Well, this tournament is going to be awesome. It’s been the most competitive years top to bottom in recent memory. With 70% of the league projected to make the tournament and 30% of the teams projected top 3 seeds, it’s neck and neck with the Big Ten as far as the best conference in the country. On top of all that, it’s March, and MSG never disappoints.

Here are the odds to cut down the nets on Saturday night:

Creighton +300

Seton Hall +350

Villanova +350

Butler +500

Marquette +700

Providence +1200

Xavier +1800

Georgetown +2500

St. John’s +4000

DePaul +6000

I’m biased to PC, but I really do think they hold the best future value. They’ve beaten every team in the conference, and at 12 to 1, who’s to say they can’t do it again this week?

I’ll also begrudgingly take the bait on Villanova. They’ve won 4 of the last 5, and Jay Wright continues to instill fear in every referee in the conference.

Picks:

Villanova +350, 1 unit

Providence +1200, 1 Unit

And here’s my stab at the bracket:

Now let’s get into the games…

Night 1:

St John’s vs Georgetown, 7:00 PM

Pick: St. John’s -3, 1 Unit

Georgetown swept the Johnnies this year in regular season play, but are now on a six-game losing streak due to a depleted bench. St. John’s, on the other hand, has shown some late life highlighted by their 20-point win over #7 Creighton. I think they get the win on their home court tonight and take care of any spread less than 5 with free throws.

DePaul vs Xavier, 9:30 PM

Pick: Xavier -6, 2 Units

Lunardi has this as a must winfor Xavier if they want to make the tournament. Despite their record of late, they’ve actually been playing pretty well. In their last two losses, they played Providence tight on the road and lost by 1 to #24 Butler on a buzzer beater from Kamar Baldwin, who had 36 points. DePaul however, does not have Kamar Baldwin, and is coming off an embarrassing loss in which they rolled over and let Providence pet their belly in a 93-55 loss. I think Xavier wins by 12+.

So that’s all I’ve got for now, will update as the week goes on…

Cheers

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