Handicapping Friday’s Early Tournament Slate

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2:01on Westwood One Sports. Hello! Welcome back to Bed MGM that I'd hear on Westwood One Sports. He's Brad Evans. I'm Pat Boyle and we are brought to you by Bed MGM. Make it legendary. Download the app today. Please gamble responsibly. You can watch the show live on YouTube. Just search Bed MGM tonight and hit that subscribe button. You can watch the show live on Twitter at Bed MGM tiny. And you can listen to the program on the Westwood One Sports app. The Odyssey app, Sirius XM channel 375, and hundreds of local affiliates throughout North America. Phone number to join the show to talk. Anything March Madness, brackets. Who do you have pulling off an upset? Who's your Cinderella? Who do you have in the final four? Who's your national champion? We'll take any and all of your phone calls at 310-840-4910. You can also tweet either one of us. I'm at Pat Boyle 44 on Twitter, Brad, at noisy waveos. This segment is sponsored by Progressive

3:08Insurance. Save on commercial auto insurance from Progressive. Get a fast quote at Progressive commercial dot com. All right, we'll get you an update on Pre-Review A&M and Lehigh in just the bed. And we'll also give you a big preview coming up in about an hour and a half from now on Miami of Ohio and SMU. Big one for the Red Hawks tonight. But, Brad, let's start diving into all these Friday games here. If you missed any part of yesterday's show where we broke down all the games that are tomorrow, you can download the bed MGM tonight podcast. Wherever you get your podcast, you can go back and listen on the Odyssey app. But right now for the next hour, we're going to be breaking down all of Friday games. So let's start, Brad, with the juicy one, a seven versus 10 matchup. The first game on Friday in St. Louis at the Enterprise Center. In the Midwest, Midwest region, it's the Santa Clara Broncos taking on the Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky, slight favorites in this one. Three and a half point favorites. But I like Santa

4:10Clara in this one. I think that they play a fast tempo. I think that could be a problem for Kentucky that are wildcats. They are not good at defending the three. And that's what Santa Clara wants to do. They play the fastest tempo in the West Coast Conference. And they have eight different players who can beat you and shoot the three, including their bigs. It's always a maker, misgame, Brad. But in a, you know, in a neutral court setting where nerves are going to be a factor for both these teams. I just think more Pope squad has been under achieving all season long. And I'm not going to trust him here to pick in my bracket now. I'm going with Santa Clara. Give me herbs. Sendek and the Broncos. I'm going to Santa Clara to advance in this one. I'm with you, man. I want Steve Nash, you as well. I took him on the money line at bed MGM. I took Santa Clara and all my brackets straight up as well. My two brackets got an analytical. You're exactly right. Now this team can actually score and score prolifically. They're a top 10 in the nation, folks. Over last month, I had just had offensive efficiency.

5:14Christian Hammett, shooting over 40% from downtown. Alan Graves is shooting nearly 40% from distance as well. I'm graceful. I got to get himself, and it'd be a contract and short order. And also, they have some size, which is rare for some of these smaller West Coast teams. A Bucky O'Boyet is a legit seven one. He's an outstanding remprotector. He's gotten better with his offensive skills a little bit more coordinated with than he was earlier this season. And a guy that I think could someone neutralize Malachai Marrito and you're right about Kentucky. What version are we going to get, man? They're so erratic, so wildly inconsistent. As good as Otago always is, I don't trust them at all. Give me Santa Clara. They're going to take this bad boy straight up. All right. You and I both an agreement there that Santa Clara beats Kentucky. A little mini upset special to start the day off on Friday. Could it be two upsets to start the day on Friday, Brad? Tampa, Florida is where we go next. Staying in the Midwest region.

