Friday 3/18 March Madness Picks
The NCAA Tournament is chaotic, hence the name March Madness. Here are some March Madness picks to make for today for when your bracket has already been busted.
(6) Texas vs (11) Virginia Tech at 4:30pm EST: Texas -1.0
This is one of the easier bets that I have a lot of confidence about going into the first round of games. Texas has an older group that plays very good defense.
On the other hand, Virginia Tech is coming off their best few games of the year, riding the high of incredible three-point shooting. As good as Tech’s shooters are, the odds that they catch fire like they were in the ACC Tournament, again, is not very likely.
Texas has plenty of bigs to counter Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts inside, and their guards play great perimeter defense which will stop Cattoor from getting open shots.
Additionally, Texas went our early in last year’s tournament, quite unexpectedly. This team has a few remaining players from that three-seeded team who will be looking to exact revenge for last season’s end on the Hokies.
This line is just not big enough for a very talented Longhorns team, it’s capitalizing on the Virginia Tech bandwagoners across the country. Don’t be fooled; take UT.
(8) Seton Hall vs (9) TCU at 9:57pm EST: TCU +1.0
The eight-nine matchup in March Madness is statistically a toss-up, which is why this is the line. But TCU is a lot better than a nine seed, so I recommend taking the bet on the underrated Horned Frogs who are out to prove their place after a very impressive Big 12 season where they beat some of the best teams in the country.
They have the wings to guard the length of Seton Hall and they have a defense that the Piratesjust didn’t see in Big East play this year.
Mike Miles may be a March hero for Texas Christian and I wouldn’t be surprised if he dropped 25 on Seton Hall in the first round. Bank on the slight underdog here.
(7) Ohio State vs (10) Loyola (IL) at 12:15pm EST: Loyola (IL) pk
At first, I thought this may end up being a trap game with a seven seed in a pick’em game. But this game just doesn’t fit Ohio State well.
I thought maybe OSU would be out to fix what happened to them last year when as the two seed they lost to 15 seeded Oral Roberts in the first round. They also haven’t been playing well recently and have stumbled into the tourney, dropping a few seed lines in the process.
This isn’t the team to figure it out now if they have been struggling recently. Liddell will meet his match with the forward of Loyola in the paint and the guards that Loyola has will play great defense on the Buckeye backcourt.
For a team that wants to play slow in Ohio State, Loyola will make them play even slower. It will be a slow, tough game and in the end, Loyola has the recipe for success in March that Ohio State hasn’t been able to find.
(3) Texas Tech vs (14) Montana State at 1:45pm EST: Montana State +15.0
This isn’t a pick because I expect Texas Tech to lose, because I don’t. They will win this game even if they play their worst match of the year in all likelihood.
But Montana State is actually a decent matchup for this Red Raider team. They shoot a high percentage just like Tech does, and they play at a similar pace, but a bit faster will speed up Tech for parts of the game.
The Bobcats are a much better three-point shooting team as well which will help them cover this large spread. If Montana State can get on the defensive boards with aggression, they can keep this one close. Tech also doesn’t really have the capability of destroying teams by all that much because of how they play so this line likely will be too large for Mark dams and company to cover.
If you want more picks for March Madness, check out our sleeper final four teams!
