Washington

Washington comes into tonight

UNLV head coach Lon Kruger is one of the best in the country. Kruger doesn

Saint Louis is a difficult to team to play because of the system they run under head coach Rick Majerus. The Billikens run complex offensive sets that just frustrate opponents into half-court games. And Saint Louis is most effective when they are playing a team that loves to run up and down the court at a frenetic pace. Majerus is too smart of a coach to allow his team to get caught-up in a running game tonight, and he

Missouri St was a much improved team last season as the Bears went 24-12 after winning just 11 games in 2009. They returned their top 7 scorers this season and Missouri St has picked up right where they left off. The Bears are already 12-3 this season and they come into tonight

St. John

This game will be played at the Orleans Casino is Las Vegas so neither team has a home court advantage for tonight. Both teams played yesterday, but Northern Iowa has a couple of edges working in their favor. They played the early game while New Mexico played the night game which gives the Panthers some extra rest. Northern Iowa also played in a slow-paced, half-court game in which they won 67-61. They exerted little energy in that game as they led for double digits in the majority of the game.

New Mexico played in a fast-paced game against Colorado; the Lobos won that game 89-76. They spent a ton of energy going up and down the court in that game while shooting a high percentage from the floor. New Mexico shot 61.2% (30-49) from the field and 41.7% (5-12) from three-point land. They also made 24 of their 28 free throws. That

Dayton is a scrappy, veteran team that is just starting to their stride this season. The Flyers have a tendency to get better as the season progresses, and we see that happening again this year. Dayton caught fire in the post-season last year and they went on to win the NIT tournament, so when this team gets on a roll, they have proven to be a tough out.

The Flyers are catching a Seton Hall team at the perfect time. The Pirates lost their leading scorer Jeremy Hazell earlier in the season, and their best player, Herb Pope, is still not at full strength. Pope has been in and out of the lineup, and he really hasn

Kansas St is certainly on our play-against list right now. From our view, this team is one of the most over-hyped, overrated, and over-ranked teams in college basketball. The Wildcats were 9-1 heading into their last game on Saturday against Florida, but their luck ran out as the Gators cruised to a 13-point win (57-44) in that game for us. Despite their 9-2 record, Kansas St has struggled in many of their games against inferior opposition. This team has not won easy, and against strong opposition, we have no problems fading Kansas St.

The Wildcats are taking another big step up in class tonight against UNLV. The Runnin

Kansas St may be the most over-hyped, overrated, and over-ranked team in college basketball in recent memory. The Wildcats are 9-1 this year, but they

Wright St (5-5) comes in with a better record than Central Michigan (2-6), but that doesn

This game will be played on the home court of the Utah Jazz (Energy Solutions Arena) and not on BYU

Kansas St may be the most over-hyped, overrated, and over-ranked team in college basketball in recent memory. The Wildcats are 8-1 this year, but they

These two teams met last year, and that game came right down to the wire. Georgetown squeaked out a 46-45 win as they hit the winning layup with just 6 seconds left to play. And tonight

This is a heated rivalry game that brings out the best in both teams, and since we view Colorado as the superior team, we expect the Buffaloes to get a solid win and cover tonight. Colorado is a talented team that is certainly capable of playing in the NCAA tournament this year if they play up to their capabilities. Colorado St is a decent team, but they

This is a very difficult spot for Purdue. This game against in-state Valparaiso is a much tougher game for them than it appears to be on the surface. Big 10 teams rarely ever schedule games at Valpo; their risk/reward is very minimal. The Crusaders play their home games at the Athletics-Recreation Center which is a small gym that only seats 5,000. And big-name teams like Purdue are not used to playing in such small gyms where the fans are right on top of the action. It

Xavier has been a team that loves to get up and down the court and play at a fast pace over the last few seasons. Their offense is much more effective when able to get out in transition and get easy buckets. But there