6:18The five versus 12 matchup. Texas Tech, the red raiders out of the big 12, taking on the 12-seed Akron Zips. Akron, who went all the way and won the Mac tournament. After Miami, Ohio got knocked out in their quarter-final matchup in their first game. Akron at 29 and 5 on quite the heater here down the stretch. A team that scores nearly 90 points per game and the big injury news to know if you don't know it already and to remember in Kasia forgot. JT Top in Texas Tech's best player averaged 22 points in 11 rebounds per game. Torn ACL, done for the season, not playing. Brad, do we see a 12 over a five already? I think Texas Tech can still survive the Zips storm to the red raiders advance. Woo, woo, woo, woo, sound the sirens. We got an upcent alert, me and me go, I'm with you. I'm on Akron. Here's the deal. Texas Tech also may not have 100% Christian Anderson,

7:22who's their second best player because folks that horrific LED floor during the big 12 conference tournament. You and I talked about, hey, you know, this is kind of cool. I think people started slipping on it. And Mike, you didn't test that out in Christian Anderson was one of those guys that slipped in the last game. Texas Tech got limited in late in that contest suffered a lower body injury. He may not be 100%. Is he be able to go to go to full bore in this game? It's everybody's best guess. And he's absolutely a key cog to Texas Tech and the overall success. So, you know, he would be is on the court and is not limited. I still like a zippity dude. Yeah, the fighting John Gross is back in the big dance yet again. You look over the last thing games. They're top 20 in the nation. Effective Google percentage offense or shooting 57.8 percent from two and 39 and a half percent from three. They're plus defensive team. And they're a team that just charges you down hill with Tavari Johnson and some other special ball handlers that

8:23they have on that roster. So they'll just keep coming after you draw a lot of whistles. Get to the free throw line and make you pay there. I think those Akron teams got experience. They've got talent and they're balanced squad overall. Texas Tech. As I mentioned, very much on upset alert without JT top and impossibly without a hundred percent. Christian Anderson. I agree. I think Akron beats Texas Tech. I got him in my bracket as well. And, you know, look, here's the thing about Akron's offense. They're eighth in effect. The field goal percentage. 12th in two point percentage and 14th in three point percentage. So they can beach inside. They can beach outside. Tavari Johnson is the name to look out for. The name you're going to hear on this broadcast over and over and over again tomorrow. He averages 20 points for game. That's how I think the zips do it. I think they shoot their way to a win. And man, look, I tweeted a couple of weeks ago when Texas Tech beat Iowa State without JT top. And they went into aims and did it. And I said, damn, feels like Texas Tech really could have

9:25won a national championship if they had JT top. And then I had Red Raiders fans saying, oh, it's okay. Oh, you're counting us out. Oh, you're counting out the Red Raiders going this up. And then they went through a bit of a slide here. And it's, yeah, I mean, look, it was a nice little boost like playing those first two games without your best player and you're playing for pride and motivation. But like everybody's pride and motivation is through the roof now, man. It's the NCAA tournament. Nerves are going to be high. Emotions are going to be high. Akron's going to walk in there with a lot of swagger tomorrow. And I think they win this. There really double digit underdogs. So this would be a pretty decent upset here. And Brad, you and I once again taking a double digit. See? Hopping our chest for the dogies. Hopefully they're barking. One dog that will not be barking tomorrow is a team that I called games for for seven eight years. And that's the L.I.U. Sharks who are producer Brandon Combe still thinks it's L.I.U. Brooklyn. They merged campuses a couple of years ago. That is the early game tomorrow. San Diego, California, the V.A. Hoss Arena. That's a 135 Eastern. And if Arizona was not already in,

10:29well, West Coast, whatever the hell, time zone, Phoenix, Arizona, they have like their own time zone, whatever they go by. But basically, like if this was an East Coast team, well, no, because I guess it is. Yeah, I guess this is a bit tough for Arizona. It's just 10, 35 A.M. local in San Diego, California. It's a morning game, like not late morning, 10, 30 A.M. local time this game's going to tip. That's the only thing that concerns me about Arizona, not winning this game by 40. But Brad, like I said, I called L.I.U. games. Their best players are Jamal Fuller and Malachi Davis. They're really good, like good players. Malachi Davis used to play for Arizona State. He's shifty. He can hit midrange jumpers. He plays a lot of swagger. He's a guy that can score, you know, 10 points in two minutes. If you're not careful, but Arizona is one of the best defensive teams in the country. They've got Ivan, you know, Marchanko. And I think that he is going to shut him down. And Jamal Fuller, like he can get to 20 points against the mid major team, against the team that doesn't have a lot of size. But he's only like six to five, six to six.

