Republished with permission of Mike Wynn Sports of FreePlays.com

A big game for both these schools Saturday night as Ohio St hosts the Fighting Illini of Illinois. Ohio St after two straight losses is suddenly a bubble team with a 17-7 record and a 7-6 record in the relatively weak Big10 conference. Illinois is ranked in the Top 20 this week and look like a sure bet for a bid, but this team is off an embarrassment losing 38-33 at home to Penn St. Illinois shot just 30% from the floor and had an amazing 0 free throws in the contest. Illinois is still within shouting distance of Michigan St in the Big10 standings at 9-5 and they do have a home date with the Spartans on March 1^st. So let’s take a look at both these teams and we’ll start with the visitors from Illinois.

Illinois has been a bit of a surprise team this year in the Big10. Bruce Weber’s squad was not expected to contend for a Big10 title but they’ve gotten solid play out of sophomores McCamey, Tisdale, and Davis. These three guys lead the team in scoring this season led by McCamey’s 11.8 per game and Davis and Tisdale provide the muscle pulling down 11.8 boards per game between them. Illinois obviously a young team so they’re going to have nights like they did against Penn St on Wednesday and it’s yet to be seen whether they’ll hold up in post-season play. Illinois just 4-4 on the road this season and it’s probably a good bet to say that they won’t get to far.

Ohio St off back to back losses at Wisconsin and Northwestern need to get it turned around at home Saturday. Buckeyes a solid 13-2 straight up at home with the only losses against West Virginia & Michigan St, and they’re led by sophomore G/F Evan Turner’s 17.2 points per game. Turner also leads the team in rebounds at 7.3, steals at 1.9, and 3 point shooting with a 47.4% success rate. Much like Illinois, Ohio St is a young squad with no seniors on the roster, and most of their production comes from sophomores and freshmen. Much like Illinois the Buckeyes are young and tend to struggle on the road as evidenced by their 2-5 road record. Ohio St’s tournament resume could really use a quality win and they’ve got their chance here with Illinois at home Saturday night.

As far as a pick on this one Saturday night I’ll advise laying the points with Ohio St. Buckeyes are a 3 point favorite on the advance numbers here and as I’ve mentioned already both teams are like night and day at home and on the road. Ohio St is really in a must win spot here if they want to slip into the NCAA tournament and I expect they’ll get it.

There are still lots of games to deal with, but they’re easy to weed through when you look at the key trends Dr. Vegas has generated. Here are some top trends for March 26-28 college basketball.

Wednesday, March 26
Dayton – Over is 10-1 after 2 Wins

Virginia Tech is 14-4 ATS as a favorite

Tulsa is 13-4-1 ATS as a favorite
Houston – Over is 18-7

Thursday, March 27
Washington State – Under is 5-0 after 2 ATS wins
Washington State Cougars are 7-1-1 O/U After 2 Home (All Lines)

UCLA is 10-2 ATS after 1 ATS loss
UCLA is 5-0 ATS after 2 unders

Friday, March 28
Villanova – Under is 9-2 as a dog

Davidson is 5-0 ATS as a dog

Texas – Under is 10-2-1 after 1 ATS loss

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Only a few key trends jump out for the Saturday card. And that’s fine because we don’t want to simply create trends for trends sake. They are what they are. Some days there will be many, and other days few. For Saturday, there are a few totals to watch, as the following trends indicate.

Kansas State vs Wisconsin
Wisconsin – Under is 9-2-1 following 2 unders
Kansas State – Over is 18-6-1

Notre Dame vs Washington State
Notre Dame – Over is 6-0 as a dog

Texas A&M vs UCLA
Texas A&M – Under is 20-9

The Raleigh Regional hosts 4 games on Friday that promise to be full of excitement. Certainly the North Carolina vs Mt. St. Mary’s will not be a matter of who wins, but by how much with NC blow them out. The UMBC-Georgetown matchup could be more closer than many experts project. Indiana vs Arkansas is not as evenly matched as a #8 vs #9 seed should be. The Davidson-Gonzaga showdown looks to be a dogfight.Games to be held at RBC Center, Raleigh NC, March 20, 2008

7:10pm ET
North Carolina favored by 24 over Mt. St. Marys, with a total of 151
Mt. St. Marys is fresh off their 9-point win over Coppin State to join the big boys in the Big Dance. Of course their “reward” is to play the top ranked team in the country. The bigger question isn’t whether North Carolina will win, but if they will cover. Coming into this game they had lost 5 of the last 6 against the spread, and only two of those games did they win by more than 10 points. So despite being the #1 team going into this game (and the tournament), North Carolina has displayed chinks in its armor, and a 24-point line isn’t insurmountable from the dog’s view. Of course one must wonder how much the home crowd will pump this team up when they blow this game wide open.

