TJ Rives:
We had three SEC teams that come through, almost had four with Kentucky winning. That’s Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas. Three Big East teams with UConn and Creighton and Xavier. However, only one Big 10 team, and it’s Michigan State. How about that? Two Big 12 teams, but not Kansas. Texas and Kansas State. So just interesting how all this played out. 11 different conferences, by the way, are represented in the Sweet 16.
So let me set the table a little bit on the show. First of all, thank you for finding us as we’re live here on Monday through Friday, 11:00 AM Eastern time all the way as we rock into the weekend, and we will know the Elite Eight for this weekend and then come off the weekend and be ready to go with the Final Four in Houston for the last couple of weeks of the show. So we’re going to discuss a little bit about what happened this weekend, maybe a little futures, et cetera, but not specifically about the games yet. We’ve got to have some material for later in the week. You’re going to get more from the handicaps later in the week on the games.
Now there will be some discussion of the CBI tournament and some of the games. Not a ton. There is an official play on the CBI games that are coming up. So let’s get into it. First, the records overall on the show. Again, off of the Saturday show, as we came your way, you will see that we’re still right at the 500 Mark. Kyle was one and one. Corby is lamenting the end of the Gonzaga game because that was an official play. Well, first of all, Corby Craig, your record’s still good. You had it covered only because TCU chose to foul in the final second of a four-point game. You get the two free throws, and then as bizarre a bad beat as you’re going to see, where TCU rolls the ball in all the way just past mid-court and heaves won in for three and the ultimate backdoor cover.
So I feel for you, but I don’t know that you should have been covering anyway. TCU probably should have just let the game run out with a four-point game with a second left. But anyway, you still have your futures play, so we have that to look forward to. Gonzaga’s still alive, Corby.
Corby Craig:
Oh yeah, Gonzaga’s a good two. I feel pretty good about that spot. UCLA they’ll be a dog against, but UConn versus Arkansas, I think Gonzaga are probably a favorite in either of those games. I like them either way. So UCLA is the first step. We’ll see. That’s going to be a really good game.
TJ Rives:
Just what we thought. Matt Joseph’s on the South bracket that has San Diego State, Creighton and Princeton still alive and on the East bracket that still has Florida Atlantic in the Sweet 16 along with Kansas State and Michigan. So it’s what we all thought when we were filling out our brackets. Matt, one more time.
Matt Josephs:
Of course. Well, I think some people had the winner of that Memphis-Florida Atlanta game beating Purdue. Of course, nobody expected Purdue not to be there, but I figured the winner of that game would be a Sweet 16 team. You just had to pick the right team. And by the way, just to show, while I am a Gonzaga fan, I do have UCLA as my champion in my bracket, so I do lean to the Bruins in that game. Unfortunately, obviously I hope the Zags win, but I think the Bruins are a better team right now.
TJ Rives:
All right, again, you don’t have the blue bloods like Duke beating Kansas. Surprised by Arkansas. Even with a double-digit lead the second half, couldn’t hold onto it. Bill Self didn’t coach the two games, didn’t coach at all in the Big 12 tournament or the two games in Des Moines. And they end up coming up short against Arkansas, so they’re out. Kentucky’s out as a blue blood. At least you get Gonzaga-UCLA as a western matchup in Las Vegas, and you still have obviously the Alabama storyline, a team like Michigan that everybody can identify with, a UConn out of the Big East that most know. So let’s see how it all shakes out as we continue to talk about the second round recap.
Alejandro, if you would, put the Midwest bracket up here, I was just making mention of the Midwest, and let’s take a look at Miami beating Indiana last night. Impressive for the hurricanes. Underdogs did well on Sunday, in particular. Miami was one of those short underdogs beating Indiana. So now it is Miami and Houston, as you see the middle of the screen there in the Sweet 16. Xavier and Texas, have we not talked enough about the Texas Longhorns? Because they got it done head-to-head with Penn State. They’re in the Sweet 16. Rodney Terry has still not been given the job as the interim coach here, which is a bit interesting. What is Texas waiting on with that, guys? Any quick thought just on the Midwest bracket, just to touch on it real quick? Anything from either of you? Corby, anything?