11:31He plays really strong. But like Arizona is just going to throw their seven photos at him. And I feel like the wildcats are going to dominate the paint. And maybe again, because it's a morning game for Arizona, maybe they're a little sleepy. Maybe they need a little espresso, you know, after the first TV timeout. But after that, I think this second half, it is going to be a completely one-sided game. And to nobody's surprise. Yeah, we'll see Benign Species of Shark. I know Shark, I believe. I think that applies to the LIU, man. They got no shot here. They're going to be bottom feeders in this game. Mission the size, discrepancy. Let me give you an advanced analytics profile. LIU, in their last 10 games are 190 plus in the country. In offensive rebounded percentage, in defense of rebounded percentage, that's problematic. Again, against Mount Crevas at seven foot tall. And also to be a walker who's a wide body and a supreme rebounder. Carchink off as you laid out as well. Arizona's loaded. You can argue the best starting five in the nation.

12:32They may win this by 50. Let me add a few zeros. Thousand points. Yeah. Yeah. You and I in agreement there. Again, the only thing, just a reminder, remember, this is a 10 30 AM local start for Arizona. So maybe there's maybe 20. Yeah, but I don't know about you Brad 20. If I didn't have a morning class, if I didn't have an 8 AM class, there's two days and Thursdays. I'll never forget for two years in a row, two days, Thursdays. My first class wasn't until 11 30. I was, I was drunk hung over high. I wasn't waking up until 1045 in the morning. So I, you know, again, I wasn't making six million bucks playing basketball, but just you never know, man, you never know. Maybe, you know, my do my best mad dog impression. I was a little sleepy. Might be a little sleepy coming out. I got them all. All right. Let's move on Arizona by Billy. Let's go to Philly. Yeah. Let's go to Philly at the Xfinity mobile arena. Would you use to be called the Wells Fargo Center.

13:33You got Virginia. The Cavaliers went to the ACC tournament title game 29 and 5 taking on right state. It wasn't wrong state when they went all the way through the horizon league. Top of that conference all year long. One of the conference championship. The rate is the right state rate is they've been red hot here, Brad. They've won. Let's see. Five in a row. Seven of their last eight. And this is a team that like they played some decent squads in non conference. They battled California, you know, Cal. They battled Butler for a little bit and then got blown out the second half. They played Miami, Ohio and lost by seven. So, you know, can right state hang in this one? I don't know anybody that's going to be picking them. Maybe other than Mike Latula, former right state guard himself of the Raiders. I know anybody that's going to be picking them to win this game. But I guess, you know, can right state keep it close against the Virginia team that just played in the ACC tournament game Saturday night? A bit of a quick turnaround. I guess that's the only thing to look out for for the Cavaliers.

14:35Oh, yeah, maybe if there's any kind of concern whatsoever. By the way, congratulations to our producer, Brandon Combs, who just recently learned that Ryan state is indeed named after the fight, the famous right brothers, known for, you know, vending flights. This seems like I got to take all buddy search of the imagination. I can tell you that the fight, Michael, the two lobes are going to get pounded. Virginia, a very balanced team, top 25 and adjusted offense efficiency, adjusted defense efficiency. Over their last 11 games, a test to ritter is a load. I'm going to put up 18 to 22 points in this contest. Strong guard play, you know, they do a really good job just on both ends of the floor. They're only giving a 43 to half percent inside the arc and they're shooting over 35% on the opposite end outside of itself. Virginia absolutely rolls right state and clips, dim wings are marching on with ease. Yeah, let's start. Let's quickly hit on another big seed here playing tomorrow afternoon.

