Men’s NCAA Tournament 2024: B/R Expert Predictions for First Round
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With the First Four of the 2024 males’s NCAA competition total, the competition can formally start.
I understand, I understand. The competition began Tuesday. Could somebody let Virginia understand that? It appears the Cavaliers missed out on the memo.
Anyhow, we’ve got 32 video games throughout about 36 hours. Numerous bracket ramifications. Numerous things to wager on. Much to think about in advance of the 2 biggest days on the sports calendar.
I’ve invested the majority of my waking hours considering that the choice program reading these matches, looking for any and every area where an underdog may have a benefit or where the predictive analytics/betting lines appear to be missing out on something substantial.
For each of the 32 video games, we’ll quickly summarize what it would consider each group to win before likewise using an area where you may think about putting a wager.
Our college basketball specialists will each use their forecast on which group gets the win.
Lines from DraftKings and upgraded at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Register to Play the NCAA March Madness Men’s Bracket Challenge and Tournament Run.
No. 8 Florida Atlantic Owls vs. No. 9 Northwestern Wildcats
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Match: No. 8 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 9 Northwestern (East Regional)
Information: Friday at 12:15 p.m. ET (CBS), Brooklyn
One-Sentence Synopsis: Mercurial Florida Atlantic handles Methodical Northwestern in a first-round video game that need to include several three-point containers.
Florida Atlantic Wins If: Dr. Jekyll can keep Mr. Hyde at bay. When “Good FAU” appears, it can be anybody, specifically a short-handed Northwestern team. “Bad FAU” is constantly prowling simply around the corner, however, and might back its awful head in a loss to practically anybody.
Northwestern Wins If: Boo Buie does Boo Buie things. FAU has actually had a world of problem this season attempting to decrease opposing guards who can take control of a video game by their lonely, which Buie most definitely can do. It may take an especially Herculean effort from the fifth-year senior to stop the Owls’ mission for back-to-back Final Fours before it can actually start, however possibly he’ll remain in his bag in this one.
If I Had to Bet on Something: Florida Atlantic -3. Not just did the Owls get a better seed than they should have– a little mea culpa for egregiously under-seeding them in 2015, maybe?– however they got the very best possible first-round draw versus a diminished Northwestern. The Wildcats have actually not been the exact same group considering that losing Ty Berry in early February, and they’ve likewise lacked huge guy Matthew Nicholson for the previous number of video games.
