Category: CFN Expert Picks

What 5 NCAA Tournament games appear to be the best bets and the best picks for the over/under point totals going into first round on Friday?

NCAA Tournament Fearless Predictions, Game Previews 
– CFN Fearless Predictions & Game Previews
– Every Game Preview & Prediction
– CFN Expert Picks: Every First Round Game

[jwplayer 7LCg2xra]

The unpredictability and irrationality of the games themselves are what define the NCAA Tournament. As you’re reading this, your bracket is already busted – really, it is, you just don’t know it yet.

Point totals are different.

Point totals don’t care if that 14 beats the 3 or if the 2 beat the 15 by 54. Here, you should be a wee bit more in control of your investment.

Here are five NCAA Tournament first round Friday games that appear to be a wee bit favorable when it comes to the over/under and point total.

Click on each game for the game preview and fearless prediction.

5. (3) Arkansas vs (14) Colgate

Point Total: 161.5
Pick: Under
– Bet on this, BetMGM latest line

Even for two high-powered college offenses, 161.5 is a massive number.

Easy math, that means at least one team has to be in the 80s to get there, and that shouldn’t be a problem. The concern is likely going to be Arkansas and how much it wins by.

Colgate averages 86 points per game, but as I pointed out in the 5 Best Picks Against The Spread piece, you and four friends could’ve hung at least 70 on the board against the teams on the Raider schedule.

Arkansas averages over 82 a game, and it’s probably going to get there and then some. How much does the Hog D want to slow down a Colgate offense that scores in bunches, but again, is taking a massive step up in competition?

The best comp to use is the Arkansas 87-76 win over Oral Roberts back in late December. The Golden Eagles bomb away as well as any team in the country – they’re playing Ohio State in the first round – and that game barely got past the 161.5 mark.

Forget the seed, Oral Roberts is a more dangerous team than Colgate – again, forget the stats and look at the competition.

Arkansas-Colgate is more likely an 85-68 type of game than any sort of an even shootout, and even then, there’s a chance the Hogs put this away and sort of coast.

Only nine of the 28 games Arkansas played got to over 161.5 and one of them was in overtime.

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NEXT: Houston vs Cleveland State

What 5 NCAA Tournament games appear to be the best bets and the best picks against the spread going into first round on Friday?

NCAA Tournament Fearless Predictions, Game Previews 
– CFN Fearless Predictions & Game Previews
– Every Game Preview & Prediction
– CFN Expert Picks: Every First Round Game

[jwplayer 7LCg2xra]

Brackets schmackets. Anyone and everyone can fill one out. I did, and it’s already busted – I’m SO reading that Loyola – Georgia Tech matchup wrong – but the money you invest on these games is forever.

Or for five minutes until you reinvest, but that’s more fun than getting some 12-seed you never heard of right over that 5, right?

Here are five NCAA Tournament first round Friday games that appear to be a wee bit favorable against the spread.

Click on each game for the game preview and fearless prediction.

5. (5) Tennessee vs (12) Oregon State

LINE: Tennessee -8
ATS PICK: Tennessee
– Bet on this, BetMGM latest line

Never be one of those people who gets weird over a half a point. It all evens out over a lifetime, so if you like a pick, make it, and don’t get into a twist over the line changing …

OH (bleep)ing (bleep) … Tennessee went from 7.5 to 8?

A half a point means a whole lot in basketball – not as much as people like to believe in football – but this whole tournament is just getting started, so I’m not bailing on my core beliefs quite yet.

Speaking of abandoning belief systems, I came into the bracket season determined to pick against the Pac-12 whenever possible, and I think I ended up picking Pac-12 teams whenever possible – except for the conference tournament champion.

Falling for the conference tournament champion that rises up out of the blue is always dicey. The gimmicky tournaments are the last things anyone sees, so the lines are always a wee bit skewed. This one is about right – even with the extra half a point, and it doesn’t matter.

Tennessee might be flaky, but the defense was the best in the SEC in field goal percentage, and Oregon State isn’t exactly automatic from the field. I’m not buying that the Beaver threes that were dropping like the beat around the 23 minute mark of any Carl Cox mix are going to keep going.

Tennessee is too good at slowing teams down on the inside, and it’ll hold up on the outside shooters. Oregon State won’t get the Vol turnovers.

NEXT: Arkansas vs Colgate