Corby Craig:
Xavier looked really good verse Pitt, but is that a testament to Xavier being good or Pitt just being miserable? And I think Pitt was probably overrated off the jump. They beat an Iowa State team. We know how I feel about it. So Xavier is one to be interested in. Keep an eye on Sean Miller. I hope he does well. But other than that, this Texas team is good. They beat Colgate and Penn State, so I’m not jumping on any ships yet. I think Xavier plays a good game against Texas. Houston-Miami will be interesting. Two completely different styles, but Miami has the guards to keep up with Houston, so that’ll be a really good game.
TJ Rives:
And Matt Josephs, Jim Larranaga was the ultimate Mid-Major guy taking George Mason to the Final Four and also had them in the NCAA tournament and won a game another year after that Final Four year. Now he’s at an ACC school but not an ACC basketball power. But suddenly the Miami athletic program is a basketball school because he’s got them in the Sweet 16 for the third time in his tenure, looking to go back to the Elite Eight for a second time. Just say something about Jim Larranaga and Miami?
Matt Josephs:
Well, let’s be honest, they bought and paid for that back court. The guys are bought and paid. It’s great and this is what college basketball’s going to become, but to act like that, obviously they made the run last year. But these guys were going to leave potentially, or they weren’t even going to come at all until they got the million dollar payment there. So that’s good. I’ll be very interested to see because, as Corby just said, Miami can’t rebound and they have no size, and all Houston does is rebound. So Miami’s guards better shoot really well in this game, or else this one could be a blowout.
TJ Rives:
And the bought and paid for thing, again, you’re referring to NIL, and there’s plenty of other programs that went and got players and have them involved with NIL. Drew Timme, go back to your Gonzaga and point to your pennant, Drew Timme talked about how he was going to make as much money probably off of NIL, if he’d had gone to the NBA and not been picked in the first round. So he came back to Gonzaga for another year, and that’s one of the reasons why Gonzaga, probably the biggest reason that they are still where they are with the way that he’s playing. So fascinating on that.
And one more, Alejandro, before we get to the games. And again, peeps, get some live questions going. We’ll get some Q&A. Again, the handicappers are not going to be making plays today on the Sweet 16 games. That is for later in the week. You see on our rundown, we’ll go over real quick some of the CBI games. If you have interest, get a question or answer ready as we’re live here on the show. Alejandro, if you would, put the South bracket back up once again here, or it’s the first time we’re putting it up, but the South bracket once again under discussion, where Alabama plays San Diego State.
Guys, I was in Orlando both the Thursday and the Saturday wins for San Diego State. They just suffocated Furman, Orlando about an hour from where I am. I was able to get over there, get in the arena. They’re imposing physically. We see that right in the middle of the screen, that that’s Alabama-San Diego State now and what we make of that matchup. And then, again, Creighton and Princeton. Princeton is a 15 seed. It is the third year in a row we’ve got a 15 seed in the Sweet 16. Creighton very impressive at the foul line last night, guys. 22 of 22 at the free throw line, matching a tournament record for a minimum of 10 attempts. 22 of 22 as they beat Baylor. Any thoughts here? Matt Josephs, a thought on the San Diego State-Alabama matchup, at least from San Diego State’s style of play and their defense?
Matt Josephs:
Well obviously, their defense is going to have to keep them in it, and Alabama plays very good defense. Problem is the Alabama offense is a lot better than the San Diego State offense. And on the other side, look, once again I feel like there’s three rules when it comes to this stuff, TJ. It’s one bet against Arizona because every year Arizona’s really good, and they can’t go anywhere no matter who their head coach is. B, bet against the Mountain West except for San Diego State. And 3, bet on Michigan State, it feels like. But look, Princeton’s really done well. Creighton’s got a great starting five, but they’ve got no bench. Good for them that they get all this rest time now and they get to prepare for a Princeton team that’s shooting a lot of threes, which by the way, guys, Princeton did what Utah State should have done. It should have been Utah State-Princeton. Utah State just couldn’t hit a three, and Princeton hit a ton of threes against Missouri.
