NCAA Basketball Tips

The Big 12 is known for the Kansas Jayhawks and an occasional run by the Kansas State Jayhawks or the Oklahoma State Cowboys but this season there are several teams that can burst on the scene and out of the shadows of the Jayhawks.

UNLV Runnin Rebels head coach Lon Kruger picked up stakes and joined the Oklahoma Sooners this season and his record with rapidly turning around a team will help the Sooners get on track quicker than most experts expect. The following are the five teams from the Big 12 that will make the NCAA Tournament acording to most college basketball handicappers.

No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks
The Kansas Jayhawks are still going to win the Big 12 but they are ripe for the picking this season. The Jayhawks lost six of their best eight shooters since their disappointing exit in the NCAA Tournament. Tyshawn Taylor, a 6-3 senior, is the only returning starter and he will need to lead this team from the outset.

No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies
Khris Middleton who averages 14.4 points per game and David Loubeau who is next best on the team averaging 11.8 points per game give the Texas A&M Aggies an edge over teams like the Missouri Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks but they need to play better in the clutch.

No. 3 Missouri Tigers
Senior Marcus Denmon will lead the Missouri Tigers this season and may consider him the best scorer in the Big 12.

No. 4 Baylor Bears
The Baylor Bears are a wild card. Sophomore, Perry Jones III is a player who can develop into a top five player in the country if the Bears rise to national prominence early in 2012.

No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners
Lon Kruger resurrected the UNLV Runnin Rebels and now he is looking to do the same with the once proud Oklahoma Sooners program. Look for the Sooners to surprise many of their rivals this season.

On November 11, 2011, North Carolina and Michigan State will play the first ever college basketball game on the deck of an aircraft carrier positioned in the San Diego harbor. This will be the 2009 NCAA basketball title game rematch.

There will be seating arrangements for about 7,000 viewers. In the event of rain the game will be played below the flight deck. So far no tickets are being sold. The game will be played within a makeshift, stadium seating arena constructed on the deck of an as yet undetermined ship, dubbed the Carrier Classic.

What could get really interesting is if there’s rain on the day in question, as in fact, as far as gimmicks go, this one ranks pretty high. The game will be played below the flight deck, presumably in front of some much smaller crowd in the event of inclement weather.

Thursday, ESPN announced that, it will televise the game on Veterans Day. It will be the first men’s college basketball game to be played on the deck of a U.S. military aircraft carrier, what the network said.

No tickets will be on sale to the public as the current proposal only allocates seating for approximately 7,000 audience topside. Considering the location and the specific date, we imagine that the crowd will be mostly of veterans and military personnel.

Connecticut beat Butler 53-41 and Kemba Walker scored 16 points to give Jim Calhoun his third national championship. This was a huge achievement as something of this sort was possible by only four other coaches. In the sports betting odds too, Connecticut were the favorites to win.

To a Final Four-record low 18.8 shooting percentage (12 for 64), the Huskies did it with defense holding the Bulldogs. After winning five games in as many days to win the Big East title, Connecticut capped one of college basketball’s best postseason runs, winning six games in the NCAA tournament.

In the final seconds for Arizona, Derrick Williams and Jamelle Horne missed 3-pointers, allowing the third-seeded Huskies (30-9) to hang on for their ninth victory in 19 days. It also allowed them a trip to Houston next week. Last year, after missing the NCAA tournament entirely, coach Jim Calhoun’s tireless team is headed to UConn’s fourth Final Four.

While battling foul trouble for the fifth-seeded Wildcats (30-8), Williams had 20 points. Before six points by Lamb, the Wildcats led with 6 minutes to play.

In the NCAA title game, Butler set a woeful 19 percent record, which was the worst shooting percentage and in its 53-41 loss to Connecticut, he had managed just 12 field goals.

Shelvin Mack was held to 13 points. In the first five games, he averaged almost 22 points and leading scorer Matt Howard had seven on 1-of-13 shooting.

Butler moved on with a 70-62 victory against Virginia Commonwealth, while the Huskies reached the championship game by beating fourth-seeded Kentucky 56-55.

The 11th seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams will take on the 8th seeded Butler Bulldogs.

Butler is a 2.5-point favorite and the over/under total is 133.5 in NCAAB Odds.

