Evan Altemus
Indiana University Hoosiers @ Penn State Nittany Lions
Pick: Indiana University Hoosiers +9
Indiana has continued to play hard under 1st year coach Tom Crean. They have shown improvement throughout the season as well. The Hoosiers have the added confidence of knowing that they can play with Penn State because of a close three point loss to them just two weeks ago. In addition, that game was played at Penn State with the Nittany Lions needing a good performance to make it to the tournament. The Nittany Lions are going to be the much more nervous team in this match-up, as every national media outlet has them labeled as an obvious bubble team. Penn State also hasn’t been able to beat teams by margin this season, as they play up or down to the opponent they’re facing. Indiana’s best guard, Devan Dumes, is going to play in this game after taking a few days to rest his knee injury. He is the absolute key to Indiana’s success. Look for the Hoosiers to take this game down to the wire.
3 UNIT SELECTION
TEDDY COVERS
Duquesne @ Rhode Island
PICK: Duquesne
Duquesne is not a team to support when they faced a solid defensive foe or a slowdown team like Dayton, who beat the Dukes by 13 this past weekend. But when Duquesne takes on a squad that is willing to run and gun with them, or they take on a team that isn’t particularly efficient on the defensive end of the court, the Dukes can run all over them. That’s exactly what happened yesterday when Duquesne beat UMass 91-81, and that’s exactly what we can expect to happen today when the Dukes take on Rhode Island in a game with the total set in the mid 150’s.
Duquesne has some meaningful revenge against the Rams. The Dukes blew a halftime lead and couldn’t convert on their final possession against Rhode Island in the first meeting between these two teams this year, a heartbreaking two point home loss. It was the exact same story last year. Duquesne led at the half, but lost by two when Rhode Island’s Jimmy Baron hit a fadeaway jumper with three seconds left, another heartbreaker.
This time around, if Duquesne loses in similar fashion, we’ll cash our ticket. And given the competitive nature of both meetings over the last two years, I expect this contest, too, to come right down to the wire, making the points worth taking with this live underdog. 2* Take Duquesne.
LT Profits
Arizona State -4
The Arizona State Sun Devils swept both regular season meetings with the Arizona Wildcats, and considering the way both clubs played the season, we look for Arizona State to make it a hat trick this afternoon.
In fact, the Sun Devils have now won the last four meetings with the Wildcats after Arizona dominated this head-to-head series for so long prior to that. State finished at 22-8 this season, and they were also very friendly to their supporters, going 16-10, 61.5 percent against the spread. The Devils are ranked 15 in the Pomeroy Ratings, and they are very well balanced, ranking 11 in adjusted offensive efficiency and 33 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Conversely, Arizona was a disappointment this year going just 19-12. Yes, they were playing very well for a while, but their second loss to Arizona State started them on a tailspin, as they lost four of their last five games beginning with that contest with the lone win coming at home vs. a Stanford team that struggled on the road this season.
Most alarming here is that fact that the Wildcats were just 2-9 straight up on the road while losing by an average of -7.3 points. Look for Arizona State to win by at least that amount here.
Pick: Arizona State -4
Jimmy Boyd
1 Unit on Boston College -4.5
BC took Virginia down by 10 points on the road during the regular season and will not be denied the second round. Boston College is the hands down better team picking up 11 more wins on the season than the Cavs. The big key here is that Virginia is just 1-9 when playing away from home this season. The Cavaliers are 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games as an underdog of 6.5 or less. The Eagles are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 neutral site games as a favorite and 20-8 ATS in their last 28 neutral site games. Take Boston College.
Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons
COL (-110) vs MIN
The Wild have handled Colorado in the regular season, going 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings and 3-0-1 in their last four in Denver; that being said, I look for the Av's to play well tonight. Colorado is 12-9 in a home game where the total is 5 1/2 while Minnesota is 6-11 vs. division opponents; play on COLORADO!
Ron Raymond
NYI (+220) vs MON
The Canadiens are coming off a big 4-3 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers and they played hard for Bob Gainey in his first game behind the bench this season. Furthermore, the Canadiens are in a classic letdown spot vs. a bad Islanders team who?s been playing hard of late and even beat the Devils 7-3 at home this past Saturday. Look for Montreal to overlook this Islanders squad this evening, as they have Brodeur and the Devils on deck this Saturday. When MONTREAL played as any home/road team - During Last 5 Years - With 1 Over - Won Last Game by 1 Goals - With SU Record of 2 Win 1 Lost in L3G; the Canadiens are 4-9 SU in this cycle.
Prediction: NY Islanders 3 Montreal 2