The bracket will be in our hands on Sunday.
As a sports fan, it doesn’t get better than March Madness. Let’s soak it all in.
I’m 6-0 in my past six Confidence Rating selections.
Let’s try for another profitable day on Wednesday in our college basketball predictions.
The Atlantic 10 Tournament gets started early on Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.
Loyola Chicago has had a worse season than anyone could have possibly imagined. The Ramblers did win two of their final three games, including one over Richmond.
Richmond’s Jonathan Beagle broke his finger in February, and beat writers said he was “likely out for the year.” Beagle was a solid contributor to the team.
The Spiders had a 40-10 lead late in the first half (yes, you read that correctly), and they still managed to lose against Duquesne in the regular-season finale.
Richmond takes a lot of long-range jumpers, and that could be tricky in a neutral court setting.
Loyola Chicago ranks 270th nationally in adjusted tempo, despite losing by decent margins in most games.
PPG Paints Arena is the venue for this tournament. The Under is 36-26 in the past 62 games played here.
Pick: Under 144.5
Confidence Rating: B-
Madison Square Garden has been one of the best venues in college basketball for Under bettors.
I’ll admit that a game between Butler and Providence carries some risk when it comes to taking an Under, but I think there is some value.
This is a win-or-go-home game, which tends to slow the tempo a bit.
Both regular-season games went into double overtime. You almost never see that, and we certainly can’t plan for something like that once again.
This is the first game of the tournament, so the two teams have had no time to adjust to the unique shooting backdrop of MSG. This has bothered many far better offensive teams in the past.
What are the numbers like here? ActionLabs shows that a first-half total higher than 72 has gone 34-14 to the Under in the last 48 games at Madison Square Garden.
What about a total of 75 or higher in the first half? Those have gone 16-5 to the Under.
Pick: 1H Under 77
Confidence Rating: B
Stephen F. Austin held on for a tight 60-58 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
That still turned out to be the much easier win in the Southland semifinals on Tuesday, as McNeese needed triple overtime to beat UT Rio Grande Valley.
McNeese trailed by five with 1:45 left in the second overtime.
The Cowboys have depth, so that triple-overtime, 55-minute win might not affect them as much as other teams. But still, it can be tough for any team to recover right away.
This game has an unusual 5 p.m. Eastern start time, too. McNeese doesn’t get much time to rest and recover here.
The Cowboys have struggled to defend without fouling this season, but Stephen F. Austin is a team that ranks 306th nationally in free-throw rate.
Those two regular-season games finished with 130 points and 127 points. Both teams are very good on defense.
These teams rank 245th and 267th nationally in adjusted tempo, respectively. The pace should be pretty slow.
Pick: Under 135
Confidence Rating: B
