Shooter's 3/9 CBB

Shooter's 3/9 CBB 8-5 last night after a shaky start. BIG EAST OPENING ROUND: 569 DePaul (+7') 569/570 DePaul/South Florida OV 124 Tracy Webster is likely not getting the head coach job at DePaul. However, the kids have played hard for him. DePaul has nothing to lose so they may play a little more loose and get up and down more. USF is on the outside looking in right now and has a lot of pressure on them to win at least 2 games in the Big East Tourney to have a shot at an at-large. They aren't used to this pressure and DePaul has no pressure at all on them. 571 St John's (+4') I think UConn may pack it in here. Calhoun sat future lottery pick Stanley Robinson and likely 2nd rounder Jerome Dyson who are seniors. They only played 20 min a piece and Calhoun played a ton of his young kids down the stretch at USF where they almost came back and won. Not a huge home crowd edge here, but it is in MSG. I really question UConn at this point. I know they "need" the win, but those a good spots to go against.

MEAC OPENING ROUND: 595 Florida A & M (+5) (-107) 597 NC A & T (-7) NC A & T got swept by Howard and now lay -7 on a neutral site? Huh? Well, Howard allows 47% from the floor on the road. BIG SKY SEMIFINAL #1: 589 Montana (-2) 589/590 Montana/Northern Colorado UN 132' Montana had to play a game to get to the Semis and they are a fav over the team with the bye Northern Colorado. Montana underachieved a bit and No Colorado overacheived in the reg season. 592 Weber State (-7') Portland State stepped up and won the opening round game and has covered twice against top seed Weber St. Portland State gives up over 50% FG on the road. Now they play Weber at their place. Crunch.

BIG EAST OPENING ROUND: 573 Providence (+6) (-109) 573/574 Providence/Seton Hall UN 166' I had the over in the Saturday matchup and it barely went over and actually had no business going over. Neutral site game, MSG, Seton Hall in a "must-win", leads to some tightness and sloppy play early. ATLANTIC 10 OPENING ROUND: 577 Duquesne (+2) (-117) 577/578 Duquesne/St. Bonny UN 153 Dukes got swept in the reg season, but have the better defense. 579 Saint Joseph's (+14) Rhody in a bubble, "must-win" situation. They laid -15 earlier in the year and won by 30 and yet this line opened 12 today? 581 George Washington (+12) (-111) Dayton is another one of the bubble teams in a "must-win" so the line gets inflated.

567/568 Penn/Princeton OV 114 Neither team going to the tournament. Season finale for both teams. Happy action fun time.

SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP: 585/586 North Texas/Troy OV 139 I play more unders in these smaller tourneys and they are obviously the way to go, but this # is daring you to take the under. These teams met on 1/14 and the total (I had the under) was 152.5 and they put up 147. This is a big drop from the original total. One thing I noticed the couple times I've seen each team is that they run a lot off missed buckets. If the poor 3-point shooting continues (NT is 11/35 from 3, Troy is 13/49!) in this tourney. Both these teams natural inclination is to run. All of the Sun Belt games have gone way under the totals. This game is for the marbles. You may see a big foulfest here at the end.

HORIZON LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: 587/588 Wright State/Butler OV 121' 588 Butler (-7) (-104) Butler was rusty off an 8-day layoff against Milwaukee. They have a tendency to coast in the 1st half and then go on a late run to close the 1st half strong and then gradually pull away. Butler isn't going to lay down for Wright St so the Horizon can get 2 clubs in the dance. Butler shot 23/45 in Dayton against WSU and shot 27/40 at Hinkle Fielhouse where the game will be tonight. Both games went over the total and the fact that unders went 8-0 yesterday gives the over a little value.

SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: 593/594 IUPUI/Oakland UN 146 Two evenly matched teams. Focus on defense here. Both teams have played good defense in this tournament. In 2 games, IUPUI has allowed 49/114 and Oakland 49/125.