2011 NCAA Tournament First Four – Southwest Region
#11 VCU Rams vs. #11 USC Trojans, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 9:00 pm Eastern, TV: truTV
Opening Line: USC -4
Current Line: USC -4
Opening Total: 125.5
Current Total: 127
Money Line: USC -205 / VCU +175
Continue reading “NCAA Tournament Southwest Region First Four Picks: VCU vs. USC”
2011 NCAA Tournament First Four – East Region
#16 Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners vs. #16 Alabama State Hornets, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 6:30 pm Eastern, TV: truTV
Opening Line: UTSA -4
Current Line: UTSA -4
Opening Total: 128.5
Current Total: 129
Money Line: UTSA -190 / UAB +160
Continue reading “NCAA Tournament East Region First Four Betting: UTSA vs. Alabama St.”
2011 NCAA Tournament First Four – East Region
#12 UAB Blazers vs. #12 Clemson Tigers, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH
Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 9 pm Eastern, TV: truTV
Opening Line: Clemson -4.5
Current Line: Clemson -4.5
Opening Total: 119.5
Current Total: 121.5
Money Line: Clemson -210 / UAB +175
Continue reading “NCAA Tournament East Region First Four Picks: UAB vs. Clemson”
Butler Bulldogs at Duke Blue Devils
Saturday, 12/4/10, 3:15 PM EDT, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Duke -15
Current Betting Line: Duke -14.5
Opening Total: 142
Current Total: 143.5
Continue reading “College Basketball Preview: Butler Bulldogs at Duke Blue Devils”
As some of you know over the last year or so we have been doing various work with ESPN on their insider pages providing stats and historical data as well as some against the spread predictions on the games. After a spectacular NCAA tournament providing winner after winner for their readership Chad Millman asked me for my take on Monday’s national championship game between Duke and Butler.
A couple of solid if not overwhelming games to finish the path to the Final Four today. Michigan State squeaked out a close one, though for much of the game they looked like the better team – though not by much. The edge here, if you want to oversimplify things, came down to coaching. By that measure, a narrow Michigan State win was appropriate. Coach K and Tom Izzo have a unique ability to get the absolute most out of their team – and more – in March regardless of what has happened before then. Amazing. Speaking of Coach K, he benefited from playing a team that wasn’t as deep or nearly as experienced as his. Baylor played well enough, and for moments they looked brilliant, but they just couldn’t pull it off in the end. It never ceases to amaze me how the tournament works – teams can look brilliant and all but unbeatable for a game or two or three, but sooner or later they meet a team who is too much for them and they look mortal again. The tournament does an amazingly good job of sorting out the best teams from the rest – even if it doesn’t look like it.
It has been a strange, surprising, and at times frustrating couple of days of basketball. As they were played:
1. As I said yesterday, I didn’t see this Tennessee win coming. It’s not that I had counted out Tennessee or didn’t like anything in particular coming. It’s just that I couldn’t find a single reason to care about them. They won, though, and they earned it. They played very good defense, and were able to shut down and frustrate everyone not named Evan Turner in the second half. Now they are in their first Elite Eight in team history, and I still don’t feel any affection for them or give them the due they are probably deserved.
1. The adoration of Northern Iowa makes me uneasy. I get all the reasons we are supposed to count out the Spartans – inconsistency, the Kalin Lucas injury, and so on. I also get why Northern Iowa is worthy of praise – woefully under-seeded, stunning upset of best team in the tournament, and so on. I just don’t feel great about the degree to which the action is on the Panthers – the game opened at MSU -1.5 but can now be found at pick ’em after almost 60 percent of bets have gone on the No. 9 seed. I do believe that that Northern Iowa can win this one. I just don’t think that this line movement reflects Michigan State’s superior talent even without Lucas, or the fact that Tom Izzo, one of the true kings of the tournament, has had five days to dissect this contest and spot what Northern Iowa does well and how to deal with it. I’m not even sure that I am picking the Spartans, though I am definitely leaning that way, but I just don’t think that this line or this movement is appropriate to the situation.
Continue reading “Four Thoughts About Tonight’s Sweet Sixteen Games”
What a freaking game!!! That’s why college basketball is such an incredibly great sport. I’m crushed that Xavier, I team I couldn’t respect more, lost that game, but it’s easier to deal with given that the game was an instant classic. That was seriously as good as basketball can be. Jordan Crawford is such an incredible, incredible player. Unreal.
Wow. Just wow. What a day of basketball. What a weekend of basketball. Friday was just okay, but the other three days were all but perfect.
I have to start with Cornell. I have had several hours to think about what I saw in that game, and I’m still not sure that I believe it. Cornell was up against a Wisconsin team that was among the most efficient in the country with and without the ball. They don’t mess up often, they score when they have the ball, and they perform very well on defense. Cornell never freaking trailed in the game! They jumped out of the gate like they knew they were going to win, and by halftime they had made a mockery of the thing. There have been many, many impressive performances this weekend, but there wasn’t one better than that. Cornell just knew that they were going to win, and it really wasn’t in doubt. Truly awe inspiring. If that team can carry that game on to next weekend then there is no limit to what they can do. Unfortunately, their next matchup is as bad as it can be. The two teams they have beaten have been thrown onto their heels early and never recovered. Kentucky is dramatically more skilled and explosive than either of those teams, though, so it should be much harder for Cornell to impose their will and stay on top. I have Kentucky in the finals in my bracket, and I still feel pretty good about that, but my heart will be cheering for the Big Red. How can you not love what they are doing?
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