ATS Sports Blog

- On Tuesday night, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will commence with the play-in game.  Winthrop will narrowly defeat Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Winthrop’s victory will earn them a date on Friday evening to play the Top Seed in the South Region, the Duke Blue Devils.

- Tuesday night, the NIT tips off.  UCONN, UNC, UAB, Mississippi State, Arizona State, and Seton Hall will all win as favorites in their opening round game. The one minor upset will be NC State defeating South Florida.

- Wednesday, in the NIT.  The majority of the games will go as expected, as the higher seeded team will win all but two games.  Winners will include Dayton, Virginia Tech, Wichita State, Mississippi, Memphis, Rhode Island, and Cincinnati. The two upsets will be Tulsa winning at Kent State, and Stony Brook shocking top seeded Illinois.

- The Midwest Region will have four games taking place on Thursday. #3 Georgetown will have little difficulty defeating #14 Ohio, as the Hoyas should win by 15 to 17 points. #1 Kansas will dominate Lehigh, as the Morris brothers and Cole Aldrich will be just too much for #16 seed Lehigh to handle.  Kansas wins by 39 points. #8 Northern Iowa will battle #9 UNLV.  Both teams are very strong on the defensive side of the ball, which means this game will be very low scoring. Adam Koch and Jordan Eglseder should control the boards for Northern Iowa, and PG Kwadzo Ahelegbe is so tough penetrating in the lane.  Ahelegbe will have a big scoring game here. #8 Northern Iowa prevails by 4 points. #11 San Diego State has one of the best freshmen in the nation in PF Kawhi Leonard.  Leonard is a monster on the glass, especially the offensive glass. #6 Tennessee is very undisciplined and besides Scotty Hopson, at times, the team has trouble scoring. The Vols can’t possibly stay in this game. The Aztecs win this game easily; San Diego State by 19 points.

- Thursday night the West Region tips off four games as well. #2 Kansas State should have no problems at all with #15 North Texas. Kansas State rolls by 34 points. #4 Vanderbilt should have little trouble with #13 Murray State, as Jermaine Beal should get into the lane on every possession. Vandy rolls by 16 points. #12 UTEP should be too athletic for #5 Butler. UTEP has arguably the best frontline in the nation, and there is little chance that Butler will be able to handle Caracter and Moultrie in the post and on offensive rebounds. UTEP should win this game pretty easily; UTEP by 11 points. #10 Florida has been very inconsistent this season, but Coach Billy Donovan knows how to prepare for tournament play, and the Gators will be ready to go, in fact, the Gators will defeat #7 BYU will a barrage of three-point shots that come from Walker, Boynton, and Parsons. Jimme Fredette will score 30 for BYU, but it won’t be enough.  Florida wins by 7 points.

- The East Region tips off four games on Thursday as well.  #6 Marquette should roll over #11 Washington, Marquette wins by 13 points. #1 Kentucky will dominate #16 East Tennessee State by 32 points.  #3 New Mexico should handle #14 Montana pretty easily as well; New Mexico wins by 17 points.  #8 Texas versus #9 Wake Forest appears to be the only game on paper that could be close. Too bad the games aren’t played on paper, Texas kills Wake Forest. Texas freshman Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton go for 53 points combined. Texas rolls by 18 points.  The East Region is nothing but blowout city on Thursday.

- Finally on Thursday, the South Region will kick off with four games. #2 Villanova will have no problems getting by #15 Robert Morris. Villanova wins by 16 points.  #3 Baylor will dominate #14 Sam Houston State; Baylor wins by 27 points.  #6 Notre Dame should handle #11 Old Dominion; Fighting Irish win by 13 points. The #7 Richmond versus #10 St. Mary’s game will be the close one in this region. St. Mary’s is very strong from the perimeter, and Richmond’s Anderson will get to the rim on penetration over and over again. This game should go down to the wire. St. Mary’s pulls off a slight upset here by 2 points.

