The East Region of the men’s NCAA tournament bracket has some heavy-hitters that leave it wholly unpredictable.
We’re talking about 1-seed Purdue, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Kentucky and a few more squads that could make deep tournament runs.
There aren’t many locks when it comes to a region like this, but I sorted through the mess to find the best bets of the best.
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9 Florida Atlantic vs. 8 Memphis: Under 152.5 points
These are two solid offenses and Memphis in particular plays with a ton of pace, which leads to a high total for this one. But Florida Atlantic has played three straight games to the under, and none of those games even had a total this high. And Memphis’ only has three overs in its last nine games, all also against totals much smaller than this.
These teams aren’t slouches defensively either, so I’m looking for the under here.
3 Kansas State (-8.5) over 14 Montana State
I actually think this line could be a lot more lopsided. Kansas State can score points in a hurry. And though Montana State is not a bad defensive team, it’ll have to score at some point to keep up. I don’t see it happening against the Wildcats.
Montana St. is 3-6 ATS in its last nine games. KSU hasn’t lost as a favorite since December.
7 Michigan State ML (-135) over 10 USC
In a game expected to finish this close, I’m leaning on Michigan State’s ability to protect the ball better than USC and its superior 3-point shot-making. Give me the fighting Tom Izzos for the win.