Saint Louis is a difficult to team to play because of the system they run under head coach Rick Majerus. The Billikens run complex offensive sets that just frustrate opponents into half-court games. And Saint Louis is most effective when they are playing a team that loves to run up and down the court at a frenetic pace. Majerus is too smart of a coach to allow his team to get caught-up in a running game tonight, and he

This game is part of the ACC-Big 10 challenge, and will be played on Florida St

This game is part of the Maui Invitational out in Hawaii so neither team has the advantage of their home court. We played Connecticut last night in their 70-67 win over Michigan St and we

This game is being played at Madison Square Garden so neither team has the advantage of their home court. Both teams come in undefeated; UCLA is 3-0 and Villanova is 4-0. Neither team has faced much in the way of competition so tonight

This game is part of the Maui Invitational out in Hawaii so neither team has the advantage of their home court. The Big East conference has been tremendous in non-conference play so far as 9 of the 16 teams are unbeaten and the league owns a cumulative record of 50-10. Connecticut is one of those unbeaten teams at 3-0, and based on what the league has done against non-conference opponents, there

Kentucky lost a world of talent from last year

This game will be played in New York City at Madison Square Garden for the 2K Sports Classic so neither team has the benefit of the home court tonight. The Big 10 is widely regarded as the best conference in college basketball this season, and Illinois takes a backseat to no team in terms of talent so the fact that they are a smallish favorite against Texas in this game is somewhat of a surprise.

The Illini are loaded this season and they

Missouri St was a much improved team last season as the Bears went 24-12 after winning just 11 games in 2009. They return their top 7 scorers this season so Missouri St should match last year

San Diego St had a terrific season a year ago as the Aztecs went 25-9 and made an NCAA tournament appearance. This team should pick up right where they left off as they return all five starters from last year

Memphis overachieved last season; the Tigers were not projected to do much yet they went 24-10. Much of Memphis

This is the second game in two nights for both teams as they are playing in the BTI Invitational. Oregon is hosting the tournament so they do get the advantage of the home court, but that is about the only edge they

This is a huge game for Wofford. Three of their best players will be going back home to Minnesota and playing their first collegiate game in front of their family and friends. Jamar Diggs, Cameron Rundles, and Noah Dahlman were all big-time high school players in Minnesota so tonight

Seton Hall returns a ton of talent and experience this season. The Pirates have their top four scorers back from a team that won 19 games last season and they should be even better this year, especially with their new coach Kevin Willard who comes over from Iona. Willard is a huge upgrade from former coach Bobby Gonzalez and he will get the most out of this Seton Hall team.

Gonzalez was not well liked around the program, and when asked about how the team has united around Willard, the new coach said:

Western Kentucky is a team loaded with big-game experience; the Hilltoppers won 21 games last year and they went deep in the NCAA tournament the previous season. This team also has a ton of depth, and they

There

West Virginia doesn

Michigan St has been an extremely fortunate team throughout the NCAA tournament. The Spartans struggled in their opening round win over a terrible New Mexico St team and survived with a 3-point win (70-67). Michigan St

North Carolina once again escaped with a fortunate win in this NIT tournament. The Tar Heels trailed by 5 points with just over a minute left to play against Rhode Island on Tuesday night but thanks to 4 straight missed free throws by Rhode Island, the Tar Heels were able to force the game into overtime. And they won by a single point (68-67) to advance to tonight

Virginia Commonwealth won the first game in this series on Monday night by 12 points (68-56). But that 12-point winning margin looks more impressive than it actually was. A 3-point game mid-way through the second-half turned into a 13-point VCU lead after they went on a 10-0 run in just over a minute and a half of basketball. VCU

North Carolina enters tonight with a false sense that they are a good team. The Tar Heels were terrible over the course of the entire season; they went just 16-16 after winning the national championship last year. But the team, and more importantly, bettors think this team has somehow turned the corner because of their last three ballgames. Despite winning their last three to make it here to MSG, all three of those games were coin flips in which North Carolina was fortunate to escape with wins.

