Liberty vs Oklahoma State -7.5 O/U 140.5
Liberty is the Virginia of the Atlantic Sun conference. They play slow at 63.1 possessions per game and shoot great ranking 4th in the nation in effective FG% at 57.4% Oklahoma State plays fast and has really stepped up their defense. I think that the Atlantic sun conference is bad and when Liberty stepped up in competition, they were blown out by Purdue, they lost by 9 to Missouri and they lost to TCU.. I also think that Oklahoma State has been dying to get back on the court after facing Texas who couldn’t miss a shot in the Big 12 tournament. Liberty is a nice solid team but they are stepping way up here in competition here and Oklahoma State is poised to makes some noise. I have the Pokes here by 10.
Oklahoma State -7.5 – 2 stars
Syracuse vs San Diego State -3 O/U 139
The ACC isn’t all that good and we know this. Syracuse hasn’t been a great away from home team but Jim Boeheim at 18-12 ATS in this tournament since 2006 trumps that. Both teams play much faster than their tempo shows just due to the fact that the teams that they have played for the most part played slow. I also think that the officiating in the Mountain west is a bit kinder to the defensive side of the ball. The Orange has been pretty hot lately in the ACC and their offense ranks a nice 20th in adjusted efficiency. The Aztec’s shoot a nice 3 ball at 37.5% which is top 27 in the NCAA. I have San Diego State winning this game 74-70 so I like the over.
Over 139 2 stars
Georgia Tech vs Loyola Chicago +5.5 O/U 124.5
Now we all know about the Moses Write Covid issue and how this spread went from Loyola -2 to Loyola -5.5 when the news game out. Moses is the Yellow Jacket’s best inside presence and leading scorer but isn’t there another guy that can step up a little? 3.5 points is a big adjustment for one guy and I think that 6’10 sophomore Rodney Howard should be able to stop up some here. Both these teams got robbed in their seeding. They should be 3 and 4 seeds in my opinion. This is a pretty low total for a Georgia Tech game. My question is if there will be a let down after winning the ACC tournament? All in all, I think that the Missouri Valley conference is overrated. Loyola lost handily to Wisconsin and Richmond. Now Loyola is facing a great Georgia tech team that ranks 15th in the nation at forcing turnovers. Loyola tends to give the ball up 18.5% of their possessions. This could be a 1 and one scenario for either team but I will take the points and sprinkle.
Georgia tech +5.5 – 2 stars and sprinkle and lean over
Let’s have some fun with the bow to the gambling gods parlay!
Texas tech -175, Baylor under 140, Purdue -310, and Oklahoma State -7.5 – This pays about 6.5-1. Best of luck everyone!