- On Friday, the Midwest Region has four more games on tap.  #5 Michigan State should take care of business against #12 New Mexico State. Spartans win by 15 points.  #2 Ohio State will win handily over #15 UCSB by 26 points. #7 Oklahoma State will narrowly defeat #10 Georgia Tech by 4 points, SG James Anderson will score 32 points. And #13 Houston will totally dominate #4 Maryland, as the Cougars will prove to be too athletic in the back court for Maryland. Coleman and Lewis will combine for 48 points for Houston, and Maurice McNeal will grab 7 offensive boards, en route to a 12 rebound effort.

- On Friday, the West Region has four games on the slate. #3 Pittsburgh will swarm #14 Oakland, Pittsburgh wins by 23 points. #1 Syracuse holds off a pesky #16 Vermont team, the Orangemen win by 9 points. #6 Xavier win a tight game with #11 Minnesota, despite a 23 point effort from PG Devoe Joseph from the Golden Gophers. Ex-Big Ten player, Jordan Crawford will lead the Musketeers with 18 points.  Xavier wins by 5 points. #9 Florida State will keep #8 Gonzaga unbalanced with their pressure defense, as the Zags will never recover from a big first half deficit. The Seminoles win by 10 points.

- The East Region has four games on the schedule on Friday. #13 Wofford upset #4 Wisconsin in overtime by 4 points. #5 Temple will oust #12 Cornell by 13 points, as Ryan Brooks scores 26 points. #2 West Virginia will hold off a very stubborn #15 Morgan State team, the Mountaineers win by 6 points.  #7 Clemson defeats #10 Missouri, despite a 27 point effort from SG Kim English of Mizzou. Clemson wins by 7 points.

- Finally the South Region tips off four games on Friday. #1 Duke crushes the play-in game winner Winthrop by 28 points. #13 Siena defeats #4 Purdue by 6 points. #9 Louisville handles #8 California will ease, by 11 points. The Aggies of #5 Texas A&M will defeat the Aggies of #12 Utah State by 6 points, as Donald Sloan scores 17 points.

- Saturday, eight teams will reach the Sweet 16. In the Midwest Region:  Kansas will defeat UNLV in overtime by 2 points. Georgetown will defeat San Diego State by 7 points. In West Region, Florida will narrowly defeat Kansas State by 4 points. UTEP will defeat Vanderbilt by 7 points.  In the East Region, Texas will upset Kentucky by 3 points. Marquette will upset New Mexico by 7 points. In the South Region, Villanova will easily defeat St. Mary’s by 14 points. Baylor will easily defeat Notre Dame by 17 points.

- On Sunday, eight more teams will reach the Sweet 16. In the Midwest Region, Ohio State, led by 34 points by Evan Turner, will defeat Oklahoma State by 6 points; the Cowboys will get 24 points from James Anderson in the loss. Michigan State will hold off a very athletic Houston team by 4 points. In the West Region, Syracuse will cruise into the Sweet 16 by defeating Florida State by 12 points. Pittsburgh will also win handily over Xavier by 7 points. In the East Region, Temple will defeat Wofford by 14 points.  West Virginia will beat Clemson by 7 points. In the South Region, Duke will defeat Louisville by 11 points.  Siena will defeat Texas A&M by 3 points to reach the Sweet 16.

- Thus, the Sweet 16 will be as follows:  Kansas, Georgetown, Florida, UTEP, Texas, Marquette, Villanova, Baylor, Ohio State, Michigan State, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Temple, West Virginia, Duke, and Siena.

- Ryo Ishikawa will win his first PGA tour event this week, with his improbable victory at the Transitions Championship. Ishikawa will hang on in the final round to defeat other top competitors Retief Goosen, Adam Scott, Ian Poulter, and JB Holmes.

- Joey Logano will narrowly defeat Series Points leader Kevin Harvick to capture the Ford City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, and Kurt Busch will round out the top 5.

- Radiohead will surprising dominate a strong field of three-year-olds in this Saturday’s Grade I Florida Derby raced at Gulfstream Park. Rule will complete the exacta, and Eskendereya, the race favorite will run third. Radiohead will join Lookin’ At Lucky and Odysseus as the favorites to win the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 1st.

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