3 seed Texas Tech takes on 1 seed Florida

The Florida Gators are currently the hottest team in the country by far, their combination of size and shooting as lead them to this amazing run. First through the SEC tournament and now through the NCAA tournament. In the game against Maryland the Gators had 6 players in double figures, and even though at times against Ucon and Maryland they didn’t not look great, when it gets down to crunch time they take over.

This team goes through Walter Clayton Jr. who is leading the team in both points per game and assists per game, with averaging 17.7 and 4.2 per game. And even in the 16 point win against Maryland he only had 13 points and didn’t shoot particularly well, I expect to him have a massive game against the Red Raiders.

On the Red Raiders side of the ball they have not looked great at many points during this tournament, they where down most of the game against Arkansas, and where some how able to send it to overtime. They are lead by JT Toppin who is averaging 18.2 points per game along with 9.3 rebounds a game.

He is going to need to have a massive game if the Red Raiders want to pull off this upset. Freshman Guard Christian Anderson lead the team in scoring against the Razorbacks with 22 points including a crucial 3 point shot with 1 min left to pull the game back to 3 points. He will need a to have another big game. I think Florida should dominate this game, but crazier things have happened.

Best Bet: Florida -6.5 (-110)  on FanDuel.

2 seed Alabama takes on 1 seed Duke

This game really only needs five words from me. Mark Sears, Keep the points.

Best Bet: Alabama ML (+225), O 174.5 (-110) on FanDuel.

2 seed Tennessee takes on 1 seed Houston

This one is very interesting for me and I would expect this to be the most physical game out of all of the elite 8 games. L.J. Cryer leads the offense for the ‘Cougs’ and even though he didn’t have his best shooting game by any means he still made a Clutch 3 down the stretch in order to fend off the Boilermakers who they beat on a shot with just 0.9 seconds to go.

In that Milos Uzan was the best player and leading scorer for Houston. with 22 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds, including hitting the game winning shot. He also shot 66.7% from 3 points range and is having a very good tournament overall. For the ‘Vols’ its all about Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler, they are leading the offense and Zeigler is one of the best defensive guards in the country.

In the dominating win over Kentucky Zakai had 18 points and 10 assists. A big part of their victory was how they dominated the offensive glass out rebounding Kentucky 14 to 7 on the offensive glass which lead to lots of second chance points for the ‘Vols’. Chaz Lanier didn’t shoot well from three only going 1-6 but he still finished with 17 points and 4 assists.

And overall the Tennessee defense was very very good as it has been all year. And I think the defense from Tennessee will be the difference in this game, which should be a low scoring physical game.

Best Bet: Tennessee +3.5

2 seed Michigan State takes on 1 seed Auburn

If Michigan State is going to win this game they are going to need to do something they have not done all year, shoot the three ball well. If they do that they will be able to stay in the game, if they don’t Auburn will shoot them out of the gym. Yet march is Tom Izzo’s month, and in the tournament over his career he never lost to an SEC team, a perfect 10-0 against the SEC in March.

Jaden Akins is going to need to have a big game for the Spartans if they want to win this game and has played very well in this tournament finishing each game with at least 10 points. On the other side of the ball with Auburn if they are hot from three point and range and rebounding well they are the best team in the country, although they have had some shaky moments throughout the season.

Including in their game against Michigan, when they where down by 9 points with 12 minutes left in the second half, but then they got hot and went on a 28-6 run and flipped the game completely on its head. This game is going to be very interesting cause Michigan is going to have to score if they can’t stop Auburn from shooting threes which is what makes this game so conflicting for me.

Because Auburn is either going be hot from 3 and win by 15 plus points or its gonna be tight and down to the wire.

Best Bet: Auburn -5.5 

Gimme an all SEC Final 4.