Over the last couple of weeks the NCAA tournament has been a treat. The first part of the Sweet Sixteen game slates gave us an sensational night of college basketball. Oregon ended Michigan’s Cinderella run in thrilling fashion, Xavier continued their cinderella story upsetting tournament favorite Arizona, and Gonzaga was able to outlast West Virginia’s press during an entertaining defensive struggle. This slate is headlined by marquee games between UCLA and Kentucky, North Carolina vs Butler, and many others. In addition, they are a couple of marquee women’s basketball matchups that you are worth putting your money on. Here is a guide to making money watching basketball this Friday evening.
Baylor (-3.5) vs South Carolina: A recommend reading Liam Smith and Austin Brown’s breakdown of this game here:http://www.studentunionsports.com/college-basketball/sweet-16-matchup-preview-baylor-vs-south-carolina/lsmith. I am going to have to side with the Bears here. The Gamecocks are no longer playing in their home state, and Baylor has the better overall team. Expect the Bears to dominate on the offensive glass that will give them much needed points against a tough South Carolina defense.
Women’s Sweet Sixteen: #3 Washington (+1) vs #2 Mississippi St 7:00 PM ET ESPN2:
You may close this after reading a Women’s Bball preview, but if you like making money I recommend locking in this pick. A year ago, the Huskies’ path to the Final Four in Indianapolis sent them to Maryland and Kentucky where they captured three upsets to crash the biggest party in their sport. While returning many of the key parts from their miraculous run a year ago, the Huskies are once again a slight underdog against a very good Mississippi St team. The Huskies are arguably the best offensive team in the nation and they have the best player in Kelsey Plum. The Huskies are averaging The Huskies average 85.6 points per game, which is fifth in Division 1. They will face a Bulldogs team that allows only 56.2 points, which is 22nd in the nation. The Huskies are coming off an electric offensive performance scoring 108 points in their matchup against Oklahoma. Washington hit 18 3-pointers, an NCAA Tournament single-game record and one off the school record.The Huskies are playing their best basketball of the season, and this matchup a great offense will triumph a very good defense.
#2 Kentucky vs #3 UCLA (-1) (Over (165): I don’t need to tell you that the UCLA vs Kentucky matchup is the marquee game of the night. In this game I love UCLA -1. Even though the game is a virtual home game for Kentucky, and the WIldcats are technically the hottest team left in the tournament entering the game on a 13 game winning streak. However, the safer bet of the game will be the Over at 165. The game features 6 potential NBA players, and both teams play at very fast tempos. The game will be decided by the team who players better defense down the stretch. However, expect fantastic offensive performances from Lonzo Ball, Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox, T.J. Leaf, Thomas Welsh, and others. There will easily be 80 possessions during this game which is 15 more than the average. I love the over at 165, but if I had to pick a team to win I would go with the Bruins.
#1 North Carolina (-7) vs #4 Butler:
As a favorite, Roy Williams is 22-12 ATS in the NCAA tournament. North Carolina narrowly avoided in their second round matchup against Arkansas, but the Tar Heels were able to escape with a 72-65 win. Our columnist Cody Goggin wrote a full preview of this game http://www.studentunionsports.com/codygoggin/unc-sweet-sixteen-preview/cgoggin. The question mark surrounding this game is figuring out which North Carolina team shows up. The Tar Heels are very capable of blowing Butler out of the arena, but if Tar Heels lets Butler hang around the Bulldogs can pull off a huge upset. Butler is a very good team after finishing second in the Big East and they have beaten 9 teams in the tournament field. They are certainly capable of hanging with the Tar Heels, but UNC has been a different team since Theo Pinson has been inserted into the starting lineup. However, Butler has a huge mismatch in size. The Tar Heels will be able to dominate the paint in this matchup. The Bulldogs allow opponents to shoot 51 percent from inside the arch which is 230th worst in the nation. Carolina scores more than 56 percent of its points from inside the arch, and Carolina bigs Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks should be able to feast inside. Although Butler has decent length, expect Carolina to dominate the rebounding battle. Butler ranks 240th in offensive rebounding percentage controlling only 27 percent of their misses. Look for North Carolina to win the rebounding battle, dominate the paint, and they will be able to control the pace of the game. I expect the game to be competitive, but the Tar Heels should run away with this one late. Lock in UNC -7.