Courtside Players Club NCAAB 4-5 Units (3/23/25)

NCAAB

4 Picks (15 Units).

12:10PM: Florida/UConn Over 150.5 (3U).

5:15PM: Illinois -2 (5 Units).

When Illinois is at their best they can beat any team in the Country. They've struggled with consistency this year and that's centered around turnovers. That wasn't Xavier's defensive game in an easy Round 1 win and it's even less of Kentucky's. The Wildcats are 340th in opponent turnovers per possession. It works for them because offensively they're 45th in turnovers per possession. Illinois is actually even worse at forcing turnovers, ranking 360th in opponent turnovers per possession. That's fine because Kentucky isn't going to turn it over much anyway. Illinois beats you with elite offense, contesting shots on defense, and dominating the boards on both endds. They're 69th in opponent FG, 5th in rebound rate, 20th in defensive rebounding %, and 14th in offensive rebounding %. Kentucky isn't an elite rebounding team, ranking 67th in rebound rate, 42nd in defensive rebounding %, and 219th in offensive rebounding %. Illinois has gotten theirs on the offensive glass against the best defensive rebounding teams in the Country and will here today. The Pace of this game is just going to provide more rebounding opportunities too. These two rank 17th and 24th in Tempo. Then there's the Lamont Butler injury. He is the catalyst that makes Kentucky's offense go and he's dealing with a bum shoulder. He'll play today as he did in Round 1, but he simply wasn't needed against Troy. In 25 minutes, he finished with 0 points, on 0-5 from the field with 2 REB, 3 AST, 1 BLK, and 2 Turnovers. Can't hide today and Kentucky really struggled when he missed time earlier this year.

6:10PM: St. Mary's/Alabama Under 149.5 (4U).

This is nearly the fasted paced team in the Country vs the slowest. Alabama is 1st in Tempo with St. Mary's ranked 360th. We think St. Mary's is just the team to slow the tide down. Part of that's because they simply don't have the athletes to run with Alabama. A track meet all but guarantees a trip home for the Gaels. They're going to run their slow-paced offense and their 7th ranked defense should help keep a lid on things. They should also the ball for the majority of this game. They're 39th in turnovers per possession and the #1 ranked rebounding team in the Country. They outrebounded Vanderbilt 39-25 in their Round 1 win. Game prior to that was the WCC Championship game against Gonzaga (22nd rebounding) and they outrebounded them 37-23. They also outrebounded Gonzaga by at least 7 in each of their 2 regular season meetings. There are competition concerns with the WCC teams, but Gonzaga just went toe-to-toe rebounding against Houston (24th) and dominated the glass in their win over Georgia (47th). The boards are the Gaels’ path to keeping this game under control and we like them to do it.

7:10PM: Maryland -8 (3 Units).

This is just one of our favorite teams in the Country. They're good or great in every major category and with that can beat you so many different ways. Just look at their last couple losses and it shows just how good they can play even when things are going bad. They lost by 1 to Michigan on a buzzer beater in the Big 10 Tournament game despite being outrebounded 38-16. That's just a silly discrepancy. Maryland is 63rd in Rebound Rate and Colorado State's 75th. Loss prior to that came by 3 to MSU and again at the buzzer but this time a halfcourt shot. Maryland shot 31.3% from the field and 20% from deep in that game. Maryland's 43rd in FG% and 25th in 3-PT %. We don’t think Colorado State is on the same level or had to play anywhere close to the same level of competition. The Big 10's having one hell of an NCAA Tournament right now. Colorado State's faced a few teams that got a win in Round 1 earlier this year and have were handled every time. The Terps also came out a little unmotivated and slow against Grand Canyon and GC took advantage of that. Maryland's going to be ready to play from the jump and we have them as a vastly superior team.