No. 1 seed Michigan State opens play Friday as they take on 16 seed Long Island of Brooklyn Blackbirds in a first-round game in the West Regional in Columbus, Ohio. Game time is 9:20 PM ET at Nationwide Arena.
NCAA Basketball odds boards currently show that Michigan State is favored by -20 points with the total at
154.5. However, a total of 155.5 is starting to show up at some college basketball betting shops.
Lets preview this matchup and decide where us bettors should lay our NCAA Basketball picks.
Under the guidance of Tim Izzo, MSU is
making its 15th consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Spartans have been to eight
Final Fours and earned a national championship in 2000. Surprisingly this is
Michigan State’s first No.1 seed since 2001.
LIU Brooklyn made the tournament after
claiming the Northeast Conference title in the regular season and crushing
Robert Morris 90-73 in the tournament final.
This will be the first meeting between
the two teams since the 1941 NCAA tournament.
LIU Brooklyn (25-8 SU, 3-0 ATS)
The Blackbirds rank third in the nation
in scoring at 81.9 points but allowed 77.3 points per game and ranked among the
most mistake prone teams in the country with 16.3 turnovers per game.
The Blackbirds top performer is
Northeast player of the year Julian Boyd who averaged 17.4 points per game
while pulling down 9.5 rebounds per contest. Jamal Olasewere (16.8, 7.5) was
second on the team in scoring while Jason Brickman and Michael Culp were deadly
from downtown with Brickman shooting 40.5 percent from beyond the arc and Culpo
draining 38.5 percent of his long distance attempts.
Michigan State (27-7 SU, 21-10 ATS)
The Spartans have been extremely tough
defensively which will come in handy against the run and gun Blackbirds.
MSU’s defense is second in the country
field-goal percentage (37.8) and 16th in scoring defense (59.1). Offensively,
Draymond Green earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors, as was among
the Top 5 in the conference in every major statistical category. Green averaged
16.1 points per game and pulled down 10.4 rebounds per game. He also led the
team in assists and steals. Point guard Keith Appling (11.5 points, 3.9
assists) is the only other Michigan State player scoring in double figures.
The odds are…
That Michigan State will win the West.
The books have the Spartans at 9/5 followed by Missouri (11/5), Marquette (5/1)
and Louisville (5/1). The two 16 seeds—Norfolk State and LIU Brooklyn—are
listed at 200/1.
Tom Izzo has had a No. 1 seed in East
Lansing three times in his career — 1999, 2000 and 2001. This is the first time
in 11 years that Izzo had has a No. 1 seed. There’s a reason that everyone
talks about him as the best tournament coach in the country. What I like about
the Spartans this season is that they are the perfect team for the style he
likes to play. They defend, they rebound and they are led by the player with
the bluest collar in the country in Draymond Green. Losing Branden Dawson
hurts, but they still won the Big Ten Tournament without him.
Trends
Michigan State is 4-0 ATS in their last
four neutral site games and is on a blistering 20-8 run vs. the number in their
last 28 overall. LIU is also 4-0 ATS in its last four neutral court games.
The teams had one common opponent this
year. Ohio State beat Penn State 77-57 while LIU lost to the Nittany Lions in
November 77-68.
Harvey’s Take: Tom Izzo needs to make sure his team
doesn’t get caught looking ahead to the second round. LIU Brooklyn presents a
challenge and I believe they’ll keep it within the 20-point spread. There
should be plenty of scoring in this one as well but not enough to top the
total. My play is on Long Island and the ‘under’.
Good luck!