Despite losing their two best players from last season, Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, defending champion UConn is ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Huskies have won nine in a row and rate a much bigger edge against St. John's than this point spread indicates.

St. John's is just 5-5 in Big East Conference action. I have no doubt the Red Storm will be highly motivated for this home matchup, but they are not in the class of UConn especially given their current form. St. John's is 1-4 in its last five games. The Red Storm just lost, 88-77, to Xavier this past Wednesday. UConn crushed Xavier, 99-56, this past Sunday.

The Huskies are ranked No. 3 in the KenPom rankings. St. John's is rated 36th in those rankings.

Center Joel Soriano is St. John's best player. He leads the Red Storm in scoring at 16.6 points a game and rebounding. He's St. John's only player who averages more than 14 points a game. UConn is a much deeper team. Not only do the Huskies have a top all-around guard in senior Tristen Newton, but they can match up against Soriano with Donovan Clingan, a 7-foot-2, 280-pound center.

(Editor's note: Stephen Nover is 44-28-1 on his last 73 college basketball plays and has his SEC Game of the Year heading his Saturday card looking to win his third game of the year play having already won his Pac-12 Game of the Year and Mountain West Game of the Year.)