In their NIT opener against William & Mary, the Tar Heels were trailing with three minutes left to play before they went on an 11-0 run to end the game. Next up was their miraculous win at Mississippi St in which they needed to go coast-to-coast in under 8 seconds to win by a single bucket. And most recently, Carolina needed a big second-half to survive a defensive struggle against UAB and won 60-55. North Carolina was substantial underdogs in their last two games, and the fact they needed to go on the road and win those games sets them up for failure here, especially since the pointspread has been incorrectly adjusted.

The Tar Heels were not a good road team all year either; they are still only 5-11 when playing away from home which means they were a dismal 3-11 before winning their last two games. On the other hand, Rhode Island has been a terrific road team this season; the Rams come into tonight with an 11-7 record away from home. The Rams also played much better basketball over the course of the season. Seven of their nine losses came to teams that played in the post-season including three losses to Temple alone which is forgivable because of Temple

Dayton was quite impressive in winning their last two games on the road to reach the NIT Final Four at MSG. The Flyers won two tough road games at Cincinnati and at Illinois; the Flyers were 3-point underdogs in both games. But off two high-profile wins against major conference opponents, Dayton is feeling like they

Saint Louis is a difficult to team to play because of the system they run under head coach Rick Majerus. The Billikens run complex offensive sets that just frustrate opponents into half-court games. And Saint Louis is most effective when they are playing a team that loves to run up and down the court at a frenetic pace. Majerus is too smart of a coach to allow his team to get caught-up in a running game tonight, and he

Baylor has had a terrific season; the Bears come into this game at 28-7 with five of their seven losses coming against teams that played and went deep in this tournament. The Bears are a tough match-up for a lot of teams because of their big presence in the middle, and when that faces an opponent

Tennessee is playing some of their best basketball of the season right now, but the Vols are flying under the radar still. After going through a late-season swoon in which they were still adjusting for losing a couple of starters for the season, Tennessee righted the ship at the perfect time when they closed the regular season on a 5-1 run. They carried that momentum over into this tournament, and the Vols have been one of the most impressive teams over the first three rounds.

The Vols made one heck of a turnaround from a season ago. Tennessee was, and still is, known as an offensive team that loves to play full-court basketball. However, that moniker is no longer true and it really hasn

West Virginia doesn

Butler has quietly won their first three tournament games. Usually when this team is winning, they are getting most of the recognition because they are actually the program that started the

Northern Iowa was terribly underseeded in the nine spot, but that fact alone may actually allow the Panthers to advance further in the tournament. Their win over Kansas on Saturday wasn

Saint Mary

Cornell is very good, and also an experienced team. They return all five starters from last year

This is the second meeting of the season between these two. And we remember the first meeting well because we had a strong play on Kansas St in that game. That game was played way back in early December at Kansas St and they won easily, 71-56. We liked the Wildcats in that spot because it was a game in which they had circled over the summer after Xavier beat them in the previous meeting. The Kansas St players felt the Musketeers went overboard with their celebration and some words were exchanged after the game. K-St was in a terrific spot and came focused and their 15-point win came as no surprise to us.

Now fast forward to tonight, and we

Butler has quietly won their first two tournament games. Usually when this team is winning, they are getting most of the recognition because they are actually the program that started the

This game is quite intriguing considering it

Dayton was on the NCAA bubble, but after a heartbreaking loss to Xavier in the A-10 tournament where a bad foul with 30 seconds left turned the game around, the Flyers were left out and selected for the NIT instead. And off such a disappointing defeat, there was some concern that Dayton may have given up on the season. But that wasn

Princeton has had a terrific season; the Tigers come into tonight at 21-8. Princeton was overshadowed in the Ivy League this year by Cornell, and we

California was the Pac-10 preseason favorite. But the Bears had a ton of injuries early on and they really struggled because they weren

There

BYU was one of the most consistent teams in college basketball all season long. The Cougars didn