The Bulldogs and Rams have both had dream runs through the NCAA Tournament and one of them will advance to the finals to take on the winner of the Kentucky vs. Connecticut game.

Very few people would have ever believed that these teams could make a run like this through the tournament. The Rams have already taken out the USC Trojans, Georgetown Hoyas, Purdue Boilermakers, Florida State Seminoles and the Kansas Jayhawks en route to their final 4 appearance. While many people believe that VCU has already fulfilled their dreams by making the tournament, the Rams continue to say that they are not done yet.

While the Rams have had a tough road to the final 4, the Bulldogs have not had a road that is any easier. Butler started out by beating Old Dominion and then proceeded to beat the top seeded Pittsburgh team. They continued by taking out Wisconsin and most recently beat Florida in Overtime. To this point in the tournament Butler has only managed one win by more than 3 points.

Butler was the Cinderella story of last year and they have a chance to make history by being a Cinderella type of team two years in a row. They will be forgotten if they lose however, as VCU will be the talk of the tournament in qualifying for the finals as an 11th seed that needed a play-in game to make the main part of the tournament.

The Duke Blue Devils will play against the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday. These teams have both had close encounters in the NCAA Tournament already, but they have now qualified for the Sweet 16. These teams both have had success in the NCAA Tournament historically and they have high expectations for the tournament this year.

In basketball betting odds and NCAA Basketball Picks have Duke as an 8.5-point favorite.

The Wildcats are led by Derrick Williams. Williams is one of the most efficient players in the nation. He was the leading scorer for the Wildcats with 19 points per game and also chipped in 8 rebounds per game. While those are great numbers, the most impressive thing about Williams is his shooting percentage. Williams has shot 60 percent from the field overall this season and he has shot an amazing 58 percent from the 3-pt line. If Williams is able to find a rhythm the Blue Devils will be in trouble.

The thing about Williams is that he is not always as aggressive offensively as the Wildcats would want him to be.

The Blue Devils have one of the most talented teams in the NCAA and it is reasonable to believe could win the whole tournament if they are able to get past the Wildcats.

The Blue Devils have Nolan Smith and Kyrie Irving as their guards and they may be the best combo of guards in the nation. Irving is coming off of an injury and it is unclear whether or not he will step in and contribute, but if the Blue Devils can find a way to involve him they will be tough to beat.

The Penn State Nittany Lions will take on the Temple Owls this Thursday. These teams will be participating in the NCAA tournament. The Nittany Lions are labeled as a 10 seed and the Owls are a 7 seed. These teams are scheduled to play at 2:10 eastern time in Tucson, Arizona.

The Owls are a -145 moneyline, 2.5-point favorite with the over/under total at 121.5 in College Basketball Odds.

The Nittany Lions made the tournament despite losing 14 games on the season. While they had some rough points in the season, they enter the tournament playing the best basketball that they’ve played all season. They won 4 consecutive games against Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan State before losing to Ohio State.

The Temple Owls have been excellent this season, posting a 25-7 record on the season.

The Owls will rely on an offense with great ball movement to beat the Nittany Lions. The Owls are 33rd in the nation in assists per game with an average of 15.3. They depend a lot on Moore for their scoring. Moore led the team in scoring with 15 points per game and was a solid 3-pt shooter at 39 percent.

The Nittany Lions have a rather inefficient offense, but they manage to win game one way or another. They averaged just 63 points per game on the season, the 298th best average in the nation. They are also a poor rebounding team at 31.6 rebounds per game. Battle is the leading scorer for Penn State. Battle averages 20 points per game and shoots 42 percent from the field. He has the potential to take this game over and win it for the Nittany Lions.

The No.19 Villanova Wildcats take the short trip to Pittsburgh to take on the No. 5 Panthers in their final Big East regular season game. Both teams are coming off losses to ranked Big East teams. The Panthers are coming off a devastating loss to Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals and Villanova is fresh off a shellacking by the No.7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are ranked No.5 this week after dropping their close game to Louisville. They have also lost to the hottest team in the Big East, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Pittsburgh beat the Villanova Wildcats in their first meeting on the Panthers home court, 57-54 without their leading scorer Ashton Gibbs. Now Gibbs is back and the Wildcats will be hard pressed to keep him under wraps.

The Wildcats were a 3-point road favorite in March Madness betting odds in their first encounter with Pitt and lost by three.

