March Madness is here and I am analyzing every opening round game for the Midwest Bracket. 3 of our other excellent handicappers are handling the other regions. I’ve got the most exciting of the brackets in the fact that there is a real good chance of upsets in round one and beyond in this bracket. I’ll put a post up every evening from now until Thursday saving the Friday games for last.
I’m gonna drop some quick tidbits on each game and give out a few FREE PLAYS along the way. All game times are in CDT cause that time change thing just happened here in the Midwest and these games are in the Midwest region. Y’all can figure out what time it actually is where you live.
Here’s the match-ups and locations for the Midwest games
16 Seed Play in Game Texas Southern/Texas A&M Corpus Christi– 5:40 PM Tuesday in Dayton, OH
Midwest Bracket
1 Kansas vs 16 TSU – 8:57 PM Thursday in Fort Wort, TX
8 San Diego State 9 vs Creighton – 6:27 PM Thursday in Fort Worth, TX
5 Iowa vs 12 Richmond – 2:10 PM Thursday in Buffalo, NY
4 Providence vs 13 South Dakota State – 11:40 AM Thursday in Buffalo, NY
6 LSU vs 11 Iowa State – 6:20 PM Friday in Milwaukee, WI
3 Wisconsin vs 14 Colgate – 8:50 PM Friday in Milwaukee, WI
7 USC vs 10 Miami (FL) – 2:10 PM Friday in Greenville, SC
2 Auburn vs 15 Jacksonville State – 11:40 AM Friday in Greenville, SC
1 Kansas (-21.5) vs 16 Texas Southern O/U 144.5– Watch the lines, but I’d expect Kansas to run away and hide early. This isn’t the best Kansas team to make the tourney, but they are certainly good enough to dominate against Texas Southern. I don’t see much of an edge here on the opening lines, and Might look at first half Kansas if around 11.
5 Iowa (-10.5) vs 12 Richmond O/U 150.5 – Let’s start with this. Iowa got hosed as a 5 seed. 12-8 in conference and win the Big Ten Tourney winning 4 straight games, plus 12-2 in last 14. This reminds me of Wisconsin in 2004 when they went 12-4 in conference, won the tourney and got a 6 seed. I think the committee has everything decided going into the last few games no matter what happens. Iowa had lots of injuries early, and it only really started playing defense in the second half of season. Iowa hasn’t made it to the second weekend in 15 years, but I think this is the year. Richmond won the A-10 tourney to punch their ticket, but this isn’t a team that deserves to be here and this isn’t the 12/5 match-up to pick an upset in. I like Iowa to jump out early and Richmond will try and push to catch-up which I think only puts them in a deeper hole. I’m on Keegan Murray and the 3 Point barrage that the Spiders are about to endure to cover this big spread. Iowa – 10.5 2 Units.
4 Providence (-2) vs 13 South Dakota State O/U 149.5 – Let’s start with this. Providence is 25-5 and was 14-3 in the Big East. “But Knoche??” You ask, “They were only 4-3 down the stretch and got blasted by Creighton in the Big East Championship” Well 2 of those losses were close losses to Villanova. Providence is the luckiest team in the country according to Kenpom, but sometimes you create your own luck. Creighton shot lights out from 3 in the game in the Big East Tourney, and that is concerning with their opponent here. South Dakota State is the top 3 point shooting team in the country hitting 45%. South Dakota State is not very deep and they like to run and push tempo. That works against St. Thomas Minnesota and UMKC, but against a battle tested Big East team who is used to a slower tempo it may be tougher for them to run like they want to, and if they get into foul trouble inside it could spell disaster. I’m pulling for an upset because I love watching the Jackrabbits, but I am staying off this game for now. This is the shortest 4/13 line in 37 years and right now Providence is getting 38% of the bets and 26% of the $. This is screaming trap game to me so I am staying away for now, but lean Providence and will likely be on them small come game time.
