The Washington Huskies take on the Stanford Cardinal. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Washington Stanford prediction and pick. Find how to watch Washington Stanford.

The Washington Huskies and Stanford Cardinal have hot-seat coaches who are not doing enough to be retained for next sesaon. Entering this campaign, both Mike Hopkins of Washington and Jerod Haase of Stanford had a clear directive: Make the NCAA Tournament or else. Both coaches have failed to make the NCAA Tournament over the past several seasons. Hopkins at least made the tournament a few years ago; Haase has never made the Big Dance at Stanford. Both men, however, were hired with the expectation that their programs would annually be in the NCAA Tournament hunt and would make the tournament at least half of the time if not more. Neither man is coming anywhere close to that standard, which means both coaches are more likely than not to be fired two months from now. This game is not going to be a headline-generating event in college basketball on a loaded Saturday schedule, but it is definitely an urgent game for both sides given the desperate situations facing both teams and their coaches. Washington and Stanford both need to go on long, extended winning streaks to have any remote chance of getting an at-large bid to the NCAAs. Realistically, these teams will need to win the Pac-12 Tournament to go dancing in March.

Here are the Washington-Stanford College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Washington-Stanford Odds

Washington Huskies: +1.5 (-102)

Stanford Cardinal: -1.5 (-120)

Over: 159.5 (-110)

Under: 159.5 (-110)

How To Watch Washington vs Stanford

Time: 9:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm PT

TV: Pac-12 Network

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Washington Could Cover the Spread

The Huskies won on the road at Cal and have been a decent road and neutral-court team this season. They won away from home against Xavier. They took San Diego State to overtime on a neutral court. They have looked like a good team at times this season. Consistency has eluded them, but they have legitimate potential and have a higher ceiling than a lot of casual fans might realize or admit. This team beat Gonzaga earlier this season. If you haven't been paying close attention to the Huskies' season, you might not be aware of how competitive this team has been.

Stanford, meanwhile, is heading for another failed season under Jerod Haase. It was shocking to see Stanford retain him for yet one more year, particularly in light of the fact that Cal — Stanford's rival — hired former Cardinal star player Mark Madsen as its new head coach. Haase has once again failed to create an NCAA Tournament-level team in Palo Alto. Stanford just got whacked by Washington State at home. There's no reason to trust Stanford.

Why Stanford Could Cover the Spread

The Cardinal are wildly inconsistent and generally unreliable, but they occasionally show that they have talent. They did beat Arizona by 18 points at home. They did beat Utah at home. It is maddening that Stanford can't play like that all the time, but this team does play well some of the time. A moderately good performance should be enough to handle Washington, which almost lost to lowly Cal earlier this week.

Final Washington-Stanford Prediction & Pick

Neither team is trustworthy, and normally that means you should stay away, but Washington barely won at Cal while Stanford should be highly motivated following its face-plant against Washington State. Take Stanford.

Final Washington-Stanford Prediction & Pick: Stanford -1.5