TJ Rives:
They’ve got Langborg, the outside shooter. They out-rebounded Missouri big time, Corby Craig. So Princeton’s got some guys. They can play. They are the first Ivy League team to make the Sweet 16 since Cornell in 2010. There has only recently been, in the last 45 years, one Ivy League team to get to the Elite Eight. That was Penn in 1979. I know Corby was not. I’m not sure if Corby or Matt was on the planet in 1979. Matt Josephs may confirm that. But that’s the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson Final Four. Penn got to that Elite Eight that year. That’s the last time an Ivy League team won a Sweet 16 game and got in. So we’ll see what happens with Princeton there. Middle of the screen at the bottom, Princeton and Creighton is the second game in Louisville, Kentucky in the South bracket that is coming for Friday night.
All right, guys, so some good discussion off the weekend and some of the results and some of the teams that are there. Again, two one seeds remain. Two two seeds remain. We lost two number one seeds, two number two seeds on the first weekend of the tournament. It’s been that kind of crazy year. All right, so let’s get into a little bit of discussion and some handicapping quickly on the CBI games tonight for those that are interested, and I see we’ve got some live audience. Hit the like button for us. Get a question or answer ready. Again, the guys are not going to go on the record handicapping Sweet 16 games early in the week. But let’s talk first about Indiana State and Eastern Kentucky and anybody that might have something on this one. Again, CBI tournament, one notch below the NIT. Indiana State is favored by seven here in this situation as the road team. Total 151-and-a-half. Mid-Major Matt, anything on this to begin the discussion? Any thoughts?
Matt Josephs:
Well obviously, it’s a noon game, and Eastern Kentucky is coming off of an overtime game yesterday in which they outscored Cleveland State 17 to one in overtime, which is very good because Eastern Kentucky’s defense is good. It’s not great, but to outscore somebody in five minutes 17 to one’s pretty good. So obviously there’s some people probably worried about that. Although it was only a 76-possession game in overtime, and it’s a quick turnaround because this is the first game. It’s in Daytona Beach. Remember all these games are in Daytona Beach, so there’s not going to be much of a crowd here, but I find it fascinating. The thing has fallen five-and-a-half points in terms of the total. I would have liked the over, and I may still like the over because Indiana State wants to run. They’ve got a really good offense. Eastern Kentucky wants to run. They don’t shoot the three very well, but they do shoot a lot of them. So I would have said the over here, but I want to know what everybody knows about this over that they’re all NCAAB betting the under right now.
TJ Rives:
All right. And again, thank you for the clarification because again, I pay very little attention to the NIT or the CBI, so I rely on you guys. Neutral floor, Corby, for this. This game coming up at noon. Any thoughts on Indiana State-Kentucky, including the total real quick?
Corby Craig:
Yeah, lean towards the over. I’m not really sure why it’s falling. Maybe just because the CBI overall has been plummeting. The unders are going crazy in the CBI. Also, this being such an early game, I get the idea of wanting to back an under here, but I was pretty off on this number. I think I’m at almost 155, so 149 at this point. It is falling well away from my number, which is interesting to note. Indiana State has been pretty fast all year, and Eastern Kentucky, since I can remember basketball, has wanted to play games in the 150s. So it makes sense from a scheme perspective, but the drop has to be worth noting, at least.
TJ Rives:
Some metrics being factored in here on a Monday, Corby’s line. All right, so let’s continue on the discussion. No official play there. The next game that’s up in Daytona in the CBI, and we see you making some comments about the CBI tournament here. We see those comments coming. So the next game is Southern Utah and Rice, that one later on Monday afternoon. So again, you degenerate peeps, if you’re looking to wager, you’ve got to do it quickly, this afternoon. On the neutral floor, Southern Southern Utah favored by six-and-a-half, and the total is 159. Corby, I’m right back to you. That’s a high total. Any thought on that real quick?
Corby Craig:
If you want to bet unders, be on your computer at open because these are just falling off the map. This is 160-and-a-half at FanDuel. I would assume that it’s fallen, what, a point-and-a-half at this point since it opened. So if you want the unders, be there at open, and if you want overs, wait for some steam going against these CBI totals, because it seems like every single one is dropping.
