March Madness Picks - UC Santa Barbara Gauchos vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
by Mike Rose
BetUS Sportsbook continues with its March Madness picks on Friday night for the #2/#15 battle between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.
The Gauchos won the Big West on the final Saturday of the season by knocking off Long Beach State 69-64.
Ohio State also enters this tournament with a conference title in tote, as one of the three regular season champs of the Big Ten took down the tournament in the postseason.
The winner of this game has a date with the winner of the Georgia Tech/Oklahoma State #7/#10 duel on Sunday night.
#15 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (20-9, 15-11 ATS) vs. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes (27-7, 17-17 ATS)
:
Santa Barbara Gauchos +17
Ohio State Buckeyes -17
Game Total 132
Three point shooting is the great equalizer for mid-majors in March Madness, and the Gauchos have plenty of scorers that can knock shots down from long range. The team shoots 37.9 percent from three-point range.
G Orlando Johnson, F James Nunnally, and G James Powell are all shooting at least 40 percent from out there, and they're the three leading scorers for this team. Johnson paces all scorers at 17.9 points per game, but Nunnally is the more lethal player for the Big West champs.
He averaged 15.0 points and a team high 5.7 rebounds per game, but his 46.5 percent on three point conversion rate could be a real difference maker in this spot.
Ohio State owes all of its success to F Evan Turner this year. The AP Player of the Year averaged 20.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.8 steals per game; all of which were team highs. He is one of four Buckeyes averaging at least 34 minutes played per game.
As a result, the bench doesn't pitch in much for HC Thad Motta. The only relief man that is scoring more than three points per game is G Jeremie Simmons, who is putting up 4.7 points per game.
Defensively, this is a strong squad. The Buckeyes surrender just 61.2 points per game, and are coming off of one of their best performances of the season in that 90-61 Big Ten Tournament slaughter of Minnesota.
If OSU has an Achilles heel, it's at the charity stripe. The Buckeyes are only shooting 68.8 percent as a team from the free throw line.
College Basketball Insider Betting Tip: The Buckeyes are just 2-9 ATS in their L/11 March Madness games as favorites.
It's impossible to back the Buckeyes and lay this many points. No, we're probably not talking about the same type of situation that Villanova was in against Robert Morris, but Ohio State has played a ton of basketball of late, playing tough games last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to win the Big Ten Tournament.
The Gauchos are a young squad with a ton of potential. This game is beyond them, but they'll take advantage of the lack of depth on the OSU bench to stick in front of the number in this one.
Make UC Santa Barbara your March Madness picks for this clash on Friday night.
