Are Washington and Cornell desirable dogs?

The East Regional is a marriage of four unlikely teams. Here we find something new (Cornell), something old (Bob Huggins having team in the tournament), something borrowed (Washington playing like they are a top Sweet 16 program or better after underachieving a good portion of the season) and something blue (lots of Kentucky blue). These four converge in upstate New York not willing to be a bridesmaid and the underdogs earning a lot of love.

These Huskies are no dogs

For Washington (26-9, 16-18 ATS) fans, their lost weekend in Los Angeles (losing to both UCLA and USC) is a distant memory. Those Jan. 21 and 23 contests were the last time the Huskies played bad basketball. Whatever happened to this team after losing to the Trojans by 26 points, it has worked. Washington has won 14 of 16, including nine in a row and is 11-4 ATS. Maybe it was coach Lorenzo Romar steady influence, sending the same message and getting his players to believe.

One player that never lost faith was senior Quincy Pondexter. “When I kept saying in January, 'Don't panic,' it was for a reason," Pondexter said. "We still had a lot of time to come together and make a push like we are now."

Washington is now 6-1 ATS in NCAA Tournament appearances and believes they can achieve greatness. "If we do what we're supposed to do, we got a chance to do something even more special," coach Romar said. "You never want to look too far ahead, and we don't…….I don't think anyone is satisfied yet. They like playing basketball, and they want to keep playing."

The Huskies ability to control the pace has been the key with their athletes. Strip away the slowdown tactics of Oregon State and Washington has average 81.3 points per game in the last six other contests. Bookmaker.com has them as four-point underdog with total of 140.5.

West Virginia (29-6, 15-19 ATS) received some sobering news, losing point guard Truck Bryant to broken foot. This was already the Mountaineers weakest position on the floor, which leaves Joe Mazzulla to soldier the load independently. Mazzulla was already playing more minutes than Bryant in recent weeks, however now he has no credible backup to support him. It will be imperative Mazzulla plays well as facilitator to Da'Sean Butler, Kevin Jones and Devin Ebanks and stays under control defensively, as Washington will try to force West Virginia into track meet. The ‘Teers are 14-2 ATS in their last 16 NCAA games.

It would seem picking the total has a direct correlation to spread outcome. Washington is 12-3 OVER having won 12 or more of their last 15 games, winning by 6.4 points per game. West Virginia is 12-4 UNDER when the total is 140 to 149.5 over the last two seasons, being victorious by 7.8 PPG. No.2 seeds are 7-1 SU against 11’s, winning by 6.4 points a contest.

Big Red vs. Big Blue

Kentucky (34-2, 19-15 ATS) is now the odds on favorite to win the whole shebang and is an 8.5-point favorite over Cornell (29-4, 18-10). The Big Red cannot be underestimated, at least to cover the spread. Cornell’s strength is in their ability to play their game. In two tournament trips, they have shot 43.6 percent from three-point land, which is right on target with season average and NCAA best figure of 43.9.

Kentucky is powerful in the paint and will likely be able to slowdown Cornell’s 7’0 center Jeff Foote. Nonetheless, the team most similar to Cornell, at least in terms of style is Mississippi State and the Wildcats needed overtime and fair amount of luck to down the Bulldogs twice.
Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale and Jon Jaque all can drain the long ball and their team is 8-2 ATS away from home after three or more consecutive wins this season.

Kentucky is going to have to make three-point shots, as Cornell will stay in their zone defense. The Wildcats do have definite edge is size and quickness and when pushed on the road, they have held opposing teams to 27.9 percent behind the arc. Expect coach John Calipari to use his big guys to get Foote into foul trouble, making it easier to focus on guarding the perimeter. Kentucky has covered their last five tournament appearances and No.1 seeds vs. 12’s are perfect 16-0 SU, winning by 14.6 PPG.

The question remains will this youthful ‘Cats team stay focused taking on an Ivy League squad, despite their ability? Over the years, Kentucky is 2-17 ATS after consecutive blowout wins by 20 points or more.

