So, Tuesday's installment of the First Four, plus 9 NIT, 3 CBI and 6 CIT matchups going tonight.
I bought .5u on St. Mary's on Sunday. I've seen the line move back and forth from 3 to 3.5 and back to 3. I'm standing pat. NC A&T/Liberty I have no interest in.
These "Not Invited" Tournament Games are intriguing, in the sense that a wild card gets thrown into the equation as to how interested a given Team is in playing the games. Major Conference bubble busters have good reason to sulk, while teams looking ahead to a bright future next season are plenty motivated. Strong Teams from one-bid conferences who didn't make the dance are usually motivated as well - they are used to the idea that only one Team from their Conference goes dancing, and their only chance to play more basketball is to go as far as they can in these Tournaments, and they like getting a shot at the majors here. It's good for mid-majors recruiting efforts, too.
Some of these matchups:
NIT Niagara @ Maryland: Maryland's Tourney bubble burst when they couldn't hold a lead @ Virginia and lost in OT in the final Conference game, finishing 8-10 in ACC play, and putting them in position where they had to at least get to the ACC Championship Game through Duke and UNC to receive consideration. Based on how the field shook out, they might have had to beat Miami as well. They beat Duke, and took UNC to the wire, but ultimately fell short. Interesting, in that outside of Junior Pe'shawn Howard, all the key contributors are Freshmen and Juniors, and Maryland is a 2-Seed playing on it's home court. Niagara was the #1 Seed in the MAAC, and the favorite to advance, beaten by Tournament Champ #4 Iona in the semi's. Iona logged in as a 15-Seed in the Dance, Niagara probably would have been a 13, but that's not bad for a lower tier mid major conference champ. They feature Antoine Mason (son of Anthony Mason) and Juan'ya Green, very strong guards, both scorers and solid ballhandlers. I think they come out fired up, and I'm not sure Maryland will take them seriously enough to cover 10.5.
Oh, crap, I don't have time for this...I don't see how Kentucky can be excited for their game vs Robert Morris, played, by the way at a neutral location - Moon Township, PA (wtf?), especially after they sulked after getting the boot from the SEC Tourney. These kids need the offseason to grow up. Robert Morris is no slouch. They were the #1 Seed in the Northeast Conference, knocked out by St. Mary's in the semi's. They play great defense, and are great 3-point shooters, and have a stud in Karvel Anderson, who banged up his wrist late in the year, but scored 23 in the 1st round win over St. Francis, and played 30 minutes in the loss to MSM, and has had time to rest. Another #1 Seed from a 1-bid conference who didn't make it...trouble is, this line is only +3.5, so it's already suspected Kentucky might have already packed it in. Wish it was similar to the MD/Niagara line, but RM could win this game. The ML is +155...
The above write ups are only leans at this time.
I AM betting on Ohio U. +7 @ Denver, Lehigh +6 @ Wyoming, Washington +6.5 @ BYU and Gardner-Webb +2 vs Eastern Kentucky. I'll try to post why when I have more time later.