This game will be much different from the first round. Pittsburgh will enter the Peterson Events Center with vengeance on their mind and a chip on their shoulder. Pitt’s loss to Louisville cost them a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a win over No.19 Villanova will get them right back in the hunt.

Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes have been a two man wrecking crew for Villanova but can two Corey’s beat one Ashton Gibbs? Aside from the scoring battle between those three the key to this game will be the battle on the boards. Pittsburgh has a huge advantage in the rebounding department.

The Syracuse Orange will head to Georgetown to take on the Hoyas this weekend. These two teams are both ranked among the nation’s elite with the Orange sitting at 20th in the nation and the Hoyas at 11th in the nation. The Orange have a record of 23-6 on the season and the Georgetown Hoyas are at 21-6 this year.

College Basketball Odds have Syracuse at 35-1 to emerge from March Madness as the NCAAB champion, and Georgetown at 30-1.

The Orange started out the season on fire, but really started to fall apart about a month ago. They have lost 6 of their last 11 games. The truth is that they have played a number of ranked teams, but Syracuse is the type of team that people expect to come out on top in those games. The Orange are 4-4 this season against teams ranked in the top 25.

The Hoyas played against Syracuse recently and came out on top with an 8 point victory. They were in the middle of a long winning streak before falling to UCONN by 8 points on the 16th of February. They are now 5-3 on the season against teams ranked in the top 25.

The Hoyas’ biggest issue is in rebounding the basketball. They are just the 222nd best team in the nation in rebounds per game. They will really need to attack the boards in this game as the Orange are a much better team on the glass.

The Hoyas are the 2nd best team in the nation in terms of field goal percentage. The Orange need to try to force the Hoyas to take difficult shots to take them out of their rhythm in this game.

The Pittsburgh Panthers will travel to play the Villanova Wildcats this Saturday in a game that will have NCAA Tournament seeding implications. The Panthers two losses this season have come to ranked opponents but they have also beaten three ranked opponents this season. One of those victories against the Syracuse Orangemen will help Pittsburgh secure a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In college basketball lines, betting Odds will be available at sportsbooks on Friday night.

Villanova stumbled in the last few weeks by dropping three games in the Big East. Two of those games came against ranked Big East opponents No.8 UConn and No.20 Georgetown. Villanova does have a statement win on their resume with a victory over the No. 3 ranked Syracuse team led by Jim Boeheim.

Pittsburgh matches up well against the Wildcats in this game. The Panthers are one of the best rebounding teams in the country. They rank third in the NCAA on the boards and their best rebounding player is Gary McGhee averaging 8.3 rebounds per game. Aside from McGhee it is a team effort on the boards with the rest of the team pitching in.

Pittsburgh will be led by Ashton Gibbs in the scoring department. Gibbs is averaging 16.3 points per game and he will be expected to match the Villanova Wildcats pair of shooters Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes. Fisher is averaging 15.7 points per game and Stokes is averaging 14.8 points per game. Stokes is the deadly three point shooter of the two. He is hitting 41 percent from behind the three point line.

The North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Duke Blue Devils will square off as in-state rivals this weekend. The Blue Devils are the 5th ranked team in the nation at 19-2 on the season. The NC State has not had an extremely successful season, but all of the major teams in North Carolina seem to step up when they play against each other.

Betting Odds have not yet been posted.

The Blue Devils recently lost to FSU, but they looked like they were starting to turn things around after winning 4 games in a row. Unfortunately, Duke had another setback in their last game as they lost to St. John’s by 15 points.

NC State looked like a solid team early in the season, but they have absolutely fallen apart as of late. The Wolfpack has lost 5 of their last 6 games and they look like they will keep falling. These two teams actually squared off recently and the Wolfpack was beaten soundly by the Blue Devils.

The problem for NC State lies in their offense. They are just the 126th best team in the nation in terms of Field Goal percentage. The Wolfpack needs to work on moving the ball around to get better shots. They average just 14 assists per game.

The Blue Devils allowed more than 90 points against St. John’s on January 30th. They will need to tighten things up on defense if they hope to stay among the prominent names in the nation. The Blue Devils have not allowed even 80 points this season to any other opponent, but if other teams pick up on the strategy of St. John’s it may be cause for concern.