While I have legitimate concerns about Colorado State's ability to rebound in this matchup, I've seen too much of the Michigan defense this season to trust the Wolverines as favorites in this spot. I also have difficulty trusting a Michigan offense that goes through long cold spells like the one we saw against Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. Also, it's possible that Colorado State has the best player in the game in David Roddy, so I'm taking the Rams to cover.

Michigan being favored is a lot of respect for Michigan at its best, but I don't think that the Wolverines have been consistent enough to be trusted to live up to that rating. Colorado State can overcome its size disadvantage with an offense that spreads the floor, even going to small ball with Rams star 6-6 forward David Roddy as the de facto center. I could see this game getting a little loose with the better offense winning the game in the closing minutes, and the Rams just have better execution that makes up for the size and talent deficit.

The Wolverines will be without starting guard DeVante’ Jones who has arguably been their best player in recent games. The Rams have the best player on the court with David Roddy who has been playing great all season and has only gotten better as the season progressed. He should be a big factor for the Rams on both sides of the ball. The Wolverines’ have been very inconsistent this season and they will struggle against a strong Rams team and lose this game. Back the Rams to advance to the Round of 32.

I was fully ready to pick Michigan to win this game, but the Wolverines have lost senior guard DeVante' Jones (10.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.6 apg) to a concussion. He's also an excellent free-throw shooter. Big loss, especially as the team wasn't prepared for it because it happened in practice Tuesday. Freshman Frankie Collins would be in line to make his first career start in Jones’ place. This spread has dropped one point with the news.

Colorado State G David Roddy is the best player in college basketball you have never heard of. He’s built like a tight end, can dribble, pass and score. I called a Colorado State game this season, and they are more talented than the Wolverines. The Rams should be favored, not Michigan.

I like this Colorado State team a lot more than I do Michigan. The Wolverines look great on paper but their 17-14 record this season speaks volumes. They do come from a loaded Big Ten, but the Rams can hold their own. CSU is 25-5 on the season and David Roddy is having an insane year. He's scoring 19 points on 57.4% shooting and 45% from deep. I think this is going to be one of the best battles of Thursday. I'll take the points on the 6-seed against the 11, there's a lot of popularity bias here. Let's go Rams.