76, Creighton 72

UAB (5-2) at Cincinnati (5-1)

These teams are mirror images of each other. They're both athletic, have high-scoring guards (UC's Deonta Vaughn and UAB's Robert Vaden) and are lacking inside muscle. The Bearcats, coming off a tough win at UNLV, should hold serve at home as long as they don't get caught looking ahead to Xavier. Cincinnati 79, UAB 74

California (6-1) at Missouri (6-1)

Led by 6-8 senior forward DeMarre Carroll (18.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg), the Tigers are off to an impressive 6-1 start that includes an 11-point win over USC. If they want to prove they're an NCAA tournament team, they need to win this nonconference home game against another potential bubble team. Missouri 75, California 68

LAST WEEK: NA | SEASON RECORD: NA