NCAAM Best Bets for Thursday, March 3, 2022

Rough night last night as we dropped the games. Crushed again by an overtime that had over 20 points scored, which is just wild to me. Either way, losing is annoying, but I always find a bit of silver lining in the idea that the game was assessed correctly, just the wrong outcome. But, one of the great things about sports is you can rebound quickly and have a good day. Today will be a good day.

Iowa vs. Michigan

This one could be an all-out brawl. Just kidding, had to get a Juwan Howard reference in there. In their last meeting, Iowa lost to Michigan at home by five points. There really isn’t an explanation for losing. They should be considered the better team and probably are the better team overall. Michigan has been very inconsistent lately, alternating wins and losses. The Wolverines have lost five of their last 11 games. Iowa, on the other hand, has had one loss in their last eight games. It was to Michigan. Can they rebound from that? Absolutely, and I think they do. Although their losses typically come on the road, I’m taking the team that has the better passing, rebounding, and defense. I’ll play Iowa with the points at +2.5 -114. Iowa’s moneyline is appealing, but the value is a little too low for me.

California vs. Arizona State

These are both teams that have underperformed. After Remy Martin left the Sun Devils, they haven’t been the same team as they were last year. Both of these teams are allowing more points than they are scoring. Neither plays with a particularly fast pace in the game. The total is very low on this game, and it is possible that it is due to Cal’s last two games being under 118 total. ASU also has had two of their last five games go under tonight’s 126.5 total – one of them landed on 126 exactly. Neither team has all that much to play for as far as the NCAA tournament. I don’t think that defense will be a priority and each should be able to get above their season average of 64 and 65 points, respectively. I’ll play over 126.5.