TJ Rives:
Mid-Major Matt, a thought on this one. I’m looking also on the BetUS line. That total is 159-and-a-half on the BetUS line. Any thoughts, total side or anything, on Southern Utah and Rice?
Matt Josephs:
This is another one that should see a lot of points. Southern Utah’s got a really good offense. They’re top 20 in pace. They shoot some threes. They’re pretty good at that. And then Rice, I feel like all they do is shoot threes. And what Southern Utah’s defense is weakest at is defending the three. But once again, this is another high total, and it’s also gone down four points in some places from the open. So I don’t necessarily get it. Maybe bet live the over here in this situation, but I find it very interesting that all these totals with some really high scoring teams. I know it’s a neutral court. I know it’s an early game, but it’s not like these teams couldn’t score a bunch of points anyway.
TJ Rives:
All right, good enough. We’re going to continue with the theme here of all these different teams that have won a game already in the CBI. Again, neutral floor. Daytona Beach, Florida, it is spring break after all. Did some of the fans from some of the schools make their way to Daytona Beach for spring break? Who knows? The third game of the four on the slate is San Jose State and Radford. Let’s take a look at that here just on the show real quick. San Jose State has made a six-and-a-half point neutral floor favorite, much lower total at 126-and-a-half. Matt, San Jose State had a great finish to the season, to the regular season in the Mountain West, and they also won a Mountain West Tournament game head-to-head against Nevada. All right, now they’re all the way across the country in Daytona Beach. Any thoughts on this real quick?
Matt Josephs:
So I’m going to take a shot with the first half for San Jose State. They’ve had the day off, which I don’t know how much of a difference that’s actually going to make. But Radford’s coming off the overtime game yesterday, so maybe there’s a little bit of tired there. But you could have made a case that San Jose State could have made the NIT. They destroyed Southern Indiana, and this is a team that’s got a lot of seniors, and they want to care, and they want to be there. And so give me a shot on San Jose State in the first half. It’s really only a play if you want to absolutely play something today. You can easily pass on this stuff, look at some futures, look at the Sweet 16 and things like that. But for the show I will give out the San Jose State first half here. Hope they start fast against Radford.
TJ Rives:
All right, again, on the neutral floor, I did see the Radford team. They lost the semi-final of the Big South tournament in Charlotte a couple of weekends ago, but they had a good season. They had a 21 season. Corby, any thought on this neutral floor game in the CBI tournament, the third game of the day?
Corby Craig:
Yeah, another one that’s dropped three points from the total. It’s 125 now. If I can get a 125 on this show, I would take 125 official for our little best bet.
TJ Rives:
Good news for you. Good news for you. The BetUS line has it at 125 at the moment. I’m just looking live just to give you the update on Radford and San Jose State. For what it’s worth, it’s there at 125.
Corby Craig:
So if we can lock in 125, that’s cool with me, but it just fell as we started the show. So if not, no big deal. 125 is a good number. The issue here is Radford is a team … Yesterday I was on the exact opposite game. As Matt alluded to, it went to overtime. I had under in the [inaudible 00:18:31] game directly at 128. It landed 128, but it had to go to overtime. So I’m not prone to the idea that this is a over team for Radford, so my number’s spitting out an under, and then the very next day, same team on over. I feel really good at that. Just the discrepancy and my ability to be on the last game seems well. So a Radford team that is efficient but can’t play too much defense. San Jose State team who’s very competent and I think probably gets this game done fairly easy. So Matt’s first half, but on a flat 125, I would take that number.
TJ Rives:
All right, interesting. So what are we going to raise? I’ll raise the bottle of water on the over, on the total of 125 there on that. So Matt Joseph’s official play that we’ll lock in, you’ll see that graphically on the screen, is San Jose State in this game. He’ll lay three-and-a-half on the first half line on the neutral floor with Radford. Again, we’re going to talk about one more CBI game briefly here. Then we’ll get to some Q&A in a couple of moments. Live on Monday. A reminder, hit the like button. Make sure that you hit subscribe.
