NCAAB
2 Picks (8 Units).
6:30PM EST: Georgetown +5 (3 Units).
We like how Georgetown matches up against St. John's. Pitino's bunch is long, athletic, and defends well, Georgetown happens to have the same exact blueprint. Georgetown is best defensively protecting the rim, limiting teams to 42.5% from 2-PT range, the 5th best mark in the country. St. John's is 13th in 2-PT Rate at 69.8% and 327th in 3-PT % at 29.9%. Their inability to hit perimeter shots leads to some ugly offensive stretches. They only made 1 three as they stole a win from Xavier in OT last week. St. John's only beat Georgetown 63-58 at Home and lost 56-57 at Creighton earlier this year. There's also a 63-66 loss to Georgia on the resume. The one thing these 3 teams have in common is elite defense at the rim. Their defense will play and travel anywhere but we Georgetown's offense gets a little boost at home. It should be a tightly contested and physical Big East matchup.
7PM EST: Tennessee -10 (5 Units).
We like the Volunteers to come out with a purpose after losing 53-51 at Auburn despite leading 51-47 with 2 minutes to go. That's the best team in the country they just went toe-to-toe with and on the road. Tennessee has the number 1 ranked defense in College Basketball and if it was good enough to stop Auburn on the road it's surely good enough to stop Kentucky at Home. Their offense is only 34th in offensive rating but Kentucky's defense is bad, ranking 81st in defensive rating. The Wildcats have struggled on the road in Conference play, losing at Vanderbilt by 5 and by 13 to Georgia. They also beat Mississippi State by 5. Those are solid Basketball teams, but they aren't on the same level as Tennessee or the other National Championship contenders. Mark Pope's done a great job thus far in his first year as HC at Kentucky, but this is their toughest spot of the season. Kentucky's defense will really need to step up and perform if they want to stay in this game and that's just something they haven't done much of this year and 0 times on the road.
