NCAA First Round Thursday Picks
19 March 2008Lines are provided by PinnacleSports.com “for entertainment purposes only.”
Xavier (-8.5) vs. Georgia: It’s hard to pick against Georgia after the run they made in the SEC tournament, but they’re not going to sneak up on the Musketeers. Xavier 74, Georgia 64.
Kansas (-22) vs. Portland State:I look for the Jayhawks to have some difficulty here. Not enough to lose the game but enough to give the cover to the Vikings. Kansas 84, Portland State 71.
Michigan State (-7.5) vs. Temple:This one just stuck out like a sore thumb to me when the brackets came out. We know the 5-12 game is ripe for an upset. Michigan State is a strong tournament team but I think that Sparty and the Big Ten in general has been overrated all season. Temple 75, Michigan State 70.
Marquette (-6.5) vs. Kentucky: Marquette is getting no love, if you look at most of the expert picks and such. But I think they could go far. No true big man, but how often do you hear that the tournament is all about guard play? UK has no business in this field this season. Marquette 84, Kentucky 68.
Purdue (-3) vs. Baylor:I’ve been looking to Purdue all season as that team that would probably get knocked out in the first round. I guess I’m just a Big Ten hater. Baylor is kind of a feel-good story and so I think they’re over-picked for the upset. I think Purdue is seeded about where they should be. This is one of the hardest games of the first round to pick in my opinion. Purdue 65, Baylor 61.
UNLV (+2) vs. Kent State: We also know that 8 vs. 9 is a virtual coin flip. In this case, Kent State is favored. I honestly don’t know much about either team but I thought UNLV was pretty strong all season, and with the Sweet 16 run they made last year I wouldn’t sleep on them. UNLV 82, Kent State 73.
Pitt (-8.5) vs. Oral Roberts:What kind of WVU blog would this be if we picked Pitt to win anything? Oral Roberts 76, Pitt 62.
Stanford (-14.5) vs. Cornell: Cornell gets a lot of respect for winning the Ivy, after all it’s been Penn and Princeton’s domain for an entire generation. Everyone remembers Princeton knocking teams down in the 80’s and 90’s, but no Ivy has won an NCAA game since 1998, when Princeton was a 5-seed. And you have to go back to ‘96, Princeton over UCLA to find an Ivy that won as a double-digit seed. Ivy teams are usually over-seeded and even as a 14, this year is no different. Stanford 78, Cornell 59.
USC (-3) vs. Kansas State:People want to focus on Mayo vs. Beasley, but how about Mayo vs. Bill Walker, his former high school teammate? I think most people see USC as overrated and KSU as underrated. This should be a good game, but I’m going to go with USC, because of Mayo as well as Taj Gibson and Davon Jefferson. USC 74, Kansas State 66.
Duke (-20) vs. Belmont: I just hope they get this one over with as quickly as possible. Duke 80, Belmont 47.
Washington State (-9.5) vs. Winthrop:WVU knows about Winthrop, as the Mountaineers defeated them 70-53 in Morgantown in December. I don’t think Winthrop is as dangerous this year as in past years, and I think Washington State is flying under the radar again this year. They dropped some tough decisions in the regular season, but I like them big over Winthrop. Washington State 78, Winthrop 62.
BYU (+1.5) vs. Texas A&M: Just another 8-9 coin flip. I’ll go with the chalk. BYU 69, Texas A&M 67.
Wisconsin (-11.5) vs. Cal State Fullerton: I want to like Wisconsin in this tournament. Defense can take you a long way, but you don’t get deep into the tournament on defense alone. If this were the College World Series, maybe I could take Fullerton. Wisconsin 64, Fullerton 51.
Notre Dame (-6.5) vs. George Mason: Notre Dame got knocked off by Winthrop last year in the first round, so they won’t be caught off guard this time around. I like the brand of basketball they play in the CAA, but I think Mason is going to have a hard time with this draw. Notre Dame 84, George Mason 71.
UCLA (-32) vs. Mississippi Valley State:The SWAC is probably consistently the worst basketball conference in D-I. The SWAC has won one NCAA tournament game ever, a 1993 Southern upset over Georgia Tech. Last year, Jackson State got lambasted by Florida 112-69. Although this 32-point spread seems pretty ridiculous, I’ll take UCLA to make a statement, especially with the virtual home game in Anaheim. UCLA 103, Jerry Rice U. 64
West Virginia (-2) vs. Arizona: Vegas is obviously pretty torn about this one. I just look at Arizona and I still see a team that finished under .500 in their conference. This WVU team has too much going for it right now to bow out in the first round. West Virginia 74, Arizona 67.
