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March Madness is here as there are wall-to-wall college basketball games on from Noon EDT till around Midnight. That's the potential of 12+ hours of Madness. Our focus will be on the earlier slate of afternoon games.
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Today's featured matchups are Oregon St. versus Tennessee and Georgia Tech vs. Loyola Illinois. Once you're done here, be sure to also check out the rest of our NCAA Tournament articles and analysis including previews, predictions, sleepers, busts, and guides on how to fill out your brackets.
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Oregon State vs. Tennessee
Ethan Thompson (Oregon St.) LESS 14.5 Points - Keon Johnson (Tennessee) MORE 14.5 Points
This could be a nasty one to gauge. Oregon State went on a wild run that culminated in a Pac-12 tournament championship. So, what's next? With Thompson, everything pointed to the MORE until that game versus Colorado. Varying foul trouble issues over the last five games only slightly impacted his playing time but clearly disrupted his shooting from the field at times. He went 3 for 9 against Colorado and didn't get to the line once. Tennessee is not like UCLA for example. They held their opponents to just 63.2 points per game (24th in the NCAA). Oregon State will want to push the pace and Thompson needs to as well. If he does not or gets into foul trouble, that LESS looms very likely.
Keon Johnson is a freshman coming into his first exposure of March Madness. The SEC Conference tournament gave us a peek of what Johnson is becoming. He has one big concern like Thompson but that exuberance getting him into some foul trouble. However, the Tennessee swing guard will shoot more and more, unlike Thompson. Johnson's field goal attempts keep trending up along with his playing times (over 34 minutes a night in the last four starts). Oregon State will try to play the game in the 70's or even low 80's and that may feed Johnson a bit -- especially in transition. The expectation is that the guard gets caught up in things but scores just enough to hit the MORE.
A win here pays 3.5 times your wager.
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Loyola-Illinois vs. Georgia Tech
Cameron Krutwig (Loyola) MORE 14.5 Points - Michael Devoe (Georgia Tech) MORE 14.5 Points
The senior center carried that experience to two superior performances in his conference tournament that made some take notice. He had 38 points in the final two games with a lot of high-percentage looks. Georgia Tech limps into the tournament. Moses Wright will miss this game due to COVID protocols and this is huge. The Yellow Jackets relied on Wright heavily for rebounding, interior presence, and scoring of course. That interior presence will leave a void as Krutwig should be able to expose Georgia Tech for more easy looks at the basket. He could get to the foul line more frequently against a more inexperienced frontline. Loyola's half-court game will frustrate Georgia Tech at times and even that could lead to transition chances for the center who is pretty agile. Take the MORE here.
The second half of this prop features Michael Devoe. Again, can Devoe handle the pressure of being a leading scorer with Wright out? Loyola Illinois has one of the best defenses this tournament and plays one of the slowest paces as well. This may slow down Devoe enough. The Ramblers can play a game in the 50's or 60's very easily. That would clamp down on scoring for Georgia Tech. That being said, someone has to get the points for Georgia Tech and the senior guard showed over the final five games leading into the tournament that he can at least handle that part of the load. Expect this one to come down to the last couple of minutes. A slight nod to the MORE here.
A win here also pays 3.5 times the wager.
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