Ohio vs Buffalo -2.5 O/U 156
Return of the MAC. The MAC championship game that is. The Ohio Bobcats are playing some great ball right now beating Toledo and Kent State but let’s face it, this team doesn’t play much defense. The Bobcats rank 237th in the league allowing 44.9% shooting while the Bulls has stepped up to the plate on D allowing a 59th best 41.1% shooting. Ohio does edge Buffalo in shooting percentage by 1 percentage point but who is going to clean up the boards? Buffalo averages 44.1 rebounds per game while Ohio averages 34.8. That is a massive discrepancy. The Bobcats shoot a lot of 3 pointers but the Bulls average a 3rd best in the NCAA allowing only 27.5% FG percentage from deep. Buffalo is a fast pace dribble drive type offense but they really do not turn over the ball much which is a nice rarity for faced pace teams. Gonna take the Bulls here in the short favorite roll.
Buffalo -2.5 – 2 stars
Oklahoma State vs Texas -2 O/U 144.5
Are we sure that the right team is favored here? Oklahoma state has only defeated West Virginia and Baylor by playing very solid basketball down the stretch. Texas is a very good team that got a nice little break with Kansas’s Covid issues but that to me doesn’t mean that they have some big advantage in this game. Texas is the better offensive team due to their 3 point shooting but Oklahoma State defends it well only allowing 31.5% to go in. As far as overall FG% the edge goes to Oklahoma State 46.6% to 45.2%. Free throws and rebounds are about equal. Texas edges in turnovers and Oklahoma State edges in defense. The biggest thing for me here is that these Oklahoma State stats do not factor in Isaac Likekele for about 6 games and Cade Cunningham for 3 games. The Pokes are finally healthy now. I think that Oklahoma State wins this game but I will gladly take the 2 points which is the second most common difference in final scores in mens basketball games.
Oklahoma State +2 – 2.5 stars