15:40This one in St. Louis. It's the second game of the day. The number two seed Iowa state cyclones on the big 12 taken on Tennessee state, the champions from the Ohio Valley Conference, the OVC. Yeah, you know me. You know, man, Tennessee state. They crushed. They crushed in their conference tournament. They won by 13 and then they beat more head state by 26 points in the conference championship game. They've actually only won one of their last five games by single digits. Other than that, it's been below out city. Can they keep it close against Iowa state? I don't think so, Brad, because Tennessee state, if you look at their resume, they win by forcing turnovers. They ranked 12th in the country in steel rate. But man, Iowa state, they rarely turn the ball over and they turn, they turn opponents over just about as good as anybody here. So if your one strength is very much

16:40neutralized, I think that's going to be big time trouble. I think the cyclones roll through and they obliterate Tennessee state, again, not a big surprise, a two seed winning by margin, in my opinion. This is going to shock you, but I think Tennessee's got to cover the big spread here. I truly believe that the Tennessee state team a little bit better than advertised or 110 on Bartorvik overall here the last 30 days. You mentioned their biggest ranked is turning opponents over, which is also a big strength Iowa state. And one of the biggest weaknesses of Tennessee state is coughing up the rock, which they do run 18% of their possessions. However, Tennessee state excellent second chance team. They're generating a offensive rebound around 39% of their possessions. And they have been white hot from distance, shoot over 40% from way downtown in their last eight games. You know, I know it's a big number. So at 24 and a half, the back door is always one open, especially for a team that shoots a lot of threes and can hit them. Tennessee state,

17:45I'm they're not going to win this. Finally, stretch of the imagination. But I say they lose by exactly 22 points and cover. Oh, that would be a tight one. That would be a sweaty one that, again, only fellow DJs like yourself would be sweating out down to the final minute of the game. Okay, let's move on because you and I think we've already under our belts. And by the way, I did say tomorrow. I think once or twice these are obviously all Friday games here. So good catch by producer Brandon Combs. Who let me know in the show chat. dummy me. You and I at this point, Brad, on Friday, we think we'll have already seen two upsets, two double digit seeds win. We both like Santa Clara over Kentucky, we both like Akron over Texas tech. Do we both like Hofstra over Alabama, three 15 PM Eastern on Friday in Tampa, the Hofstra pride, the winners of the CAA taken on an Alabama team that has dealt with injuries all year long that I feel are fraudulent.

18:46And now the big news over the last 48 hours, they're second leading score, Aiden Holloway, not going to be with the team for most likely this entire weekend. Even if they win this game, the second round, he's most likely not going to be with the team arrested on Monday morning for drug possession. And still Alabama, they are still comfortably double digit favorites in this one. I like speedy claxon and the Hofstra pride here. I like their guards. I like Hofstra to go in here. And I like Alabama, who's been, you know, liver die by the three to die by the three. I think Alabama goes down in the first round. I think NATO's is going to have oats or eggs on his face. Give me the Hofstra pride. This will be the third double digit upset on Friday. Everybody will be talking about the spirit of March madness has returned with some small bracket busting. I think Hofstra delivers another upset on Friday. Yeah, they could definitely sink through teeth with a vicious bite. You know, I will say this about Hofstra. They are the best

19:48number one team in all of college basketball. We're last 10 games that affect a few goal percentage defense. They have been outstanding clogger lane and just wrecking havoc for the opposition, trying to score at the rim. They're only giving them 41.1% from two. And they've done a really good job. It's in that defense out to the perimeter, giving them 28.5% from three again over their last 10 games. And a team two that could shoot the ball adequately from outside. They're a team that applies a pretty good on ball pressure as well. And they get a lot of second chance opportunities around around 34% of their possessions or get that off. It's a rebound. However, I will say this. Alabama, even without a Holloway, a 2.1 pounds of weed. That's a lot of weed, man. That's that's a good Friday night at Casa de Evans and Maca Lai. That would fry Snoop Dogg. Yeah, he's by like kudos to you, young man. But unfortunately, because he's got to undergo a student-led investigation on how they do these kind of matters at the University of Alabama,