Matt, you were not here. Corby was with us on Saturday. We had a live audience record, as you would suspect. We had thousands and thousands and thousands of you that saw us, so thank you for that. We’re going to be here at 11:00 AM Eastern Time live. And even if you’re seeing us later on, if you want to interact, if you want to participate, 11:00 AM Eastern Time. Monday of this week through Friday of this week, we are right here on the BetUS College Basketball show. One more game to go in the CBI tournament just for discussion, and that is Charlotte and Milwaukee as this matchup will take place also in Daytona Beach. Again, Charlotte is the neutral floor favorite by six. It’s interesting that most of the lines are five-and-a-half or six on the neutral floor, including the BetUS line. Total 139-and-a-half. Corby Craig, any thought on the total Milwaukee Panthers-Charlotte 49ers neutral floor?
Corby Craig:
Yeah, Charlotte’s been sped up. Towards the end of the year, they got sped up. This is a slow team, in general, but I worry about the total here because Milwaukee wants to play at the fastest pace possible. So two completely different types of ideas. I think Charlotte basically dominates this game. So we lean towards Charlotte, maybe Charlotte first half. For a total, I’m not sure. It’s two completely different schemes. I imagine Charlotte’s able to push their own and this stays in the 130s, but 139 seems like a really good number for it, if that doesn’t happen.
TJ Rives:
All right, Matt Josephs, any thought here on this fourth game of four, Charlotte and Milwaukee?
Matt Josephs:
I don’t have as many thoughts about this game, but we really do need to bring this up again, and we talked about it earlier. TJ and Corby and I are trying to dissuade the person in the chat. There’s a person in the chat who’s like, “Well, I’m going to go, and I’m going to tease all the totals down six more points and bet the overs.” And we’ve talked about it. If you want to tease spreads, okay. Teasing totals is just stupid. And it may end up, and he may come back and say, Oh, I won, and you guys are wrong, and you’re idiots,” and everything. But just long-term, that’s just not the way to go, don’t you think, Corby?
Corby Craig:
There we go. I had my mic muted. So who knows about long-term? But yeah, I would agree. It all comes down to worth of a point. So you wouldn’t tease a total ever because you’re talking about, what, four, five, six points into a game that’s projected to score 142, 143-some points. You really don’t tease anything, but if you’re going to tease sides like in the NFL, you can skip from a seven to a one. Those in-between points are weighted and worth much more than a 138 to a 142 in college basketball. So it’s just the cost analysis of, is a point worth it in that case? And basically always it’s not.
TJ Rives:
It’s a good point because when we do the football stuff all the time, the handicappers, and I know this is what you’re saying, Corby, they will talk about key numbers because you can only, in the NFL, score generally three or six with a field goal or the touchdown. So three-point margins and six-point margins are critical for that reason. Well, you can score three, two, or one obviously in basketball, and you score much more frequently than you do in football. So I’m with you. Just I have public education math. Simple public education math, you’ve got a lot more variance with being able to have a three-point shot or a two-point shot or a one-point free throw make the difference on what it is as opposed to a singular field goal or touchdown, if that is the case. All right.
So there we go with some discussion on Charlotte and Milwaukee to wrap that up, the four CBI games we’re covering. You can’t say that we don’t service at all. We had some basketball games today. You’ve got some discussion on all of those. While we have a few moments left, here are some opportunities to get some Q&A in with the understanding, again, you guys are not going to handicap games at the moment. You might give a lean or a thought here, but you’re not handicapping anything here at the moment. Mark, who is watching us, has a question about Michigan State. He says, “Does MSU have a chance?” I would assume he means futures play national championship. Of course, they have a chance head-to-head in the game with Kansas State, but how much farther can Izzo’s team go? Matt Josephs, a thought on Michigan State and a futures chance to win the whole thing. What would you say? What do you think?
Matt Josephs:
So to win the whole thing, obviously I think they have a decent chance. Because you look at that region, Tennessee, look, I expect Florida Atlantic to give them a shot, but I think Tennessee’s going to win that game. And if somehow Michigan State beats Kansas State, I think they can go and they could beat Tennessee too. So instead, why not just go for the plus 325 for Michigan State to win the region? And then they win that region. And if you really want them to win the championship, take some of that money that you’ve already made as a profit and put it towards the championship because you’ll still get pretty good odds on Michigan State if they’re in the Final Four to win the whole thing.
