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All eyes on our college basketball tonight. The NBA is off and the NHL is gearing up for the playoffs to start on Wednesday. Outside of a few early season MLB games, this night is all about the NCAA Final and what a Final it is.
Texas Tech and Virginia both got here on the backs of their defense. They both were among the top teams in the nation and that’s what got them here. They do have very different styles though. The Virginia defense is more of a shutdown defense while Texas Tech is very aggressive, and involves risk taking. The difference between the two has been a lot of turnovers. Texas Tech ranked 11th in forced turnover rate while Virginia ranked at 235th in the nation.
The thing here is that I’m not sure that Texas Tech has faced an offensive dynamo as impressive as De’Andre Hunter in this tournament. Even the number one offense in the nation, Gonzaga, didn’t have someone quite like him. For Virginia to win, they need a heavy dose of Hunter here.
Jarrett Culver didn’t have a great game against Michigan State, but he’s key here for Texas Tech offensively. There is no one on Virginia that really has the size to guard him. He can and should shoot over this team every chance that he can get.
This should be one heck of a game and with a minuscule line of Virginia -1.5, it’s anybody’s game.
College Basketball Betting Tips:
It’s hard for me to go against Texas Tech here. Especially when you know that this betting slip is out there that could net someone $300,000. That’s pretty cool.
Honestly though, just looking at these teams and it’s hard not to go with this Texas Tech defense. They are going to take some risks and get some turnovers. They shoot the ball from three really well for a college team and I think they can really score a bunch of points in a hurry here. Virginia is a smaller team and their conservative style of play could cost them here. Unless Hunter really goes off, I see Texas Tech pulling the upset here.
MLB Betting Tips:
Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals: The Mariners offense has been just about the hottest in the league to start the season. They play tonight against Homer Bailey who had an ERA in the 6s last season and gave up a ton of homeruns on the season. I really don’t like the way that’s going to work out for them. Felix Hernandez goes for the Mariners and while I have my own reservations about him, this Royals offense is not nearly scary enough to scare me off.
Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals: Another hot offense early has been the Dodgers and they draw a nice match-up with Miles Mikolas here. Mikolas has been tagged for four homeruns in two starts this season and has just looked out of sorts. He’s been bleeding runs and the Dodgers have been hitting bombs all year. Another great value here on a hot offense against a cold pitcher.
