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Horse Racing NCAA Basketball Men’s Tournament Best Bets: Sweet Sixteen Continued
NCAA Basketball Friday Best Bets: Friday, March 24th
The Sweet Sixteen is officially underway after 4 of the 8 games were played on Thursday, leading us to the 4 games being played on Friday. Our resident college basketball expert Ej Garr has picked out a pair of plays to preview from the 4 Friday affairs, and from there we head to the Final Four in Houston.
In this article:
- Houston Cougars vs Miami Hurricanes Preview
- Houston Cougars vs Miami Hurricanes Best Bet
- Creighton Blue Jays vs Princeton Tigers Preview
- Creighton Blue Jays vs Princeton Tigers Best Bet
Houston Cougars vs Miami Hurricanes Preview
March 25, 00:15 (UK time)
The Houston Cougars and Miami Hurricanes will take the T-Mobile court in Kansas City on Friday night, and you damn well know that Houston wants to win this game for one big reason. Well, there is more than just one reason, but the Final Four is being played quite literally in Houston, Texas, and that will undoubtedly give them an advantage should they get there.
The Hurricanes have no interest in any of that because they want to book the flight to Houston just as much as the Cougars. The line setters have given the chalk to the Cougars with a -7.5 on the handicap, but I am not going to play around with that full-time spread.
In my opinion, the play to make is coming from the first-half line because Miami will be less nervous than the Cougars will be for this game. There is no doubt that the chatter in the Houston locker room is about getting to play host to the Final Four in their city, so what could go wrong?
Oh, plenty can go wrong because looking ahead is the most dangerous thing any team in any sport can do. There will be no games for the Cougars to play if they look past the Hurricanes thinking that Miami will come to Kansas City just to let Houston go back home to keep playing basketball.
Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller haven’t missed a beat in the post-season, as they were 1-2 in scoring during the regular season, and they are both putting up solid numbers between the ACC tourney and the big dance (4 games). Wong has brought his average up 2 points in the post-season to 17.8 PPG after his 15.9 PPG throughout the regular season, and Miller is right on the same pace he has been all year with just over 15 PPG.
Norchad Omier is the guy who needs to step up his game for the Canes because he has fallen from a 14.1 PPG during the regular season to averaging 8.3 PPG in the post-season.
The Cougars were 13 – 0 going into the AAC Tournament finals against Memphis, and that loss to the Tigers was an ugly effort but Houston still earned a 1-seed in the region. After two convincing wins over Northern Kentucky and Auburn, Houston is seemingly back on track. Keep in mind that Auburn was up 10 points as the first half came to a close, and it took a mighty second-half effort to pull away to make the score look much more convincing, 81 – 64.
Houston Cougars vs Miami Hurricanes Best Bet
I expect something similar to happen in this game and that is why I am suggesting that you take Miami to cover the first-half line and not worry about if they can hang around later in the game.
- Selection: Miami +4.5 1st Half
- Best odds: 1.88 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 4/10
More Houston Cougars vs Miami Hurricanes Tips
Creighton Blue Jays vs Princeton Tigers Preview
March 25, 02:05 (UK time)
The Creighton Blue Jays arrive at the Sweet 16 listed as 10.5-point favourites over the Princeton Tigers on Friday night, Listen, I wish I didn’t have to make you read a preview at all so we can just slide down to the tip and move on… HA! I am sorry but that is just too many points to give a game Princeton team that has already taken out Arizona and Missouri as 15 and 6-point dogs to get to this year’s Sweet 16.
The Tigers are 7 -4 in true road games and they have accumulated a 5 – 1 record at a neutral site, and last I checked the KFC Yum Center is in Louisville, Kentucky. Being away from home has not intimidated the Tigers at all this campaign and if you want to give me double-digits in any of these Sweet 16 games, I will jump on that like a pogo stick!
I think the biggest concern that any of us can have comes with the depth of Princeton because they will put 7 dudes on the floor all night. Foul trouble would destroy the Tigers because of their lack of depth, but the Tigers are a great defensive team that knows how to play tight and avoid getting hit with fouls.
Princeton held Arizona to 55 points in their opening-round upset of Arizona and Caden Pierce was the only Tiger with more than 3 fouls the entire game. Pierce has upped his game from being an 8 PPG scorer to averaging over double-digits in the post-season.
Tosan Evbuomwan and Ryan Langborg have each also added a couple of extra points to their regular season average since the post-season has begun, and it is little things like that that can help everyone gain confidence. When your top-2 guys are doing more in the playoffs than they did all season, their leadership is contagious and it is making the Tigers that much better for it.
Crighton has been the favourite in their last 18 games, so who is surprised that the line setters would give them them the nod again? No one is, but double-digits in the Sweet 16?
Ryan Kalkbrenner is another dude who has brought his average up since the post-season started, as he averaged just over 15 PPG during the regular season but is grabbing 20 PPG when the lights got a little brighter. These games bring out the best in certain players, and he is undoubtedly enjoying the spotlight of being the guy that the Jays can count on when they need him most.
Kalkbrenner did struggle big time against Baylor in the previous round of the tourney with only 10 points after his 31-point effort in the win against NC State. Princeton is going to do its best to not let him be the leader he expects to be but the Jays have 5 players who all were double-digit scorers in the regular season. Depth is also an issue for the Jays once you get past the top-5 scorers, and neither team can afford to get into foul trouble because of it. I expect this to be another low-scoring game, and I am surprised to see a 140.5 on this total. I don’t think they’ll get there, but again, double-digits with Princeton is too nice to just let sit there without my attention.
Creighton Blue Jays vs Princeton Tigers Best Bet
This game is going to end 63 – 59, and I think that the line setters are nuts giving us that much room on the handicap!
- Selection: Princeton +10.5
- Best odds: 1.87 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 4/10
Odds as of 9:00 am March 24, 2023. Odds may now differ.
More Creighton Blue Jays vs Princeton Tigers Tips
