The last of the NCAA Tournament First Four games are on tap as part of a busy Wednesday schedule in college basketball. Just to get everyone excited for the first weekend of the Big Dance, we have a bunch of first round games from the other postseason tournaments as well. The NIT wraps up first round action with six games on the slate with the home team favored in each contest. The NIT, along with the College Basketball Invitational and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament host games at campus sites.
Most of the attention will be directed toward Dayton, Ohio, to see which teams advance to the field of 64. Fairleigh Dickinson and Belmont both won and covered short spreads in Tuesday’s First Four matchups, leaving North Dakota State as the biggest favorite of the four play-in games. The Bison are 4.5-point chalk over MEAC champion NC Central. Are they the best bet of Wednesday’s games? Let’s take a look at ways to make some money.
BookMaker.eu will have college basketball odds and live betting options for every game on the Wednesday schedule.
College Basketball Schedule for Wednesday, March 20, 2019
NCAA First Four
North Carolina Central vs. North Dakota State, 6:40 p.m. ET (truTV)
St. John's vs. Arizona State, 9:10 p.m. ET (truTV)
NIT First Round
Toledo at Xavier, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Norfolk State at Alabama, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Harvard at Georgetown, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Wichita State at Furman, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Sam Houston State at TCU, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Butler at Nebraska, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
CBI First Round
Grand Canyon at West Virginia, 7 p.m. ET
Howard at Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m. ET
Stony Brook at South Florida, 7 p.m. ET
Southern Miss at Longwood, 7 p.m. ET
UAB at Brown, 7 p.m. ET
Central Michigan at DePaul, 8 p.m. ET
Loyola Marymount at Cal Baptist, 10 p.m. ET
CIT First Round
Green Bay at East Tennessee State, 7 p.m. ET
Texas Southern at New Orleans, 8 p.m. ET
Grambling at UT Rio Grande Valley, 8 p.m. ET
Presbyterian at Seattle, 10 p.m. ET
Wednesday Best Bets
North Carolina Central vs. North Dakota State, 6:40 p.m. ET (truTV)
No stranger to the First Four setting, NC Central is making its third straight trip to Dayton with hopes of setting up an all Durham first round matchup with the mighty Duke Blue Devils. NDSU is familiar with the Tournament as well making its third trip in six years opening as a 4.5-point favorite on the college basketball lines. And both teams are riding a wave of momentum after pulling off upsets in their conference tournaments to get the automatic bid.
The Eagles have been strong defensively all season and they came through in the MEAC title game, holding top-seed Norfolk State to 15 second half points and overcoming a 10-point deficit to get the win. The Bison are strong defensively as well, so I like this game to fall below the 132.5 total. NDSU has more depth and scoring options behind Vinnie Shahid, and I like the Bison to win and cover in a close game.
St. John's vs. Arizona State ( -1.5, 153 ), 9:10 p.m. ET (truTV)
With the help of two wins over Marquette and one against Villanova during the Big East regular season, the Johnnies had enough on their resume to make the Tournament, barely. St. John’s was the last team to make the cut and will get 1.5-points on the betting line against the Sun Devils. The Red Storm limps into the Dance with losses in four of their last five games, capped by an 86-54 spanking from Marquette in the Big East tourney.
ASU has more balance on its roster and can play the tempo game the Johnnies like. But if St. John’s can’t produce with that style, they are stuck. We saw that against the Eagles when Shamorie Ponds struggled. SJU lacks an inside game and gets pounded on the glass. Zylan Cheatham will own the boards and Lugentz Dort is a specimen the Johnnies won’t be able to control. ASU has some impressive wins of their own and I like the overall versatility of Bobby Hurley’s club to cover and advance.
Norfolk State at Alabama ( -16, 143 ), 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
The goal in a tournament setting is to have equally-matched teams go head-to-head. This isn’t one of them. Sure, the Spartans have a better overall record at 21-13 and missed out on the Dance with an upset loss to NC Central in the MEAC title game, but they didn’t play the likes of Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee and Auburn. The Tide did, and they are a better team for it.
Bama upset Kentucky in the SEC opener and won eight league games while going 18-15 overall. Four losses in their last five games ended any Tournament hopes, but the Tide is excited for the opportunity to get underclassmen more game experience. Freshman Kira Lewis scores 13.6 points per game and sophomore John Petty adds 10.2 to form a formidable backcourt that should weave its way through the Spartans.
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