A thrilling first day of Madness is in the books and we get to do it all over again today. Our spotlight game was a winner with Houston covering the -20. Things were a little dicey with the alternative ways to play the game, as Houston first half didn’t come through and the team total for Cleveland State fell right around the number.
Hopefully you had a good first day and let’s see if we can find a good bet here for Saturday as games run all day from noon until midnight. Like yesterday, I’ll try to find a late game on the card that I really like and I think I’ve found one in Game 791/792 between Maryland and UConn. The Huskies are -3 with five cents extra of juice at Bookmaker Sportsbook with a total of 130.
Maryland Terrapins
Friday was not a banner day for the Big Ten. Neither was Thursday. With nine bids in the NCAA Tournament, the Big Ten has gone 3-3 thus far. Illinois, Rutgers, and Wisconsin advanced to the second round, while Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue did not. Ohio State and Purdue were big favorites. That leaves us wondering a little bit about the strength of the conference and many have been wondering about the strength of this Maryland team since the brackets were announced on Selection Sunday. Maryland, like Michigan State, seemed to get in on the strength of a handful of wins and a spot in the Big Ten. The Terps beat Illinois, Wisconsin, and Rutgers on the road and also beat Purdue at home. Those were the four Quad 1 wins for Mark Turgeon’s team. Seemingly, it was enough to get Maryland into the Big Dance. The Terrapins were just 9-11 in Big Ten play in the regular season and split two games in the Big Ten Tournament. In the non-conference, Maryland lost to Clemson to go along with beating Old Dominion, Navy, Mount St. Mary’s, Saint Peter’s, La Salle, and Wingate. It sure looks like a lackluster resume for the guys from College Park. Statistically, Maryland has a top-25 squad in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Terrapins didn’t force a lot of turnovers and struggled to defend the three-point line, but the Big Ten’s strength relative to other conferences and the imbalanced schedule gave a lot of those teams a bump in their adjusted metrics. On the offensive side, Maryland was one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the nation. They took good care of the basketball, like most Big Ten teams did, and they shot well on two-pointers. This is a slow-paced team that ranked in the bottom 50 in adjusted tempo.CLAIM YOUR WELCOME BONUS AT BOOKMAKER SPORTSBOOK