VAVEL NCAA Basketball Pick 'Em Week Four

With the holidays all over, NCAA Basketball is back in the swing of things and is set to offer up an action-packed weekend. One of the games of the day begins at 1:00 PM EST between the ninth-ranked Butler Bulldogs and the sixth-ranked Xavier Musketeers in an early Big East premier matchup. 

Later in the day, the top-ranked Michigan State Spartans return to action after getting blownout by the Iowa Hawkeyes earlier in the week. They head to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers. 

Matchup Of The Week

Butler is looking to rebound from their loss to fellow conference rivals and 12th-ranked Providence Friars earlier in the week. The Bulldogs are one of the best scoring teams in the country, ranked 3rd, averaging nearly 89 points a game. Their leading man is senior guard Kellen Dunham who averages 15 points a game. Dunham is one of four players who average double figures on the high-powered offense. 

Xavier is also 0-1 in Big East play after being downed by the Villanova Wildcats in blowout fashion. The Musketeers will have to figure out how to slow down the Bulldogs or they'll witness another blowout. Trevon Bluelett is the team's leading scorer at 14.4 points a game, and just like the Bulldogs, the Musketeers have four players who average double digits a game. 

VAVEL Writers Picks Of The Week

*denotes no picks for first two weeks

**denotes no picks for first three weeks