9:40pm ET
Indiana favored by 1.5 over Arkansas, total of 141
Indiana is ranked #22 in the country and enter the tournament with a #8 seed. Arkansas is unranked nationally, but come in right behind Indiana with a #9 seed. Indiana enters this game coming off two SU losses and 5 ATS losses out of their last 6 games. They finished with 3 straight unders, following 6 straight overs. Arkansas lost their previous game (to Georgia), but won the prior 3. As a dog, the over is 11-3-1 for the Razorbacks.

2:55pm ET
Georgetown favored by 16.5 over Maryland-Baltimore (UMBC), total of 129.5
The Hoyas are ranked #9 in the country and begin as a #2 seed in the Midwest, versus UMBC’s #15 seed. The UMBC Retrievers are not your household name. Their stadium only holds 4000 fans, but they were this year’s powerhouse in the America East Conference. They did nonetheless play some more familiar teams earlier in the season, holding their own against the likes of Lasalle, St. Peter’s, and Richmond. Georgetown, on the other hand, comes into the tournament with the best record in the Big East, though off a loss to 7th seeded Pittsburgh in the Big East Championship. It wasn’t a matter of them slacking off or looking ahead, but of being outplayed. The 16.5-point line is pretty soft. The Hoyas don’t enter this game with complete confidence, and it could be very easy to take UMBC for granted due to their low profile. Georgetown should win, but it may not be as comfortable as Vegas thinks. Even if Georgetown wins, don’t look for them to go as deep as a #2 seed should.

12:25pm ET
Davidson favored by 2 over Gonzaga, total of 140
Davidson is ranked #23 in the nation and enter the Midwest with a #10 seed. Gonzaga sits just behind Davison in the national rankings, at #24, but 3 seeds ahead in the tournament at #10. Gonzaga is another team coming off a conference championship loss. In this case, they lost to San Diego by 7 points in a game they were favored to win by 7. Davidson, on the other hand, owned the Southern Conference this year. They had a 6-point lead over the second place team, and handily beat Elon in the Conference Tournament. One note is that Davidson enters this game with 7 of the last 8 games going under the total. They are 9-1 following an ATS loss (they missed covering the Elon game by half a point), and the under is 17-4 following a straight up win.

With over 1.3 billion combinations of stats, here are some of the best trends going into this week’s tournaments. 

It’s a light card on the late show, but there is one nice trend for the afternoon games. Take a look at Illinois vs Wisconsin.

Illinois is 1-9 ATS is games following a SU/ATS win.

Back online for Monday with more trends!

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After running 1.3 billion stat combinations going into today’s card, Dr. Vegas has a few nice trends to look at for Friday college basketball.

Georgia Tech: The over is 7-0 on the road after a home game.

Tulsa is 7-0 ATS as a favorite after winning 1 game.

NC-Charlotte is 12-2 ATS as a dog this year.

Going against Georgetown is 8-1 ATS following 4 Georgetown wins.

For tonight’s top plays, and a free pick, click here.

Dr. Vegas has crunched the numbers for Thursday and a few key trends jump out on the college basketball card. Let’s take a look.

For a single quick trend, take a look at Georgetown:
Georgetown is 8-1-1 ATS after winning 4 games in a row SU.

For a more significant set of trends, look at NC-Charlotte:
12-2 ATS as a dog
8-1 ATS as a dog following a win
9-1 ATS as s dog following a home game
8-1 ATS as a dog following an under

Click here for more info and a free pick from Dr. Vegas tonight. 

The top trends of the night fall in college basketball. In this game we have Oregon State visiting Arizona, with Arizona as 18-point favorites. We find trends going against Oregon State, such as:

Oregon State is 2-10 ATS after an OVER.
Oregon State is 4-13 after losing 3 games.

We also have another solid trend in college hoops tonight. Take a look at the Cincinnati vs Pittsburgh matchup.

Cincinnati is 9-1-1 ATS when playing as a dog after losing one game.

For more on tonight’s card, click here.

For Tuesday we have a somewhat light card, and many NBA games with lines near or above double digits. We do have a good total trend for tonight. Portland visits Minnesota and the latest FreePlays.com line on the total is 186.5. There are 4 trends favoring the under on this game. Let’s look a little further.

The under is 26-10 when Portland plays conference foes.
The under is 13-3 when Portland plays conference foes coming off a SU loss.
The under is 11-3 when Portland plays conference foes coming off an ATS loss.
The under is 13-4 when Portland plays conference foes coming off a road game.

Free pick from Dr. Vegas today can be found here.