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Sports Interaction betting analyst Frank Doyle makes his Sweet Sixteen Picks for Gambling911.com readers. You might recall he did pretty well last week (a la Western Kentucky).
I know that Villanova v Duke in the East is the matchup for the purist, but the game I'm really fascinated by is in Memphis on Friday, when Syracuse takes on Oklahoma.
Syracuse flew under the radar in a very crowded Big East - you may have seen Villanova coach Jay Wright talking about how Georgetown and Notre Dame suffered because of how extraordinarily deep the Big East was this year on TV recently - but the Orange came to prominence in the Big East Tourney and now Syracuse is a reasonable longshot bet to go all the way. Veteran coach who's done it before, point guard par excellence in Jonny Flynn, any amount of momentum - what's not to like?
And in the Sooners' corner, there's only the best player in the game. Texas Tech coach Pat Knight compared Blake Griffin to the Terminator a few weeks ago and it's the most apposite comparison you can think of. The guy is relentless, taking the licks and getting it done. Also, it's very hard to believe that the Orange aren't running on empty after that draining Big East Tourney, and my guess is that Syracuse will run out of gas on Friday night in Memphis. Oklahoma -1 with Sports Interaction is the pick.
Another of the Sweet Sixteen picks to consider: Memphis is a team worth watching in the West. Even though this has been a chalk tourney with so many seeds getting through, all four No 1s have only gotten through to the Final Four only once before, and that was last year. Now it could be that was an evolutionary jump and it'll be much more common from here on in, or that it was a statistical aberration and a No 1 will get upset this weekend. I like Memphis to do the upsetting.
Memphis is a team that's sound in all the fundamentals, and is in its fourth straight Sweet Sixteen. You can't buy that kind of experience, least of all in Collegiate sports. Missouri won the Big 12 Tournament but you would have liked Mizzou to have performed a little better against doomed Marquette and that tips the balance for me. Memphis at -4.5 with Sports Interaction is the bet.
Purdue v Connecticut on the other side of that Western bracket is an interesting game. I opined in this space that Connecticut wouldn't go far because of the injury to Jerome Dyson. Instead, the Huskies pounded Texas A&M and massacred Chattanooga. But, you know, I still have trouble believing. I don't like the Huskies to cover seven and half against Purdue but I'm certainly not going to back a Big Ten team this year either. The risk is too great. However, the total looks on the high side for a game that doesn't look likely to be a shootout. Under 134.5 between Connecticut and Purdue with Sports Interaction is the third and final pick of the week.
Frank Doyle, Gambling911.com