There

Northern Iowa was terribly underseeded in the nine spot, and the fact they have to play Kansas in the second round was a raw deal for them. The Panthers were the class of the Missouri Valley Conference; they come into today

This is another game that is all about perception and reality. The perception is that Louisville is a good team just because they are in the Big East. However, that is simply not the case at all. Louisville

Georgia Tech is extremely talented and they should not be an underdog in this game, especially on a neutral floor. Their defense has been outstanding in holding opponents to just 66 points per game on an impressive 38.2% shooting from the field. Tech held their four ACC tournament opponents to just 54, 64, 58, and 65 points which shows they are in very good current form right now. Their defense has played better than Oklahoma St, yet they are an underdog in this game.

Oklahoma St plays in the Big 12, a conference that would rather get up and down the court and out-score their opponents. The ACC plays a similar style, but Georgia Tech is not your typical ACC team. Tech is more of a half-court team that pounds the ball in the paint and plays solid defense on the other end of the court. That combination will be too much for the Cowboys to handle, especially away from the confines of their strong home court.

Despite their 22-10 overall record, Oklahoma St is not really that good of a team. To their credit they do have some solid home wins over some of the better teams in the Big 12, but on the road, in games that were competitively priced games, Oklahoma St showed their true colors. The Cowboys have 10 losses, and 9 of them have come on the road. They were underdog in every one of those nine losses, and they went a dismal 1-8 ATS in those games.

Georgia Tech has two future NBA players on their roster, Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, and they both play in the paint. Oklahoma St is one of the smallest teams in this tournament, so the Yellow Jackets should absolutely dominate this game inside. Even though Tech

Utah St is a tough match-up for any team; the Aggies run a ton of half-court sets that are almost impossible to prepare for. And unlike in year

Siena was the story of last year

Cornell is very good, and also an experienced team. They return all five starters from last year

Montana has the exact profile we look for when backing a lower-tier conference team in the NCAA tournament. The Grizzlies play at a very slow pace which allows them to hang around in games where they are the less talented team. Montana has held 27 of their 31 opponents this year to less than 70 points, and that fact alone makes them a dangerous underdog in this pointspread range. The Grizzlies also knock their free-throws down; they hit 72.2% from the line. And the other quality they have is a star player who can take over a game offensively. Anthony Johnson is a pure scorer, and he alone got Montana this tournament bid as he poured in 42 of their 66 points scored in the Big Sky conference title game.

That

Washington

UTEP is a very good team out of Conference-USA. The Miners won 23 games a season ago and went to the finals of the CBI tournament, and they returned four starters from that team this year including outstanding scorer Randy Culpepper. They also added two high-impact transfers in Derrick Caracter (Louisville) and Christian Polk (Arizona St). This year

This is a classic case of perception vs. reality. The perception is that Notre Dame is the better team because of their recent hot run to closeout the regular season. The Irish won six of their last seven games which means they were just 17-10 going into their February 24th game against Pittsburgh. At that point, Notre Dame was playing without their best player in Luke Harangody, and many wrote off the Irish

There

Most believe that Georgia Tech is in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens in this game, but there

San Diego St and UNLV have been in a lot of NCAA tournament discussions this week. Both teams have been on the in and out list, but one of them will earn an automatic bid after tonight. So they

Both teams played well on Friday, but Temple is likely to advance today as they are the better team and matchup well in this game. Temple holds a huge defensive edge as they currently allow just 38% FG and 57 points per game, while Rhode Island permits 47% FG and 71 points per game.

This defensive edge was important in both regular season meetings as Temple went 2-0 SU/ATS against the Rams, winning by a combined +26 points and outshooting Rhode Island 56% to 34% from the field. Temple prefers a slow-down, half-court style and this tempo causes problems for Rhode Island as the Rams are a team that wants to play as fast as possible. The Rams simply cannot play in a half-court game. When held to less than 70 points, Rhode Island is just 3-6 SU and ATS this season with the three wins coming by just 1, 4, and 5 points. This includes their 0-2 SU/ATS mark against Temple and overall Temple held 31 of their 32 opponents to 70 points or less this season.

