Sunday Selections For Elite Eight Games
We aren't in official "what the heck does he know" territory, but college basketball hasn't been the most consistent since the opening two days for me. I've split a lot of days, but Friday was ugly as I picked both losers and now those same teams have matches again today as we get ready to see who else will make the Final Four.
Creighton vs. San Diego State, 2:20 ET
Look, all I can say is that San Diego State was one of my favorite bets to start the tournament. In their first game I thought they would absolutely destroy Charleston. They didn't. They won by six - now that was still a cover, and my bets won - but since that game, I somewhat backed off of them and thought that they wouldn't be good enough to get here. I was clearly wrong. They took care of business against Alabama in what was a bit of a back-and-forth game. Now they need to take on a physical, but beatable, Creighton team. Creighton has had a fairly easy run through the tournament in terms of results. They played Baylor, a strong team with some good talent, and they also played North Carolina State. Their most recent game was against Princeton. While Princeton was a good story, I wasn't a true believer and figured it was going to end sooner rather than later. In this game, the key is once again San Diego State's defense. They are locking up pretty much anyone and they play very well together. I also see them willing to take charges and protect the paint as much as possible. I don't think Creighton is a good enough shooting team to beat the Aztecs. I'm going to take San Diego State to win this game at plus money. Maybe I'll kick myself here but I'll take the defensive team in this matchup.
Miami vs. Texas, 5:05 ET
If you read my college basketball previews and even the ACC Conference Tournament preview, you'd know I have a lot of respect for Miami. I thought they were one of the better teams coming into this year and also into their own tournament. Their problem - to me - is that they are a bit inconsistent. I was watching them play against Houston and saw them get a lot of open threes. Part of that was due to Houston playing poorly, but Miami was also looking in transition to get guys the open shots. If they continue to pass the ball ahead and play together like that they will be hard to beat. Texas continues to be on a roll right now. They took down Xavier on Friday and it was not a very close game. Texas was up by almost 20 in the first half and then just kind of rode out the end of the game winning by 12. Against Miami they will definitely need to limit the turnovers, so that Miami can't get out in transition. But, to me, these teams match up really well. Since I think they are pretty evenly matched in both skill and talent, even style of play, I want to take the points. I'll grab the Hurricanes at +4.
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