Two of the top teams in the Southern Conference will vie for the automatic bid to the Big Dance on Monday night when the East Tennessee State Buccaneers and NC-Greensboro Spartans collide for the third time this season on a neutral court. The old adage of it being hard to beat a team three straight times will be put to the test in this one with the tourney’s top seed sweeping both regular season confrontations.
This war on the floor will go down Monday, March 6, 2017, at 7 p.m. ET at the U.S Cellular Center. The game will be televised live on ESPN. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on Monday’s college basketball schedule.
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ETSU got a stiff test from Mercer in the quarterfinals in a game it won and covered 73-66 but trailed by a point at halftime. It then had absolutely no problem disposing of No. 7 seed Samford in the semifinals in winning 81-72 to cover the 8 point closing spread. The game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicates with the Buccaneers up double-digits a majority of the game. They’ll enter this win or go home tilt having gone 8-1 and 5-4 against the spread over their last nine with the lone defeat incurred against tonight’s opponent.
Though NC-Greensboro won as many conference games as East Tennessee State and Furman in the regular season, it earned the No. 1 seed in this tournament due to winning the tiebreakers. It reached the final by disposing of both the Citadel and Wofford while splitting both games against the spread. The team has been incredibly consistent heading into March Madness with it scoring an average of 74.3 point and allowing just 64.3 points over its last eight games. The under cashed in five of those contests.
Player to Watch
T.J. Cromer – The Spartans might possess more double-digit scorers in this match-up, but the Buccaneers will march the best overall player onto the court in the form of 6’ 3” Cromer whose 19.0 points is the highest tally for either of the two teams. He just went off for 41 points against Samford to send his teammates to the finals, and that just might be the outing that gets him going after being held to just 10 points against Mercer. Greensboro had his number in the regular season holding him to an average of 9.0 points in the two meetings. If ETSU is going dancing, their superstar must rise to the challenge.
Last Meeting
NC-Greensboro took both regular season meetings winning 72-66 as 3.5 point home favorites almost a week ago to the day. The Bucs also scored the impressive 83-79 outright win at Freedom Hall as 10 point underdogs back in early January. The pair of wins snapped the Spartans previous three-game win streak in the recent rivalry. After playing to 162 points in the first go round, the defenses came to play in the second with ETSU knocking down 40.7 percent of its shots and Greensboro 39.7 percent of theirs. The difference was the Spartans 10 of 23 effort from long range.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
NC Greensboro hasn’t made it to the SoCon championship game since 2005. The Bucs found themselves in the title game just last year when they dropped a disappointing 73-67 decision to the Mocs as 5 point underdogs. They’re likely to be dogged in this one once again, and if that’s the case, I advise you take the points. ETSU is familiar with what goes into playing a game like this with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. NC-Greensboro is not.
Though it lost both regular season meetings, the Buccaneers rank out as the better overall team. It has the offense to keep pace with the Spartans, but also possesses the better overall defense. The Pomeroy Ratings have Greensboro ranked out as the luckiest team in the entire country. It’s taken advantage of the easier path to the finals, but I foresee their luck running out tonight due to a big night from Cromer that punches his squad’s ticket to the Dance.
College Basketball Odds: ETSU 72, NC-Greensboro 67
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