Best Bets for Thursday's Slate of NCAA Tournament Action

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00:00So Gilbert, I'll start with the very first game here on the

00:02board, Louisville against Creighton. We'll start there.

00:07You know, I mean, everyone's got a favorite dog. It feels

00:10like this is one of them already to start the day here.

00:12Which side are you on?

00:14Creighton's interesting. They have an advantage on the

00:17interior with Ryan Kalkbrenner, but I like Louisville here.

00:20I think people think that they're seated a little too

00:21low as an eight seat. So they're better than an eight

00:23seat. And also they're playing this game in Lexington,

00:25Kentucky. So this is a pseudo home game for Louisville. I

00:28think that pseudo home court advantage will benefit them

00:30and a team that is much better than they're seated.

00:33All right, Clemson is the 5-12 matchup, which is more

00:37favored the five recent years, but in the past, there was

00:40always one or two 12s that beat fives. I've seen a lot

00:44of people loving McNeese State today. The line has gone up

00:48to seven and a half, but yet everybody I see is picking

00:52this as one of the big upsets of the day today. Well,

00:55how do you see it Gilbert?

00:56McNeese has been a trendy pick, understandably. So this

00:59is a team that under Will Wade has been great in both of

01:02his two seasons. But I think that the reports that Will

01:04Wade is moving on to NC State that came out yesterday

01:07are going to be the downfall of their team, having to

01:10deal with that and that distraction, regardless of

01:12what you say, they're human. I think that Clemson comes

01:13out on top. I think Clemson is one of the better teams

01:16that's built to make a deep run in this tournament, too.

01:18All right. So now we get to the matchup with the legendary

01:21coaches of Kansas and Arkansas. Kansas, of course, a

01:25short favorite. Arkansas has beaten some of the best teams

01:29in the country this season and they've played down to

01:32their competition as well. So this one is up for grabs

01:34Kansas four and a half point favorite.

01:37You know, that's another one. You mentioned Arkansas has

01:39played down. They have a big piece coming back. Boogie

01:41Flann, McDonald's All-American is expected to play tonight.

01:44So I think the fact that he is in the backcourt and Kansas

01:47has some backcourt issues. Arkansas, if we had to go with

01:50an underdog here, Arkansas is an interesting one, even

01:52if it's just taking them to the point.

01:55All right, Arkansas, plus the points. Gilbert hasn't picked

01:58a dog to win out right yet. His racket is done and we haven't

02:01even started the games yet. Texas A&M against Yale.

02:06A lot again. Another, another very popular pick is Yale today

02:10because of the style of basketball that they play A&M

02:12big favorites Gilbert.

02:14Yeah, you know what? Yale has done it before. They did it

02:16just last year as a 13 seed beat Auburn

02:20and then is not a great shooting team. Yale is one of

02:22the best teams in the country at going on runs and making

02:25things interesting. So I think this is the one that stands

02:28out as the big upset when I know it's, it's a trendy one.

02:31We've seen Yale do it before, but it just has all the makings

02:34of a of an upset today.

02:36All right. So Yale is Gilbert's big upset today here. We got

02:39Michigan, UC San Diego,

02:42you know, honestly, Gilbert had Michigan not played as well

02:44as they did down the stretch. They still would have got it

02:46in the tournament, but they wouldn't have been a favorite

02:47against anybody. This should be a close game tonight.

02:50It should be UC San Diego. Another trendy pick. They

02:52dominated the Big West, but we're looking at the Big Ten

02:55champions here. The Big Ten tournament champion, Michigan.

02:57I think that they're going to give San Diego some problems

03:00that they have not seen this year and actually expect

03:02Michigan to take care of business in this game.

03:05All right. And finally, Purdue against High Point. I don't

03:07see a lot of folks taking High Point,

03:10but I know that Purdue has had major issues in the tournament

03:12before.

03:14Yeah, I think it's a lot of a kind of a negative thing with

03:17Purdue. Just I guess their reputation that they've lost

03:19some games. They lost as a one seed a few years back.

03:22So I think that's probably why people are leaning the other

03:24way, but I like the Boilermakers here. I think High

03:26Point's impressive, but I like Purdue.

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