Picking Saturday’s NCAA Tournament Games Against the Spread

With a late run of losses, ODB is now 18-14 offering our bets. The only guarantee is that these will let you down. I put nothing on these picks, but I will tell you Chick-Fil-A has the Spicy Chicken Biscuit back. So regardless of any money you lose, we are all winners.

West Virginia (-2.5) v. Notre Dame- The Mountaineer’s games often come down to how they are officiated. My guess is that the whistle is favorable enough to cover.

Villanova (-5) v. Wisconsin- The Wildcats will make the second weekend, but Wisconsin is good and keeps it close.

Gonzaga (-10.5) v. Northwestern- Northwestern won their first game because Vanderbilt fouled up one. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ son plays for the Wildcats, and she’s had an incredible career. But we’re all tired of the Northwestern story, and Gonzaga is much better.

Florida State (-5.5) v. Xavier- This is a game I wouldn’t touch. Both teams at their best are top 10 teams. At their worst, they look like NIT squads. I’ll take Xavier to cover.

Butler (-4) v. Middle Tennessee State- The NCAA Tournament has too much chalk. MTSU is the hero we need. They win this game.

Arizona (-5.5) v. St. Mary’s- There may not be two teams in the tournament viewed differently by traditional metrics and advanced statistics. Arizona is a darling of traditional statistics and the media. St. Mary’s is high on KenPom but low in the hearts of the Committee. St. Mary’s covers.

Florida (-2) v. Virginia- Can Virginia’s offense show up? If the answer is yes, they’ll win this game. I think it does.

Purdue (-1) v. Iowa State- The Cyclones have been on an amazing run but runs stop. Caleb Swanigan gets Purdue to a meeting with Kansas.