TJ Rives:
Corby Craig, thought on Michigan State as a future play to not just be a Final Four team, but to cut the nets down. They got to be, I’m looking on the BetUS line for the number, but they’ve got to be at least 15 to one or more still to win the national title, I would think as a seven seed. I’ll look and double check on that.
Corby Craig:
As a mechanical parlay, you can probably get close to 50 and one, I would assume, as Matt’s talking about. But Michigan State looks good. It’s always fun to back a coach like Izzo. I think the interesting thing for me was the whole, is Shaka Smart as good of a coach as we think debate, seeing that he’s left so early in so many rounds with some pretty good teams. So that game and the Michigan State game was pretty interesting. I thought Marquette was the side, if anything, the steam towards the end of the game. Agreed, it opened, what, two-and-a-half and closed three-and-a-half. So people were betting into Marquette that just did not look good in that game. So shout out, Michigan State, but at what point has it become a concern that Shaka just cannot get anything done?
TJ Rives:
All right, good stuff there back and forth again. Shaka Smart did win the opening round game with Vermont, but he’s now one and seven in his last eight NCAA tournament games, one and seven straight up at Virginia Commonwealth, Texas and now at Marquette, for what it’s worth. Michael is saying in the live chat, “Am I wrong to love the Zags in a revenge spot?” He means specifically against UCLA as these teams have battled in the past in the NCAA tournament. All right, Matt Josephs, a thought on Gonzaga not only wanting revenge here, but also trying to make their way into the Final Four in Houston. They were in the Final Four in 2017 in Arizona. But any thoughts on the Zags?
Matt Josephs:
As we talked about before the tournament, the West is the toughest bracket of them all. Because let’s say, all right, Gonzaga goes and beat to UCLA, then they’re staring at UConn , who was the best team in college basketball for a brief stretch, or Arkansas who many thought was the best team in college basketball before this season even began. So it’s a tough bracket. I almost think there’s some value potentially in Arkansas at plus 550 to win the region. Now granted, look, they have to do the same two things, beat UConn and beat either UCLA or Gonzaga. But remember, before the season when they put that roster together, we all thought Arkansas had a really good shot to win the championship. I have a future on Arkansas to win the championship from way back then. So I would love to see the Zags come out of this bracket, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t lose one of those two games because it’s just this is the best four teams remaining almost.
TJ Rives:
Corby Craig, a thought on Gonzaga. Obviously, you’re holding a futures ticket. You and Kyle were talking about that on the show on Saturday. So you’re partial to yes, let them win everything they can win, right?
Corby Craig:
Yeah, we talked about it on the show right as we got brackets. Gonzaga has, by far, the toughest route if you just compare futures for the possible matchups they’re going to get. This UCLA matchup is not good, not favorable to the Zags, by any means. I think they opened at one-and-a-half point dogs. So I do think they take an Arkansas or a UConn team, but UCLA I worry about.
TJ Rives:
All right, Alejandro, I don’t know if you have this comment, but I see Jacob in the live chat making mention of Miami being 50 to one. I’m still looking for the futures odds on BetUS. Miami is a 50-to-one still to win. I don’t know if he’s talking about 50-to-one before the tournament began or not, on the pre-tournament odds or not. But the Hurricanes clearly, as you just mentioned, Matt, they’re going to have their work cut out for them with Houston to even get to the Elite Eight, much less from here to win three more games after that. Matt Josephs, a thought on, even at a gaudy number, that’s almost, is sucker bet too strong? Seemingly, it’s almost a trap there.
Matt Josephs:
No, it’s not a sucker bet. It’s just they literally got placed into a region where look, if they get past Houston, then you get Texas or Xavier, two tall teams. Xavier will keep up with Miami scoring wise, and Texas in theory after playing against Xavier won’t be phased by a Miami team that scores pretty well themselves. So they just got put into a really bad region in terms of Miami needs to play these games where they can run up and down and have everything go their way. Houston’s not going to let them run. Houston’s not going to let them get a rebound. And then if they get past that, Texas is not going to let them get a rebound or do any of that stuff. So Miami got placed into a bad region for the way they want to play.
