March Madness Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous NCAA thoughts and observations.

You know what is sad? I’m taking Butler tonight (+10.5 points) and I couldn’t even tell you what state the college is in. I do know that they have beaten some pretty good teams this year (Notre Dame, Indiana, Maryland, Old Dominion to name a few) and that they are a very good free throw hitting team (better than 75%). I’m hoping that will be enough to stay close to Florida… FWIW – Butler is also 6-0 this season as an underdog against the spread and they beat Tennessee who happens to be one of the teams that beat Florida this year… I’m taking UNLV in a coin flip. Both teams shoot free throws at a better than 71% clip and 3 points in a tight game could be a lot. Of all the games tonight – this is the one where the underdog can win outright… FWIW – Oregon beat Lehigh by 12 points but so did Holy Cross… USC is an under the radar type team. For the season they have shot free throws and three-pointers better than North Carolina (just barely in both categories). The Trojans beat Texas pretty handily and I doubt that the line would be up to 8 points if it was UNC vs Texas. Plus keep in mind that USC is 10-2 against the spread as an underdog this year… Vanderbilt lost to Georgetown earlier in the season (November 15th) by 16 points. But the Commodores also beat Florida by 13 points (January 31st). Which team will show up tonight? Georgetown has won its last 6 games by an average of 12.5 points but that includes two 20 point plus blowouts (Belmont and Pittsburgh). This is really a pick-em game but I’m taking Vanderbilt because in that first game against the Hoyas – Vandy only hit 23% of their 3-pointers. They have to do better than that tonight… Just for the record – I looked it up and Butler is near Indianapolis… Best wishes to Boise State senior guard Coby Karl, the son of Denver Nuggets coach George Karl. Per the great college basketball site Hoopville - Coby Karl “will have surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes April 2. Despite also having his thyroid removed last March and undergoing treatments through this past year, he led the Broncos in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Karl finished as Boise State’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,698 points. He’s still scheduled to play in the NABC All-Star Game in Atlanta March 31.”