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#10 Georgia Tech Hopes to Sting #7 Oklahoma State in the 1st Round of the NCAA Tournament

Bookmark and Share by D.S. Williamson

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets started out their regular season by going 12 and 3 but then things quickly fell apart. The Jackets ended up losing 9 more games during the season. They ended up going 4 and 6 in their last 10 regular season games.

They did, however, bounce back admirably in the ACC Tournament by winning their first 3 games before succumbing to the Duke Blue Devils 65 to 61 as 8 ½ point underdogs in the ACC Championship. Overall, the Jackets went 16-11-1 ATS. They went 5 and 5 ATS in their last 10 games.

Oklahoma State received a bid for the NCAA Tournament because of their quality win over the Kansas Jayhawks. The Cowboys played credibly down the stretch of the regular season. Including the 85 to 77 victory over the Jayhawks as 6 points underdogs, the Cowboys went 6 and 4 in their last 10 straight-up and 6 and 4 ATS. The truth, though, is that without that sterling victory over Kansas, Oklahoma State probably wouldn’t have made it into the Big Dance.

Let’s take a look at the NCAA Tournament odds for this game.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets +1 ½ -110 O 137 -110
Oklahoma State Cowboys -1 ½ -110 U 137 -110
Game-night: 3/19/2010
Tip-off: 7:15 pm EST

NCAAB Trends point to both Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State doing well against the spread in this game.

  • The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 5 and 0 ATS in their last 5 games versus a Big 12 opponent.
  • The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 11 and 4 ATS in their last 15 games following an ATS victory.
  • The Oklahoma State Cowboys are 34-14-3 ATS in their last 51 games as the favorite.
  • The Oklahoma State Cowboys are 8-2-2 ATS in their last 12 non-conference games.

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The odd makers, by making the Cowboys a 1 ½ point favorite, are reflecting the fact that this game should be very, very tight. There weren’t many blowouts on Day 1 of the NCAA Tournament.

I doubt this is going to be a blowout game, but I feel the need to do a flip-flop on this one. Although I took Georgia Tech on my bracket, I’m not sure about betting them in this game. It was a down year for the ACC in my opinion and nobody is going to be as good as Oklahoma State guard James Anderson, who is 6’6” 210 lbs and averages 23 points a game, on the court tonight.

Tech is going to look to pound the ball inside to Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, there two forwards, so this game comes down to an age old basketball question. Will Tech’s inside game overshadow the Cowboys’ terrific guard?

Possibly which is the reason that 47% of sports gamblers like Georgia Tech and 53% like Oklahoma State. In a toss up game like this, I have to go with the team with the best quality victories. That would be Oklahoma State who not only beat Kansas by 8 points but took down Baylor by 7 recently. Oklahoma State was favored by 2 ½ points in that game.

What it tells me is that the odds makers are very aware of Oklahoma State’s terrific play during the regular season. I’ll let them help me with this one. They made Oklahoma State the favorite for a reason.

I’m going to back Anderson and the Cowboys to knock out Georgia Tech.