March Madness Betting News – Inside Look at the Glove’s Picks

With the start of the 2010 NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament less than 24 hours away, this inside look at Gary ‘The Glove’ Payton’s college basketball picks on some interesting upcoming first-round games will give college basketball betting fanatics another excellent opportunity to break the bank with some smart March Madness picks.

With tip-off times just hours away let’s get down to business.

Georgia Tech +1.5
Oklahoma State

Analysis: The Glove likes the athletic Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets here and I agree with the sure-fire NBA Hall of Famer. Georgia Tech has one of my favorite coaches in the game in Paul Hewitt and has been playing better basketball than the Cowboys lately in my opinion. The Cowboys were routed by Kansas State in their Big 12 semifinal matchup while Georgia Tech reached the ACC Finals before bowing out to Duke 65-61.

Richmond
St. Mary’s +2

Analysis: Payton likes the St. Mary’s-California Gaels here – and as much as it breaks my heart to go against them, I‘ve got to agree with GP and go against the Richmond Spiders here. St. Mary’s is a bit more explosive offensively than the Spiders and just about the Spiders’ equal defensively.

Gonzaga +1.5
Florida State

Analysis: GP likes the Florida State Seminoles in this matchup, but I disagree this time mostly because the Gonzaga Bulldogs are the smarter and more mature ballclub in this contest. Yes, the Seminoles are bigger, taller and faster. Unfortunately, they are also more prone to turnovers and losing focus than their counterparts. I like the Bulldogs here.

Murray State +3
Vanderbilt

Analysis: This was probably my toughest pick on the board with Murray State winning a whopping 30 games and playing excellent basketball coming into this contest and the Commodores coming off a pitiful showing in its 62-52 SEC tourney loss to Mississippi State. However, I’m going to disagree with Gary Payton simply because I believe Vanderbilt is going to play at a high level following their last game and genuinely believe any team that can stay within two points of Kentucky like the Commodores did in their 58-56 home loss to the Wildcats on Feb. 20, should be able to knock off a smaller program like Murray State with relative ease.

BYU
Florida +5

Analysis: I’ll admit, this was another tough call, but in the end, I agree with GP. Florida may not be close to the Cougars in the mental department, but their athleticism and length will bother BYU’s shooters just like they struggled against UNLV in their last contest.

Cornell
Temple -3.5

Analysis: I’ll get right to the point with this one because it’s such an easy call. The Glove likes Cornell to upset the Temple Owls in this contest but he apparently doesn’t know much about Fran Dunphy or this Owls team, whose defense would make legendary head coach John Chaney blush. Cornell will bow under the weight of Temple’s ‘lockdown’ defense and inside play of Lavoy Allen.