My power ratings favor Temple by 5 points today, so there is solid line value. The Owls are also in much better current form as Temple is a perfect 8-0 SU in their past eight games, winning by an average margin of +13.1 points per game, while Rhode Island is just 4-5 SU in their past nine games, winning by just +4.1 points per game.

Play TEMPLE (-).

The Cardinal fit a negative 38% ATS letdown situation which plays against teams coming off a straight-up dog win. Stanford has performed well in half-court games this season, including last night

Houston has had a very disappointing season; the Cougars are just 17-15 on the year. Much was expected from this team as head coach Tom Penders was often quoted saying this was his best team since he

Saint Louis is a difficult to team to play because of the system they run under head coach Rick Majerus. The Billikens run complex offensive sets that just frustrate opponents into half-court games. And Saint Louis is most effective when they are playing a team that loves to run up and down the court at a frenetic pace. Majerus is too smart of a coach to allow his team to get caught-up in a running game tonight, and he

Oklahoma St enters off an easy 81-67 win over in-state rival Oklahoma last night. But do not be fooled by the Cowboys

Marquette played an easy game yesterday afternoon. The Golden Eagles

Cincinnati

Providence is on a ten-game losing streak. But look who they have played; Syracuse twice, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. That

Saint Mary

Portland was a solid winner for us last night. The Pilots were in a great spot as they had rest and were fortunate to be playing a bad San Diego team that had just played the night before. Portland

William & Mary was flat in the first half last night, but they finished strong and outscored James Madison 40-21 down the stretch. The Tribe still failed to cover last night as a 5½-point favorite in their 70-65 win but W&M has been a much stronger play this season as an underdog. In fact, the underdog is now an incredible 18-6 ATS in all William & Mary games this season.

The Tribe is a dangerous underdog as they are a veteran and experienced team that won outright at both Maryland (+13) and Wake Forest (+17) this season. They also won outright as a 2½-point underdog versus Northeastern on February 13th and W&M dominated the game more than the 53-52 final score indicated. William & Mary led by 12 points at halftime and held a 16-point lead with 8:20 remaining in the game.

This is a favorable matchup for William & Mary as they rely heavily on the three-point shot and Northeastern has shown a weakness with their perimeter defense this season. Northeastern relies more on their interior scoring, but William & Mary has a solid 2-point defense and actually outshot the Huskies 67% to 42% from two-point range in the earlier meeting this year.

Northeastern will also be battling the fatigue factor today as they played a double-overtime game last night against Hofstra and escaped with a 74-71 win as a 5½ -point favorite. Northeastern has an extremely thin bench with their five starters playing the majority of the minutes every game, so fatigue will be an issue today. In fact, Northeastern

Portland is a very good team that has proven that already this season. The Pilots played an extremely difficult schedule with most of those games coming on the road; neutral court games against UCLA, Minnesota, and West Virginia and true road games at Washington and Nevada. They beat UCLA and Minnesota on back-to-back nights in a preseason tournament, so the Pilots know what it takes to win in a setting like they are playing in tonight; a conference tournament being played on a neutral court.

Their early non-conference road losses also toughened this team up for their conference schedule, and that

Saint Louis is a difficult to team to play because of the system they run under head coach Rick Majerus. The Billikens run complex offensive sets that just frustrate opponents into half-court games. And Saint Louis is most effective when they are playing a team that loves to run up and down the court at a frenetic pace. Majerus is too smart of a coach to allow his team to get caught-up in a running game tonight, and he

Tulsa was in a funk for the month of February; the Golden Hurricane lost five of their eight games during the month. However, all five of those losses came against very good teams in UTEP (twice), Marshall, and Duke. There was also a home loss to Memphis mixed in as well. There