Though all eyes have been fixated on the NCAA Tournament over the last week, the NIT tournament has been playing out in the shadows at online sportsbooks. The exhibition is down to the final eight participants with St. Bonaventure, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Xavier, Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Washington State and BYU all duking it out to be the champion of the “Not Invited Tournament.” So before you start turning your attention back to Thursday’s Sweet 16 action, let’s look to add to the bankroll first with some selections in the quarters of the NIT set to go down on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
The NIT tournament picks back up with the quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. BookMaker.eu will have NCAA basketball odds available for every game remaining in the tournament.
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Tuesday CBB Picks
St. Bonaventure Bonnies at Virginia Cavaliers - 7 p.m. | ESPN
Though the Bonnies failed to punch a ticket back to the Big Dance, the disappointment hasn’t prevented Mark Schmidt’s troops from getting the job done in postseason play. Bonaventure has already disposed of the region’s No. 4 seed Colorado Buffaloes and No. 1 seed Oklahoma Sooners, and will be gunning for a fourth straight road dub against the sixth seeded Virginia Cavaliers. This game figures to be played at a snail’s pace with UVA the owner of the nation’s No. 357 tempo rating and the game being played in the comforts of John Paul Jones Arena. Both squads are tremendous at taking care of the basketball, which means turnovers aren’t likely to lead to easy points at either end. The rebounding battle shouldn’t be one-sided either. On top of all that, both teams are frugal when it comes to sending the opposition to the charity stripe. This all adds up to a rock fight that will likely be hanging in the balance come the game’s conclusion. As such, the winner will ultimately be the first to eclipse the 55 point plateau – gimme the under!
Vanderbilt Commodores at Xavier Musketeers- 9 p.m. | ESPN
Love me some Dores in this matchup against the walking corpse of a Xavier team that’s waltzed its way into the quarters by way of taking on a pair of disinterested squads. Even so, it only managed to go 1-1 ATS in those matchups grossly failing to cover the 11-point spread against Cleveland State and then burying Florida in a surprise result. Though Vandy enters this tilt just 5-7 SU in true road games, I can’t overlook how great Scotty Pippen Jr. and his mates have been for CBB bettors dating back to the beginning of February in going 12-2 ATS its last 14 games. Regardless of the SEC stinking up the joint in the NCAA tournament, I’m expecting the team’s good fortune to carry over into this spot against a Xavier roster it matches up favorably against. So long as it doesn’t send the X-Men to the line ad nauseum, they will be in a position to win this game outright. As such, sprinkle some beer money on the moneyline!
Wednesday CBB Picks
Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Texas A&M Aggies, 7 p.m. | ESPN2
Tough call here with both the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and Texas A&M Aggies each playing some of their best ball of the season entering this quarterfinal tilt in College Station. On paper, these teams match up very well against one another with each possessing offensive and defensive efficiency ratings within the top-65. I’m still scratching my head over that outright defeat to Boston College in the ACC tournament; a loss that ultimately allowed the selection committee to pass on the Deacs. Regardless, WF is a damn fun team to watch with it the owner of one of the better offenses in the country spearheaded by none other than Alondes Williams. He will however run into an A&M defense that’s been playing lights out of late in limiting each of its last eight opponents to an average of just 66 points per game. It’s held its two NIT opponents to just 60.5 points! Buzz Williams compiled a 9-page document as to why the Aggies deserved to make the Field of 64. If his team was truly worthy, it wins this game 10 out of 10 times - I’ll lay the deuce!
Washington State Cougars at BYU Cougars, 9 p.m. | ESPN2
While Wazzou’s run to reach the quarters has been impressive with wins logged at home against Santa Clara and on the road against SMU, I’m thinking they’ll be venturing into a hornet’s nest here with the homebased Cougars making the Marriott Center a living hell for all opposition that dare enter it (14-2 SU). Alex Barcello and Co. just made minced meat of both Long Beach State and Northern Iowa to get to this point, and I don’t envision the squad lying down with a trip to Madison Square Garden on the line. Washington State has made it a habit of attacking the offensive glass (No. 33) with reckless abandon so as to give the offense numerous second and third chance scoring opportunities. It’s been the method of the offense’s success all season long. However, BYU has a pair of bigs in Fousseyni Traore (9.3 RPG) and Caleb Lohner (6.8) that will dramatically offset that advantage. Wazzou also being heavily reliant on the 3-ball leads me to believe it’ll have a tough time matching points with the more efficient offense run by the home team. I’ll lay the short number here as well – Slam Your Man!!
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