Today the Maryland Terrapins will tangle with the West Virginia Mountaineers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio in the 3rd round of the NCAA Tournament. The game has a start time of 8:40 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Current Vegas betting odds have the Terrapins listed as 1 point favorites, while the total is set at 137.5.
Analysis: The Maryland Terrapins had a very good first year in the Big 10, where they finished 2nd in the league. The Terps are now 28-6 on the year and have won 9 of their last 10 games overall a hard fought 65-62 win over Valparaiso in the 2nd round. Maryland has gone 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games following a S.U. win, but just 3-7 ATS in their last 10 NCAA tournament games. The Terrapins have been a decent offensive squad this year, ranking 121st in scoring (69.4 ppg), 153rd in shooting (43.8%), 57th in 3 point shooting (37.4%) and 14th in FT shooting (75.7%). The defense for this team has been solid this year, ranking 86th in points allowed (63.2 ppg), 32nd in defensive FG% (39.5%) and 53rd in 3 point defense (31.7%).
The West Virginia Mountaineers have had an up and down year, especially in the Big 12, where they have not won more than 3 in a row or lost more than 2 in a row. They are just 2-3 in their last 5 games, but one of those wins was in the 2nd round of the tournament where they beat Buffalo by a score of 68-62. Overall West Virginia is now 24-9 on the year. West Virginia has gone 14-5-1 ATS in their last 20 NCAA Tournament games, but 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games vs the Big 10. The Mountaineers have been a good offensive squad this year, ranking 37th in scoring (73.8 ppg), 278th in shooting (41.3%), 283rd in 3 point shooting (31.8%) and 276th in FT shooting (66.2%). The defense for this team has been rather average, ranking 169th in points allowed (66.7 ppg), 328th in defensive FG% (46.8%) and 290th in 3 point defense (36.6%).
Pick: I will be going with the Under in this game. West Virginia likes to play fast, but still in their opening round game vs another fast team (Buffalo) just 130 points were scored in that game. Now they take on a slower paced team and one that plays very good defense, so I don't see how this one goes over. We all know that West Virginia can score, but they are a terrible shooting team, especially from long range and at the charity stripe. Now they will face a Maryland team that has allowed just 59 ppg in their last 7 games and just 35.3% shooting in heir last 5 games. They do not give up a whole lot and this Eest Virginia will really have to make shots, which is something they haven't been able to do. For Maryland they are not a great offensive team, especially away from home, where they have averaged just 64.8 ppg on just 39.7% shooting. West Virginia has defensive Issues, but Maryland isn't a team that will be able to overly take advantage of that. The Terps last 7 games have put up just 123.1 ppg, with just one of those games scoring more than 127 points. 137.5 is just too high here.
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NCAA Basketball: Who Can Win it All?
Teddy Covers and Steve Fezzik from Pregame.com discuss who they feel will win it all in the NCAA Tournament, while throwing in some teams that have a chance to make a deep run in the tournament.