NCAA Tournament Wagering Summation

Whew, what a four days of college basketball. Similar to the Food Network’s Man vs. Food, in this case it was Man vs. Brackets and the Brackets won with a 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th seed all in the Sweet 16. If the last couple of tournaments have been a little chalky, things evened out over time the last four days.

CBS might have to do an extended remake of Jennifer Hudson’s new version of “One shining moment” for this tournament with all the buzzer beaters and tight contests. A very lucky 13 of the 33 games played were decided by four points or less. Only eight of the seeds listed four or higher made it to their respective regions. Talk about survive and advance!

While this is all exciting stuff, how did sports bettors do? Like always, results are mixed depending on the individual, however if underdogs were one’s preference, you likely did fairly well. If favorites were played more frequently, might be time to check with your sports books reload bonus program.

Favorites are 31-18 SU for the entire tournament, with 23-26 ATS record. The first round was especially tough on them with 13-20 ATS mark. They did come back over the weekend with 10-6 ATS record.

As is the case each year, the favorite isn’t always the higher seed. To date those teams with the lower numbers assigned them by the tournament committee are 33-15 and 23-25 ATS.
Further breaking down the side action, interesting developments occurred. Favorites that were favored by 7.5 or more moved forward with 14-1 record, with the shocking loss of the top overall team Kansas being the lone exception. Backing these clubs was a losing proposition however with a 7-8 spread record.

Speaking of losing, that’s exactly what short favorites have done thru two rounds. Teams favored by four points or less were 9-14 SU and dastardly 8-15 ATS. This was particularly true in the first round with only five victories and 4-11 ATS record.

The Big East was supposed to be the best conference this season and was thought to be more than tested for this event after facing each other all year. Only two teams have made the Sweet 16 and the league is 6-6 and 5-7 ATS to this juncture.

The Big 12 was listed behind the Big East as a power conference and was thought to have no less than three teams playing this next weekend. However, with the Jayhawks vanquished, only Kansas State and Baylor moved on and the conference is 5-7 ATS to date.

The power conference has been the Big Ten with three entrants and 7-2 record (4-5 ATS).

The biggest winner in a manner of speaking in the so-called mid-major, with Butler, St. Mary’s and Northern Iowa all advancing and not coincidently, all three won their conference tournaments. Cornell might be the first Ivy League team in the Sweet 16 in 31 years, but after two blowouts wins as underdogs, this is serious club.

Turning to the total, the Under has been the choice play at 27-22 overall. That was accomplished in the first round with 19-14 Under mark. Games that closed over 140 were 13-11 Under, while contests that went off below 130 points were 7-6 Under.

Get started on your homework early for the next round of games beginning Thursday.

Let's make cash Saturday

Had a ton of Super Bowl work to do this week, which is why I haven’t been able to keep up. Found an absolutely beauty of a CBB system this is 89.7 percent. Have a rock solid perfect trend today in college hoops and red hot Paul Buck has a pair of freebies. Good Luck

What I thought today- A lot of cappers will take Vanderbilt with the points, but honestly I think that is a lazy pick with no real opinion on if it is right or wrong. They hope to be right taking road dog to look smart. The battle of Kansas should be outstanding, but another superb game today is Harvard at Cornell in the Ivy League. These are two awfully good teams and if the Big Red wins, they might pop into the Top 25 next week.

On Twitter at: www.twitter.com/3Dailywinners

Free Basketball System -1) Play Against home underdogs of 3.5 to 9.5 points like Central Florida, who are average 3-point shooting team (32-36.5 percent), against a good 3-point defense (32 percent or less), after two straight games making 37 percent of their shots or worse. In the last 13 years this system sparkles like champagne at 26-3 ATS.

Free Basketball Trend -2) Louisiana Tech is 12-0 ATS versus poor defensive teams with shooting pct. defense of 45 percent or worse the last three seasons.

Free Basketball Pick -3) Paul Buck continues to smoke the odds, 14-3 in the NBA and 11-4 in college hoops. He's got two plays he likes equally- USC and Georgia.

Note- If you prefer to have this sent to you daily instead of having to visit the site, sign up for our FREE mailing list on the right.