March Madness Picks & Predictions for Saturday, March 19, 2011
By Nate Steele
Bet On Brigham Young vs. Gonzaga Odds
(The Spread) - The Second Round of the NCAA Tournament gets underway Saturday with eight highly anticipated games, one of which featuring Jimmer Fredette and third-seeded Brigham Young attempting to thwart off a challenge from 11th seed Gonzaga.
View Current College Basketball Odds
Brigham Young has compiled a 31-4 record this season and defeated Wofford 74-66 in the First Round. Gonzaga counters with a 25-9 record and bested St. John's 86-71 to move on.
Oddsmakers and online sports book Sportsbook.com have listed Gonzaga as 1.5-point favorites, while the over-under is currently set at 149. According to the latest trends, Gonzaga is 10-3 ATS when playing with one or less days rest this season. Brigham Young is 51-78 ATS as an underdog since 1997. BYU is 4-14 ATS in all tournament games over the last three seasons.
Brigham Young finished 13-3 in the Western Athletic Conference this season to tie for the regular season title, while Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference crown with a 12-2 record.
Brigham Young vs. Gonzaga, 7:45PM EST (View Matchup)
March Madness Free Pick: Everyone is giving Fredette and Brigham Young their due credit for an outstanding, but unlike some previous editions of Gonzaga this one seems to be flying under the radar. Over the last couple of months, the Zags have played some outstanding basketball and will be an extremely difficult matchup for the Cougars. It all starts in the middle as BYU is still reeling from the loss of suspended forward Brandon Davies, who provided a lot of size in the middle. Without him, Brigham Young struggles to deal with opposing post players and that will not differ in this one as the talented and lengthy Robert Sacre should have his way in the middle for Gonzaga. While it is not the most experienced of Gonzaga teams, I think they are the more talented team here. Of course, Fredette could score 40-plus but even if he does I like the Zags here at -1.5.
SATURDAY MARCH MADNESS FREE PICK: GONZAGA -1.5