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#4 Maryland Battles #13 Houston in 1st Round of the NCAA Tournament Tonight

Bookmark and Share by D.S. Williamson

The #4 Maryland Terrapins have been on a fantastic roll since losing 3 out of their first 8 games to start the regular season. Maryland finished up the regular season by going 18 and 5. They pretty much handled every team in the ACC this season including Duke whom they beat 79 to 72 just three games ago as 1 point underdogs.

Maryland takes on a decent team on Friday night, though. The Houston Cougars may have gone 19 and 15 straight-up during the regular season and they may have gone 14 and 16 ATS overall, but make no mistake, the Cougars are no slouches. Houston has gotten hot at the right time. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Cougars have won 4 games in a row straight-up including taking down the Memphis Tigers as 6 point underdogs 66 to 65 and beating UTEP 81 to 73 as 7 point underdogs.

Maryland could have their hands full in tonight’s game although the NCAAB odds don’t reflect that fact.

Houston Cougars +9 -110 O 157 ½ -110
Maryland Terrapins -9 -110 U 157 ½ -110

Game-night: 3/19/2010

Tip-off: 9:40 pm EST

Both teams have some nice trends although the trends regarding Maryland’s performance in the NCAA Tournament aren’t so hot.

  • The Houston Cougars are 4 and 0 ATS in their last 4 games overall.
  • The Houston Cougars are 7 and 16 ATS in their last 23 games following a straight-up victory.
  • The Maryland Terrapins are 9 and 2 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite.
  • The Maryland Terrapins are 1 and 4 ATS in their last 5 NCAA Tournament games.

Maryland sports one of the top players in the country in Grievis Vasquez. Vasquez averages 19.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. He hasn’t scored less than 15 points in 10 straight games and in that 15 point game, against Clemson, Vasquez dished out 13 assists.

Vasquez is just a nightmare for teams to defend because not only does he see the floor exceptionally well, but he can make his own shot and literally control the pace of a game since he plays the point. Even though Houston is hot, they have never faced a player quite like Vasquez.

There’s no way that the Cougars are going to be able to handle the Caracas born guard. The consensus right now is that Houston will cover the spread. 52% of sports betting fans believe that, but Vasquez is ultra-special. He won’t let this team get close to losing to the Houston Cougars.

9 points are a lot of points to give up in the 1 st Round of the NCAA Tournament, but Maryland has been playing well and there just isn’t a player from Houston, or a defense for that matter, that will be able to handle Greivis Vasquez.

Vasquez and the Terps should dominate from the opening tip-off no matter what their recent NCAA Tournament history says.

I like Maryland to cover the spread.

Pick: Maryland -9