TJ Rives:
Corby Craig, any thought on the Miami Hurricane’s chances not just to beat Houston, but to go beyond where they’ve gone in their history, which is get to a Final Four and maybe do damage there?
Corby Craig:
I don’t know about all that. They’ve been playing towards their peak. They struggled versus a Drake team who has a really good defense. I’m curious to see what Houston’s defense does to this team. So Houston and then Texas, they did draw a pretty rough matchup. Overall, that whole side of the bracket, I think Alabama’s side of the bracket seems significantly easier, and so any team in that situation. I feel good about Alabama’s chances versus basically everybody on that side to get to the championship at decent odds. And then it’s just, what team from the right side of the bracket has to face up with an Alabama team that’s probably significantly more rested? So an interesting setup for Miami. I wish they would have been in the bottom left of the bracket. That would have been much more interesting.
TJ Rives:
All right, good stuff here out of the chat. By the way, an interesting note that out of the South and East brackets, up and down on the left side of the bracket, if we show the big board, Alejandro, you can show the big board here so they don’t just have to visualize it. This is the field of 68 now down to 16. Look at the left side of the bracket. You can’t read the teams as maybe clearly, but those teams are Alabama, San Diego State, Creighton, Princeton, Florida Atlantic, Tennessee, Kansas State and Michigan State. Are you ready for this? There are seven teams out of those eight that have either never made the Final Four ever, or in the case of Princeton and Kansas State, they last made the Final Four in the 1960s. None of us were here for that. I daresay almost nobody watching the show was here for that.
So Princeton and Kansas State made it in the ’60s, but out of Alabama, San Diego State, Creighton, Florida Atlantic, they have never made the Final Four. Michigan State is the only team out of those eight that has made the Final Four in this century, and they’ve done it numerous times. How about that? Talk about how wide open and what kind of parity there is right now in college basketball. There is no Final Four pedigree from any of the other seven teams, at least recently, that are in the South and the East bracket. So let’s see how it all plays out a little bit later on in the week.
All right, so some good stuff here for a Monday. Let’s circle back to the one best bet that we have. If you’re joining us late on the show, as we come back on screen here, the best bet, actually we’ll go to the best bet right now. The best bet belongs to Mid-Major Matt. It’s the CBI game with San Jose State and Radford. He will take the Spartans on the neutral floor in Daytona Beach, laying a three-and-a-half point number for the first half total. He’s interested in the first half play on San Jose State. That’s the only official play on the show. With that, final thoughts here, guys. Mid-Major Matt, a final thought for a Monday off the weekend, getting ready for the Sweet 16 later in the week.
Matt Josephs:
I don’t know about you guys. I’m going to enjoy just having a normal night tonight. The couch gets a little break after all the time spent Saturday and Sunday. I’m excited to just watch normal TV outside of college basketball tonight.
TJ Rives:
I can echo from my house that the TVs plural have been on basketball with wife and almost 15-year-old twins. And if I heard it once, I heard it at least two or three times in the last four days, “There’s another game on?” “Yes, there’s another game on and another game and another.” So tonight, it’s not another game and another game. Corby Craig, final thought here for a Monday.
Corby Craig:
We get a couple of days break. Tuesday there’s only two games, so it should be a nice little breather to the next weekend of some intense college basketball. So the game that I’m most curious and we’ll discuss on later shows is this Tennessee matchup. I think Tennessee needs some praise after that Duke win, and interesting to see where they get aligned towards the end of the week.
TJ Rives:
I was right there on Saturday courtside for that game with Duke, and they got Roach in foul trouble, and they carved up the Duke zone when they were trying to protect him. Made their three-point shots. Where has that shooting been for Tennessee the last couple of months? And now a matchup with Florida Atlantic that we’ll be talking about later on in the week. Guys, great stuff. Good to be back with you. Corby Craig, Matt Josephs, have a good rest of your Monday. Thank you. Thank you, Alejandro, and everybody at BetUS. We thank all of you for watching as well. Hit the like button on your way out. Make sure you’re subscribed. Don’t forget to check out our sportsbook website. We’re back Tuesday at 11:00 AM. Plenty of insight and diagnosis of the Sweet 16 as the week goes on here on the BetUS College Basketball Show.
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