Another awesome day as I went 3-1 in CBB and 6-2 overall (NBA/CBB). That makes my record 13-4 so far in March (76%). This has been a hellacious week already and I intend on keeping it up. Let’s get over the hump with more picks:
Saint Joseph’s -2 (-110), 1 unit: Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball has won exactly 4 games this year. Between December and February 20th, they only won a single game. In these last 11 days, they’ve won 3 in a row. That’s pretty incredible. I don’t know if the Hawks are on a true run or if they’re just catching good teams by surprise or good teams in let-down spots, but they’re on a rare streak and I’m jumping on the train. It can’t be that hokey– wins against Dayton and Richmond are pretty darn impressive. La Salle and Saint Joe’s are two even matched bottom dwellers in the Atlantic 10 with not much to play for. I’ll play on the hotter team, who’s win against La Salle on February 20th was the start of their winning streak. Also it’s pretty cool it’s on at 11:00am– why not start hot? Let’s go!
UConn -1.5 (-110), 2 units: If you’re not Villanova, lately you’ve been owned by UConn if you play in the Big East Conference. Marquette, Georgetown, Providence, Xavier– all have fallen victim to the Huskies lately and James Bouknight is a big reason for that. Bouknight returned on February 16th against Providence and the Huskies have won 3 of their last 4 since then. The sophomore out of Brooklyn averages over 16 points and 8 rebounds per game and he shoots nearly 39% from beyond the arc. Most importantly, Bouknight is a great leader who plays hard and knows how to rally the troops. Enter Seton Hall. The Pirates are a solid basketball team but they’re not on UConn’s level, especially not with the way the Huskies have looked the past few weeks. UConn has been exceptional at crashing the offensive glass and creating scoring opportunities, something that should be a real issue all game for Seton Hall to manage. And what’s more– Seton Hall bested the Huskies in their first contest, at UConn. That was without Bouknight but still: insert maximum revenge angle. I expect a motivated UConn, who hasn’t officially made the tournament just yet, to take care of business today in Newark.
Belmont -20.5 (-110), 1.5 units: Evansville, Indiana may be in panic-mode as the Belmont Bruins, who were on an insane 21-game winning streak, have now lost 2 games in a row and are at risk to lose their bid in the NCAA Tournament. Lineups.com gives the Bruins a 49% chance to make it; of course recent losses to Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky haven’t helped. How can Belmont play with the big dogs if they’re losing games against lesser Ohio Valley teams? After a few days to think about their transgressions, the SIU Edwardsville Cougars come to Evansville and it’s go-time for the Bruins. SIUE recently got blown out by Murray State and Austin-Peay and they only seem to play well against the most abysmal Ohio Valley teams. A motivated Belmont team, who needs to win and win by impressive margin, should take care of business in a big way today.
Creighton +4.5 (-110), 1.5 units: This is too many points for the Bluejays. I love the way they looked against Villanova on February 13. Neither team made a ton of mistakes– Creighton was just able to move the ball around with pace and make high percentage shots for all 60 minutes. I realize that sets up for a huge revenge spot tonight, but it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t like what I’ve seen from Villanova lately. Even in wins, they don’t seem to have the same juice since that loss against Creighton. Maybe it was just a down day or a down month, or maybe Creighton figured out some of their weaknesses in ways other teams haven’t? I think it’s the latter, so I’ll take the points all day! Bet Creighton.
UCLA +4 (-110), 1 unit: This show-down has been postponed 3 different times but now we finally get to see it happen. I think this game will look a lot like Baylor and West Virginia last night (what an incredible watch). UCLA has USC on deck, but this game matters most for positioning to win the Pac-12 title. The Bruins are entering Wednesday night off a disappointing loss to Colorado on the road 5 days ago. Oregon has looked really impressive lately, knocking off 3 straight Pac-12 opponents and playing especially incredible at home. Oregon has the advantage down low, but UCLA has the better guards. As long as the Bruins can get open and hit shots, and I think they can, this game should remain close. Both teams play with a slow, methodical tempo, which I think lessens the chances that either team gains any real margin. This will be a back and forth battle between two teams that hate each other and because of that, I gotta take the points with UCLA.
