Courtside Players Club NCAAB 4-5 Units (3/14/25)

NCAAB

3 Picks (10 Units).

12PM: Michigan State -5.5 (3 Units).

We have the Spartans making a run come NCAA Tournament time. They're one of the most complete, well rounded basketball teams in the Nation. They're led by a defense that's 5th in defensive rating but they can do it on both ends of the floor, and they're the 3rd in Rebound Rate. They have a ton of veteran guys who have been at MSU and coached by Tom Izzo for years and that matters. It’s rare these days with the Transfer portal, NIL, and early NBA exits. MSU is 339th in 3-PT %, 327th in 3-PT Rate, and still rank 30th in Offensive Rating. They have shot better of late, knocking down 34.6% of 3's over their last 3 games. Regardless the Ducks aren't a team that's going to shoot their way past the Spartans. They're 34th in offensive rating and 152nd in 3-PT %. MSU is also 3rd Nationally in opponent 3-PT %. They're 267th in opponent 3-PT Rate though, which tells you just how hard it is to get to the basket on this Spartans defense. Teams get stuck settling for bad and contested shots. Spartans have won and covered in 7 straight games.

6:30PM EST: Illinois/Maryland Under 158.5 (4 Units).

These teams play with plenty of pace but their defenses match-up well. Maryland's 5th in defensive rating with Illinois ranked 40th. Maryland is 33rd in offensive rating while Illinois is 13th. Maryland's coming into this fresh, playing for the first time in the Big 10 Tournament. Illinois just played in a taxing 106-94 track meet against Iowa last night and that's going to have an impact tonight. It's a grind to score on Maryland as it is, and tired legs certainly don't help. Illinois scored 106 last night courtesy of great 3-PT shooting despite being 298th in 3-PT %. They aren't a good perimeter shooting team and odds are they wouldn't repeat that even if they played that miserable Hawkeyes defense again today. It’s incredibly unlikely they get that type of performance against Maryland. Spacing will be a bit tighter and Maryland excels defensively without fouling, ranking 40th in fouls per possession. Maryland's offense hasn't blown anyone away of late either, and they happily run their sets and slow things down. Going back, they've scored 74, 71, 68, and 55. Should be plenty of possessions in this game we just don't see the efficiency to drive this over. These are also two of the best defensive rebounding teams in the Country so there shouldn't be too many put back opportunities. 7PM EST: Duke -6.5 (3 Units)

Well aware Cooper Flaggs hurt, and we don't mind too much. You aren't 2nd in offensive rating and 4th in defensive rating because of one player. This is also Duke we're talking about, not just some Power 5 program. The majority of their roster is going to get a shot at making an NBA roster someday. They were down 13 points by the time they got the ball back after Flagg went down against Georgia Tech and they still won by 7. Sure, mediocre opponent but so is North Carolina. Duke's 16th in 3-PT % this year and Flagg's their 5th best shooter. They shot 23.3% against Georgia Tech or that games an absolute blowout. The fact that this game’s against North Carolina also guarantees they play their balls off for a full 40 minutes. Flagg or not this Duke basketball roster is much better than North Carolina's and it's that simple for us.