NCAA Tournament Betting Odds: Ohio vs Georgetown

Georgetown rolled to the Big East title game, scoring an easy 20-point win over South Florida (holding the Bulls to 20% shooting), beating Syracuse behind 58% shooting of their own, and leveling Marquette, which had been a very capable dog (by a score of 80-57), before the clock struck 12 against West Virginia, which had been the only one of the "Double-Bye" teams in the conference to survive past the first round.

Ohio Bobcats (21-14 SU, 18-12 ATS) vs. Georgetown Hoyas (23-10 SU, 17-12 ATS)

NCAA Tournament @ Providence

Thursday, March 18 - 7:25 PM

NCAA Basketball Betting Odds: GEORGETOWN -13.5

Here are some of the NCAA basketball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• OHIO has won its last five games SU
• OHIO has covered its last six games
• OHIO has played four of its last five games OVER the total
• GEO has covered its last five games
• GEO has won four of its last five games SU
• GEO has played five of its last eight games UNDER the total

You can't deny some of the great component parts that the Hoyas possess. Austin Freeman had come back after sitting out a game following his diabetes diagnosis, and scored 24 points against Cincinnati.

He wasn't on fire in the Big East tourney (13 ppg) but may get a second wind after some rest. Greg Monroe is the highly-touted recruit out of New Orleans who came into his won a little more as a sophomore, increasing his points per game from 12.7 to 16.1 and his rebounds from 6.5 to 9.5, and he can give Georgetown an inside advantage over just about anyone.

Then there is guard Chris Wright, maybe the best player in the bunch, who scored 20 points in the Big East championship game against the Mountaineers but shot only 6-for-18 (and 0-for-5 from the arc).

We are not overly confident in Ohio's ability to command anything in the paint with limited center Kenneth van Kempen, but at least he is a big guy (6'10", 250) who can out a body on Monroe.

And what we DO know is that this Ohio team is playing its best ball of the season right now, rising from the ninth seed in the MAC to register very convincing victories over Ball State, Kent State and Miami of Ohio before beating Akron in overtime in the conference tournament final.

They have a backcourt that should worry the Hoyas a little; Armon Bassett, an Indiana transfer, and freshman DJ Cooper are not great percentage shooters, we grant you, but they have found a way to score and get to the line.

Forward DeVaughn Washington, who shoots 52%, averaged 15 a game in the MAC tourney. Then there is Tommy Freeman (no relation to Austin), who shoots 47% from beyond the arc but went cold over the last three games.

Austin Freeman is 45% accurate from downtown, but has made just two of his last 12, so it might be interesting to see if either Freeman can break loose with something substantial here.

The feeling here is that Ohio is in enough of a groove, and has enough firepower, to keep things competitive against a Georgetown team that might be still feeling a little fatigue after having played four games in four days in New York. Let's take the Bobcats, the 13.5-point underdog for March Madness.

JAY'S PLAY: OHIO +13.5 ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)