The NCAA Tournament begins tonight with two games, potentially the start of a Cinderella run.
We lament the night John Collins had at work, and keep an eye on some NHL + NBA stories we’re eying.
March Madness Tips Off Tonight
What Happened: The First Four has been set, with NCAA Tournament action kicking off tonight. Your bracket might not be ready to go just yet, but there’s still plenty of reason to tune in for the tourney’s start.
Why It Matters: The first game of the night pits #16 Wagner against #16 Howard. ESPN BET currently has Howard as a -3.5 favorite. But while Howard relies on its offensive prowess, Wagner’s defense wants to smother its opponent. Offense can go streaky, but defense rarely takes a night off.
The second game features #10 Colorado State and #10 Virginia, and while their seedings are the same, some rankings don’t see these teams as equals. The KenPom rankings, for instance, have Virginia as the 69th best team in the country, while slotting Colorado State all the way in 38th. CSU comes in favored by -2.5 points, and point guard Isaiah Stevens should be the best player on the court, giving the Rams the advantage.
How We’re Feeling Today
Hopeful that Jazz big man John Collins can shake off what happened last night.
If you didn’t see it, Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards threw down a nasty dunk on, over, and through Collins. Gorgeous photos, mesmerizing video, all of it captured Collins’ moment of ignominy. Best case for Collins is that people forget he is the defender in question here, because that dunk is going to be a highlight for years to come.
The Look Ahead
Kyle Kuzma POINTS – Kuzma was already the main scoring option on a bad Wizards team. Now, with chucker Jordan Poole’s move to the bench, even more shots should open up for Kuzma, who is nursing a shoulder injury. If he does suit up, his 24.8 scoring average for the month of March makes his 22.5 line on points interesting.
Mikael Granlund SOG – A line of 1.5 SOG? Granlund has multiple shots in six of his last eight, and got off three shots against the Predators back in late February.
Michael Bunting SOG – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Bunting has averaged over three shots per game since joining the Penguins while he rides on the wing of either Sid Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
