2011 1st Round NCAA Tournament Betting Picks
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Pick: Temple -2.5
Penn St should be sending thank you cards to the committee for giving them an at-large bid for this tournament. The Nittany Lions are just not a good team at all; they come into this game with an unimpressive 19-14 record. Their claim to fame is beating Wisconsin 36-33 in the Big 10 tournament last week. That was a pitiful display of basketball, and the fact that an ugly win like that earned Penn St this game is quite pathetic. And that wasn’t the first time the Nittany Lions scored less than 40 points in a game this season; they scored 39 against Maryland back in early December. The Nittany Lions are a one-man team with Talor Battle. He is the only player on the team that can generate offense, but when you shut him down, the rest of the Nittany Lions are hard-pressed to put the ball in the basket. Penn St’s offense will find the going tough in this game against a very good Temple defense that allows just 62 points per game on 41.1% shooting. The Owls went 25-7 this season on the strength of that defense, and it’s hard to imagine Penn St scoring many points on them in this game. Temple played a tough early season schedule in which they faced 5 out of conference teams that also made this tournament: Georgia, Texas A&M, Georgetown, Akron, and Villanova. The Owls went 3-2 in those five games with the two losses coming by just 3 points to A&M and 4 points to Nova. Penn St did not play a single tournament team outside of the Big 10 this season and they only went 7-4 in those games including a loss to Maine. The Nittany Lions simply do not belong in this tournament and if Temple plays their ‘A’ game, Penn St has little chance to be competitive in this game. -Steve Merril

Pick: West Virginia -2
Clemson was able to survive its play-in “First Four” game with UAB on Tuesday as it jumped ahead early and pretty much cruised. You will notice however that the starters still played significant minutes as all five played at least 29 minutes with four logging at least 31 minutes. It isn’t going to affect fatigue all that much but the end of that game and the start of this one gives the Tigers very little time to prepare and the travel aspect of going from Dayton to Tampa in a span of just over 36 hours is an issue. West Virginia meanwhile was ousted in its first round game of the Big East Tournament by Marquette so the Mountaineers will have had over a week to get ready and rejuvenate. They came into the Big East Tournament riding a three-game winning streak including wins over two tournament teams so they had a solid end to the season. West Virginia has an RPI of 19 and went a decent 5-5 against the top 25. Clemson meanwhile entered the play-in game with an RPI of 56 and was shutout against the top 25, going 0-5. West Virginia lost a lot from last season but it is still an experienced tournament team as seniors John Flowers, Cam Thoroughman and Jonnie West have been to four NCAA Tournaments. While it was said that the tigers have had little time to prepare, West Virginia did not know who it was playing until late Tuesday but that could be a blessing in disguise. Mountaineer point guard Joe Mazzulla felt it was a good thing not knowing their opponent right away so they could “focus on ourselves.” West Virginia has a short line to cover and that is certainly a positive as it is 5-1 ATS in its last six NCAA Tournament games as a favorite of fewer than seven points and going back further, it is 12-3-1 ATS in its last 16 NCAA Tournament games. The Tigers meanwhile are 3-8-2 ATS in their last 13 games as an underdog of fewer than seven points. 3* (708) West Virginia Mountaineers. -Matt Fargo (Handicapperspicks.com)