No. 7 California Golden Bears vs. No. 10 Maryland Terrapins
NCAA Tournament Betting Preview
No. 7 California Golden Bears (22-10) vs. No. 10 Maryland Terrapins (20-13)
Thursday, 3:00PM Eastern
Betus.com betting line – California -1.5
The no. 10 seeded Maryland Terrapins and the no. 7 seeded California Golden Bears will square of Friday afternoon in what many people are considering the most intriguing game in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. California really struggled down the stretch losing 4 of their last 6 games to close out the season. Maryland was pretty similar losing 4 of their last 7 games as well. However, one of those teams will have the chance to right the ship and get a respectable first round victory and will go on to likely meet the no. 2 seed the Memphis Tigers in round two. Unlike many of the first round match-ups, both of these schools have the potential to score some points. Do not be expected to see a fairly high scoring game in this opener which is something you may not see much of in the first round.
The Maryland Terrapins got their bid to the NCAA Tournament after a descent 23-10 record on the season. Maryland had some big wins this year on their resume to help them seal that bid. The Terrapins knocked off highly rated North Carolina and Wake Forest during the season and played teams well despite their 7-9 record in the conference. The Terrapins averaged 72 points per game on the season which ranked right outside the top 100 teams in the country. The Terrapins scoring defense was rather poor given the higher scoring style of the ACC as they allowed nearly 70 points per game on the defensive side of the court. The Terrapins will face another solid scoring team in California on Friday and must keep the Golden Bears scoring down. Junior guard Greivis Vasquez will be the go to guy for the Terrapins. Vasquez leads the team in scoring with 17 points per game this year. Vasquez and the rest of the Terrapins will look for strong scoring efforts as they try to take down California in the opening round.
The California Golden Bears got off to a brilliant start to their season with a record of 15-2. However, as the season got into conference play the Golden Bears started having struggles and only ended up with an 11-7 mark in the Pac-10. California has sported a fairly strong scoring offense this season that has averaged 75 points per game on the year. Even more impressive is that the Golden Bears rank inside the top 10 teams in the country in terms of shooting efficiency knocking down 48.5% of their shots as a team on the year. The biggest impact player on the California roster is junior guard Jerome Randle. Randle has posted 18.4 points per game this season while adding 5 assist per game as well. Randle is a sharp shooter who has knocked down 50% from the floor and an amazing 47% from behind the arc. The Golden Bears would love nothing more than their standout guard to have a big game on Friday. Also keep an eye on the other guard Patrick Christopher. Christopher is averaging 15 points per game and these two guys in the backcourt could make it extremely difficult for the Terrapins.
Betting Trends…
California is only 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games while reaching the over total in 4 of their last 5 games. The Golden Bears are 16-8 SU in the last 24 games and only 2-4 SU in the last 6 games. Maryland is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 outings while reaching the under total in 6 of the last 7 games.
Pick – California pulls away late in the 2nd half. Take Cal -1.5
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