20:51their own spring break. So they can't even conduct act because nobody's around to do it. That's why he's got to miss the first week in the NCAA tournament. They still have plenty of horses. Plenty of guys that can make it rain from outside. I'm Hari Allen, LaBaron Philons. The guy that average it over 20 points for game. LaTro Wright sell as well as a microwave of an who can catch fire to boot. So they still have gunners. I feel that Alabama's going to survive. I actually liked Haustre before the Holloway news came out. I think they opened his 14-and-a-half point underdogs. Grab that immediately. It's down to 11-and-a-half now. It should be close to 10. But I think Alabama wins around eight to 10 points in the end. Survives advances. That's what it's all about in the month of March. All right. Let's hit one more. And then we will talk about a bunch more in the next segment here. But this is a this is a pick them here in San Diego. The second game of the day, nine seed Utah State versus eight seed Villanova in the West region.

21:52And the winner of this one gets the privilege of playing Arizona in the second round. That is, of course, fins up if L.I. U doesn't pull off one of the shockers of the of history in all the linear. So yeah, exactly. Yeah. The winner will most likely get Arizona here. It's a pick them, Brad. Who do you like Villanova who's really after they lost a George down on the Big E's tournament against the Mountain West champions Utah State? Where do you like? Who do you like in this game? Admittedly, I'm a Mountain West Conference Apologist. So the league was largely down this year. It's why they only got the one bid on no New Mexico, no San Diego State. But this Utah State team should not be underestimated. They got a lot of bounce of the step. They got better than Ivertize athletes. I love the game of MJ Collins at six foot four at the Garret position. Excellent distributor and an explosive score. And that's what the team is known for. They're inside the top 30 nationally in just an offense efficiency. There shouldn't 56.4% from inside the

22:53arch and 35% outside of it, a little bit leaky defensively. That's always been an outside of Utah State teams on the glass also weak, but so is Villanova. This Villanova team is just so plain, so boring. I call them tofu bland. They're just kind of tasteless in general. Don't really tickle the taste buds when you start to the imagination. It's going to be more of the same. Kevin Willard is said a good job coaching the team to get them back in the big dance. Has them on the right track, but they're going to be humbled here. Utah State wins. Utah State covers. Utah State hangs at least 75 points on the Wildcats from Philly. Yeah, Villanova, if they're not hitting their threes, you know, good luck scoring. Matt Hodge, one of their starters has been out for the year for a couple of games as well now. So they're a little shorthanded. MJ Collins and Mason Falsleve, I like that combo from Utah State. They're two top scores. Both shoot over 49% from the field.

23:55Both shoot over 36% from deep. You've got some assassins on the Utah State Aggies. And I, Brad, you and I agree on almost every one of these games. That makes me feel either really good. Doom. Yeah. Doom. Or you're just going to have, we're both going to have great first rounds. I mean, I trust you, man. If you're telling me I'm opposite of you on all these picks, I don't feel good. I'm with you. I feel pretty damn good. We got a bunch more Friday games to talk about when we come back. Don't go anywhere. We're breaking down March, Venice for you, helping you win your bracket pool. He's Brad Evans. I'm Pat Boyle. This is Ben MGM tonight on Westwood One Sports. The Broncos credit their first round picked to the dolphins for Caitlin Waddle. Does the star receiver give Bonyx the weapon he needs to put Denver to the Super Bowl? Westwood One Sports. At Navy Federal, we're a trusted partner of the military community. And we're here to guide you through these uncertain times, help you diversify your portfolio and take control of your finances. We offer a 13 month special certificate with a rate more than double the national average

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