Midwest Bracket Betting Predictions - #3 Georgetown vs. #14 Ohio
by Tim Furious
The Georgetown Hoyas were one of the many marquee teams lost by the wayside during the regular March Madness betting when they face off against the Ohio Bobcats who won the MAC Conference Championship.
The Bobcats romped through the litter of MAC teams in their conference tournament, winning each game by an average of +11.6 points. None of those teams were the caliber of Georgetown, but the fact that Ohio is 6-0 ATS in their past 6 games means that they’ve had a decent effort against the oddsmakers. What should make the Georgetown bettors even more nervous is that Ohio is 8-5 ATS in the 13 games they’ve been pegged as underdogs this season.
Armon Bassett leads this team as a 6-foot-2, junior guard who has averaged 16.9 points per game and blew up in the tournament averaging 30.3 points per game. He’s flanked by a freshman point man named D.J. Cooper, who disappeared under the heat of tournament play but exploded in the title game with 23-points.
Anytime an underdog is led by a pair of hot-handed guards, that means major trouble for a team like Georgetown which has been notorious for faltering this season in pressure situations.
#14 Ohio Bobcats (21-14) vs. #3 Georgetown Hoyas (23-10)
Thursday, March 18th --- Dunkin Donuts Center --- 7:25pm EST
NCAAB Betting Line: Georgetown -13.5 (138)
The Hoyas capped the season with a 5-0 ATS streak, but they dropped to 4-1 SU by losing in the Big East title game to West Virginia 58-60. This has been the most worrisome marquee team not named Texas this year. Georgetown opened up the season looking strong, but then faded as the season wore on.
While Georgetown will likely get a lot of favorable play as a public team in the first round, Ohio is the bet on Thursday night. The last time Georgetown faced a spread like this was when they were 13-point favorites against South Florida, which was a spread bet that they lost.
I hate inconsistent teams in March Madness. Had they won the Big East, I would have more faith in the Hoyas but considering that they’re inches away from reverting back to the betting skunk that they were at the tail end of the season. I might change my opinion if they clear this spread, but for now I’m standing against Georgetown.
