Villanova looks good, up 13 at half, but this one is hardly over. West Virginia has been one of the best second half teams in the country all season. I already regret typing that sentence. Anyway, here’s the rest of my afternoon card. Five picks all tipping off before sundown. This will take care of my picks until I add some night games. That will be in a separate post. As will be my predicitions on the three conference title games, which is the next post on deck. Cheers!
George Mason +10 (-125) over VCU, 2:00 ESPN 360, 1 Unit…….I know Mason sputtered the final weeks of the season. I know I hypothesized earlier that the Rams would have too much offense for the Patriots today. They might still, but I just cant foresee a blowout when these two teams play. I’ll take this kind of head start. Besides, the Patriots are 18-12 ATS the last five years as an underdog against CAA and mid-major foes, 11-6 the last two seasons. I think they hang with the Rams the whole way. A quick note on the line. It went up to 9.5 by the time I went to play it. I paid a little extra juice to get the full 10 points.
St. Peter’s -1 over Rider, 2:00 ESPN 360, 1 Unit…..these two split their season season, each winning on the road. But the Peacocks finished two games better in the MAAC standings than Rider, so I tend to think they’re the better team. I’ll take them in this coin flip 4/5 quarterfinal game. The have one of the best statistical defenses in the land. They are hard to score and shoot against. That’s how they win games. That carries them through this game as Rider will eventually have too many empty possessions.
Virginia Tech +5 over Georgia Tech, 4:00 ESPN Full Court, 1 Unit……followers of the blog know the drill. It’s the Hokies. The game will be close. Take the head start. Strategically playing the dog in Hokie games has become a pasttime for us in recent years. In the spirit of March, just to show I care and that I understand the meaning of it all, I’ll take the bandwagon out for a spin. The Hokies have not played as many close games this year as the last two. And they’ve actually been good short favorites this year. But, in this one they’re getting points, which I love, and, most importantly, they’re playing a struggling Yellowjacket team that’s just 2-5-1 ATS since the end of January. Both teams play good defense and can be hard to score against. I’ll take my chances with the team that has Malcolm Delaney.
Baylor -2, -130, over Texas, 4:00 ESPN, 2 Units…..I think the Bears run the Horns off the floor today. By any grade they’ve been so much better than Texas for about six weeks now.The Bears are 14-8-1 ATS, while Texas is 10-16-1 ATS. Interesting. Did you know the Horns have only covered three games since Christmas? That includes their 3-point OT win in Austin over Baylor five weeks ago when the Bears covered as 9-ppoint dogs. Texas was playing a whole lot better then, than they are now. Baylor has been improving all season. This is a payback game. Big time. The first two unit play of March. Tastes so good.
Georgia +1 over LSU, 5:00 ESPN Full Court, 1 Unit……we were wounded a bit the other night when the Dawgs run as a Dog against UK came up short the other night. We’ve still banked quite a bit on this Georgia team and their 15-6 ATS record since mid-December remains an investment risk worth taking. I’m willing to see this fling with Georgia through at least until the end of spring break. Yes, they’re on the road, but they’re playing the worst team in the league. The most improved team in the league should be able to do enough in the end to win.
