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East Regional semifinals
March 27, 2008
By Brian Edwards VegasInsider.com
T he NCAA Tournament resumes tonight with a quartet of games, including a pair of dandy matchups in Charlotte at Bobcat Arena. Let’s take a look at both of those contests.
**Washington State vs. North Carolina**
--Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened North Carolina (34-2 straight up, 22-11 against the spread) as an eight-point favorite with a total of 137. Since then, the total has been adjusted into the 142-143 range. Most spots have the Cougars at plus 300 on the money line (risk $100 to win $300).
--This is the lowest total UNC has seen all year and the highest for Washington St. The previous low for UNC was 145 in a game against Old Dominion that played to 181 combined points (99-82 Carolina victory). The ‘over’ is 4-2 in UNC’s six games with the total in the 140s. The Cougars saw a 141-point total in their season opener, a 68-41 win over Eastern Washington that stayed ‘under.’
--UNC dealt out a pair of woodshed beatings in Raleigh last weekend. The Tar Heels drilled Mount St. Mary’s by a 113-74 count as 25-point favorites in Friday night’s first-round matchup. On Sunday, they jumped on Arkansas early and cruised to a 108-77 victory as 11-point ‘chalk.’ Tyler Hansbrough scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Wayne Ellington led five UNC players in double figures with 20 points against the Razorbacks.
--Roy Williams’s team has won 13 in a row since losing a home game – albeit with Ty Lawson nursing a sprained ankle – to Duke. The Heels are 7-6 ATS during that stretch.
--Washington State (26-8 SU, 18-15 ATS) owns a 3-5 record both SU and ATS in eight spots as an underdog this season. This is the richest ‘dog situation the Cougars have seen, as the most generous number they have caught was six in an 81-74 loss (both SU and ATS) at UCLA.
--Washington St. was dominant in a pair of wins last week against both Winthrop and Notre Dame. The Cougars sent the Eagles packing by virtue of a 71-41 win as 10-point favorites. The 111 combined points stayed ‘under’ the 114-point total that was the lowest tally of all first-round games. Next, Tony Bennett’s team thumped Notre Dame 61-41 as a 2 ½-point ‘chalk.’ Derrick Low scored 18 points, while Kyle Weaver had 15 points and nine rebounds.
--The Cougars limited Luke Harangody, the Big East Player of the Year who is a dominant post player like Hansbrough, to just 10 points on 3-of-17 shooting from the field. Hansbrough, the National Player of the Year, averages 23.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
--Washington St. hasn’t won two games in the NCAA Tournament since 1941. With that said, this is a veteran team led by its senior guards Low and Weaver. The Cougars got a taste of the tournament last season, winning their first game before dropping a heartbreaker in overtime to Vandy in the second round.
--UNC became the first team since Loyola Marymount in 1990 (think Bo Kimble, Jeff Fryer, Terrell Lowery, Per Stumer and Tom “The Human Bruise” Peabody) to score more than 100 points in back-to-back NCAA Tournament games.
--The ‘over’ is 21-11 overall for UNC, but the ‘under’ is 17-16 overall for the Cougars, who have watched the ‘under’ go 7-3 in their last 10 games.
--Tip-off is scheduled for 7:25 p.m. Eastern on CBS.
**Tennessee vs. Louisville**
--LVSC opened Louisville (26-8 SU, 19-12 ATS) as a 1 ½-point favorite with a total of 146, but the number has been at 2 ½ for most of the week. Some spots even moved to three on Wednesday. The total remains 146 at most spots, while gamblers can back UT on the money line for a plus 135 return.
--With the exception of the second half against South Carolina in its regular-season finale, Tennessee (31-4 SU, 17-14 ATS) hasn’t played well since winning at Memphis back on Feb. 23. Since then, the Volunteers are 3-5 ATS.
--Bruce Pearl’s team advanced to its second straight Sweet 16 thanks to a 76-71 victory over Butler in overtime. The Vols hooked up their backers with a fortunate cover as 4 ½-point favorites thanks to four consecutive free throws by JaJuan Smith in the last 13 seconds of the extra session. Wayne Chism scored a team-high 16 for UT, but leading scorer Chris Lofton produced just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting.
--UT beat American 72-57 in the first round, but the final score was extremely misleading because the Vols led by just five with less than four minutes remaining. They failed to cover the number as 19-point favorites.
--Lofton, a senior guard who is one of the most prolific scorers in SEC history, had only five points against American, missing all five attempts from beyond the arc. Lofton shot 4-for-18 combined in the two games in Birmingham.
--Pearl tinkered with his lineup last week, inserting J.P. Prince as the starting point guard in place of Ramar Smith. Prince, a transfer from Arizona, did some good things but committed six turnovers against Butler.
--Louisville was as impressive as any team in the field last week, clubbing Boise St. (79-61) and Oklahoma (78-48) for easy spread covers. Eleven different U of L players scored against the Sooners with Earl Clark netting a team-high 14 points.
--Dating back to Jan. 5, Louisville has been a money-making machine, cashing tickets at a 16-4-1 ATS clip.
--The Cardinals are 11-5 ATS as single-digit favorites this season.
--Tennessee has only been an underdog four times this year, winning outright in each of those games. The Vols won as ‘dogs at Xavier, at Gonzaga, at Mississippi State and at Memphis.
--The ‘under’ is 19-12 overall for the Cardinals, 17-14 overall for the Vols.
Brian Edwards can be reached at briane@vegasinsider.com.
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