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The NCAA Tournament’s First Four Continues 🏀
PLUS: Scroll ⬇️ to predict who will win the tournament for a chance to win AirPods!
Brian Courcelle
March 15, 2023
Our writers give their predictions for how each region of the NCAA Tournament will play out! How do we feel about this? 👀
Fairleigh Dickinson vs Texas Southern
Today at 6:40 PM on TruTV
The NCAA Tournament’s First Four continues Wednesday with a pair of No. 16 seeds, SWAC champion Texas Southern and NEC runner-up Fairleigh Dickinson, squaring off in Dayton, Ohio. The winner will advance to play No. 1-seed Purdue in the first round of the East Regional on Friday in Columbus.
Moneyline: Texas Southern (-130) | Fairleigh Dickinson (+110)
Spread: Texas Southern -2 (-110) | Fairleigh Dickinson +2 (-110)
Total: Over 146.5 (-110) | Under 146.5 (-110)
Fairleigh Dickinson doesn’t run the most precise offense. Still, despite its warts, it finished top 50 in the country in scoring, averaging 77.8 points per game. The Knights surpassed 33.5 first-half points in two of their three NEC Tournament games and should do so again here.
FDU feasts on creating mistakes and scoring in transition. That could pose problems for Texas Southern, which averages more than 14 turnovers a game, and create ample scoring opportunities for the Knights to smash this Over, which is more than six points below their season average.
Arizona State vs Nevada
Today at 9:10 PM on TruTV
Both Arizona State and Nevada have a chance to prove they are worthy of their tournament bids while also building some momentum for their potential matchup against TCU on Friday.
The Sun Devils ended the season with a blowout loss in the Pac-12 semifinals to Arizona, with Arizona getting revenge after ASU beat them with a half-court buzzer-beater just a couple weeks ago.
Nevada comes into this game with three straight losses, two of them coming in overtime, including a conference quarterfinal defeat to San Jose State. This is shaping up to be a competitive game from two very hungry teams.
Moneyline: Arizona State (-125) | Nevada (+105)
Spread: Arizona State -2 (-110) | Nevada +2 (-110)
Over/Under: Over 134.5 (-110) | Under 134.5 (-110)
Arizona State has scored 63 or more points 25 times this season. Even with a streaky offense, and a slower-paced game, this is a total they have easily cleared on the season.
Lucas has been a very important part of this Nevada offense, and the more they struggle, the more I think they turn to him. He’s played 35, 43, and 35 minutes over his last three games heading into the tournament, scoring more than 23 points in each of those.
Let’s finish up with ASU’s leading scorer Cambridge, who will look to get revenge on his former team. The 6-foot-4 senior guard has 10-plus field-goal attempts in 10 straight games and 16 of his last 18, giving him consistent volume to carry the weight early for this ASU team.
🏀THIS. IS. MARCH. Guess who you think will win the tournament for a chance to win one of these four prizes!
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