Players to Watch in the Dance - Griffin Needs to be Huge
by Mike Rose
NCAA TOURNAMENT BETTING – Players to Watch in the Dance
Sports betting in the NCAA Tournament (BetUS Sportsbook looks at the top five players to watch in this week’s dance and beyond….
Toney Douglas, Florida State (21.3 points per game) Florida State qualified for the dance for the first time since 1998 in large part to the heroics of senior guard Toney Douglas. The FSU court general was truly fantastic in ACC play this season, scoring at least 19 points in eighteen straight games. In that stretch, he’s averaged 23.8 points per game, but will inevitably find the sledding much tougher against a ton of defensive-minded teams in the Boise portion of the bracket. If the Noles have a serious chance of making a deep run into March Madness, Douglas will have to be superb.
Ben Woodside, North Dakota State (22.8 points per game) The Bison qualified for the NCAA Tournament in their first season of eligibility largely due to the 10th leading scorer in the nation. Woodside has averaged at least 16 points per game in each of his four seasons at NDSU, and currently leads the Bison in both points per game (22.8) and assists per game (6.3). He shot 42.7% from the three-point land this season, and could be the equalizer necessary to compete with the defending champs.
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma (22.1 points per game) Many prognosticators gave the Sooners a break when their superstar freshman forward went down with an injury in the Texas game, but losing to Missouri and Oklahoma State with him in the lineup was likely what took the them off of the #1-line. He averages a double-double every single night (14.2 rebounds per game) and is truly one of the dominant forces inside in this tournament. If OU is going to compete for the National Championship, Griffin must be huge.
Kenny Hasbrouck, Siena (14.8 points per game) Hasbrouck may not have alarming stats in relation to some of the other superstars on this list, but he certainly came up big for the Saints in last year’s NCAA Tournament. As a #13 seed, Siena upset #4 Vanderbilt mostly due in large part to Hasbrouck’s 30 points. Though he likely won’t put up gaudy numbers in a first round CBB betting match-up with the defensive-minded Ohio State Buckeyes, a date with #1 Louisville could be just the spotlight the senior needs to make a huge impact on this tournament.
Kenneth Faried, Morehead State (13.5 points per game) Morehead State’s junior forward may not have the most alarming statistics on the offensive end of the court, but Faried is an absolute monster on the boards. Much like Blake Griffin, Faried averaged a double-double every night, and ranks 4th in the nation on the glass with 12.6 rebounds per game. He averaged 17.3 points per game and 14.7 rebounds per game in the OVC Tournament and will need to have huge games for the Eagles to cash sports bettor’s tickets.
