The Madness is almost upon us. Let’s take a look at my five favorite picks on day one. Let’s make some money and enjoy the best day of the year.

#6 Butler +105 vs #11 Texas

Butler is the higher seed but Texas finds themselves the favorite in this one. Both of these teams defend and rebound very well but Texas can struggle finding easy buckets. They can go through long droughts without any scoring and with Butlers coaching advantage they should be able to exploit that while finding their own shots thanks to Butlers star Kellen Dunham. He is averaging 17 points a contest and can light it up from the perimeter. If he can get hot today it will take away Texas’ ability to block shots and clog the lane. The majority of the public is riding the higher seeded Longhorns but I see this game playing out as a close low scoring affair but I think Texas is really going to get tight down the stretch and Butler is going to pull this one out.  

#9 Purdue PK vs #8 Cincinnati

One of my rules from past tournaments is ‘Always bet against Cincinnati’. I feel like every year I fall into the Cincinnati trap because they can defend well and can get up and down the court. This year once again they draw a team in Purdue that doesn’t blow you away. You wouldn’t ever take Purdue to win twice no matter what seed they were. That being said Cincy is such a trap team. You pick them for their defense and then sometime before the half you realize you took a team that might not score 50 points. They will tighten up in the spotlight and fail to score when it matters.

#6 SMU -4 vs #11 UCLA

Why is UCLA in the tourney and why are they only getting four points against SMU? Don’t get me wrong I don’t love this SMU team by any stretch of the imagination but I do love Larry Brown. He has had a week to prep for a UCLA team that probably shouldn’t even be dancing. They have some glaring weaknesses and Larry Brown is going to exploit those, and really should roll right through UCLA.

#13 Eastern Washington +310 vs #4 Georgetown

The Hoyas have really made it a trend to struggle in March. This year they draw a #13 seed in Eastern Washington that won’t lock anyone down defensively but will run teams out of the court. They averaged over 80 points per game and are led by the nations leading scorer in Tyler Harvey (22.9ppg) and an inside threat in Venky Jois (16.6ppg). They should be able to disrupt Georgetown’s plans by forcing turnovers and beating them up and down the court. Also a key factor… they’re playing in Portland which is really close to home for the Eagles and could contribute to the biggest upset of round 1.

mlz

Thursday, March 19, 2015