The nets are going to be coming down at Staples Center on Saturday night, as either the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Wichita State Shockers are going to be off to the Final Four in Atlanta. Join us for our Elite Eight predictions, as we analyze the March Madness odds for what should be a remarkable clash between David and Goliath in the West Regional Final.

March Madness: Wichita State Shockers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
Wichita State vs. Ohio State Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Wichita State vs. Ohio State Date/Time: Friday, March 29th, 7:05 p.m. ET
March Madness Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Someone on Wichita State is going to have to put a body on Deshaun Thomas
Can anyone stop this guy? We’ve been talking about Ohio State for weeks now, and the man that is always in the center of the discussion is Thomas. This is a man with great range, is lanky, can score from anywhere on the court, and can play defense as well. He’s legitimately got every tool in the bag that you would ask from a college basketball player, and he hasn’t been stopped here in the dance. Thomas put up 20 against Arizona on Thursday night, and he now has 20, 22, and 24 points in his three NCAA Tournament games. Wichita State has seen a lot of great players along the way, including a potential National Player of the Year in F Kelly Olynyk. However, Olynyk scored 26 points and put up nine boards against the Shockers as well. WSU has to do a better job on Thomas than it did on Olynyk if it realistically wants to have any chance of surviving against a very athletic team.

Wichita State vs. Ohio State Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
#9 Wichita State Shockers +4.5
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes -4.5
Over/Under 130
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Key #2: See the three. Be the three.
The three-point line is always crucial in these NCAA Tournament games, and the reason that Ohio State has survived to this point is because of the long range shot. The Buckeyes would have probably been knocked out of the dance in the first weekend by Iowa State had they not knocked down nine three-point shots, including the one by G Aaron Craft that won the game essentially at the gun. Ohio State is now knocking down a whopping 50.0 percent of its three-point shots, and it is averaging over seven threes per game. That’s a far shout from where the team was for most of the season. The Buckeyes were shooting just 35% from long range prior to the dance this season. Wichita State meanwhile, has been all over the place from beyond the arc in the dance. The team went a very respectable 5-of-12 against La Salle on Thursday, and that’s about what we are expecting to see again on Saturday. However, if there is an extreme to be seen from long range, we’ve seen both ends of it with the Missouri Valley reps. Wichita State hit 14-of-28 from downtown against Gonzaga in the Round of 32, but that came on the heels of hitting just 2-of-20 against Pittsburgh in the second round of the dance. As is usually the case, whichever team can stroke the three more successfully is going to be the one to watch out for come Saturday.

Key #3: Ohio State needs to make a renewed effort defensively
Understandably, NCAA Tournament games tend to be a little odd by nature. Teams have to do things that they aren’t used to doing just to advance, games sometimes take a little while to get going, and every now and again, you see just a ton of scores in the final three minutes of the game or so as one team is trying to make a feverish comeback on the other. For Ohio State though, it is extremely odd to see a team scoring 70 points against it. During the regular season, it only happened seven times in 36 games. Now all of a sudden, all three teams here in the NCAA Tournament that it has faced have been able to get to 70. It’s a Catch-22 for sure. While we’re thrilled to see the Buckeyes do a heck of a lot better on the offensive end of the court, we don’t think that they can win a National Championship if they continue to play defense like this. They’ll need to really buckle down on Saturday against the Shockers, as the challenges are getting more and more difficult on the road to the Final Four.

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The Syracuse Orange and the Marquette Golden Eagles were the only two Big East teams that started off in the East Region, yet they are the only two that are still standing as well. These two are going to square off at the Verizon Center on Saturday with a trip to the Final Four on the line, and we’re going to take one last look at both of these clubs and which one has the upper hand on the Final Four odds. SportBet Sportsbook.

#3 Marquette Golden Eagles (+160) – Marquette is going to be wearing the home whites in this one, but it is most certainly a severe underdog at the hands of the Orange on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles have played three very solid defensive games here in the dance, but their offense has been all over the place. They’ve saved their better performances for their most recent games though, as their dominating win over Miami was truly the best game that they have played all season long. In this one, Marquette shot over 50 percent from the floor, including 50.0 percent from long range, and it left just nothing for the Canes to try to pick up when push came to shove on the the other side of the court. You can’t help but be a bit underwhelmed when you look at the numbers that Marquette is averaging this season. It is only good for 68.9 points per game, and it is allowing 62.8 points per game. The defense ranks 60th or worse in every major category, and the offense shoots the ball at just barely 30% from three-point range. That being said, this was a team that was channeling magic right at the outset of the year. It went 14-4 in the Big East, surprisingly won a share of the league title, and now has a shot to claim a second victory against Syracuse on the season, and this one would get it into the Final Four.

#4 Syracuse Orange (-170) – Who would’ve really thought that the Orange would be able to make it all the way here to the Sweet 16? This was a team that really struggled down the stretch of the season, losing games to teams like Louisville and Georgetown with terrible offensive showings. Many thought that the Orange would be bounced out of the Big East Tournament right away when taking on Pitt in what was their second game played at MSG. Instead, Syracuse just continues to get better. Its only loss in this stretch came against a very good Louisville outfit in what proved to be a very tiring game in the second half. Since then, it’s double digit victory after double digit victory and impressive showing after impressive showing. Even the six-point win over Cal in the Round of 32 was a solid looking game for the Orange. When they look in that 2-3 zone, they’re a tough team to score on, and if you take out the Big East Tournament Final, no one has scored more than 61 on this ‘D’ since… you guessed it… the loss at Marquette. And who says that the world doesn’t always cycle back around? Head Coach Jim Boeheim has a legitimate shot to get his team back to the Final Four once again, and if it were to happen, it really would turn out to be what looked like a statistical improbability just eight days ago.

2013 East Region Odds @ SportBet Sportsbook (as of 3/29/13):
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Marquette Golden Eagles (+3.5) +160
Syracuse Orange (-3.5) -170

With all of the talk of just how good the Big Ten was all season long, it is the Big East that is going to be showcased on the road to the Final Four on Saturday, when the #3 Marquette Golden Eagles and the #4 Syracuse Orange do battle in what will likely be the last time we ever see a pair of current Big East teams play against each other. Don’t miss our Marquette vs. Syracuse predictions and keys to the game for what should be an exciting encounter to start the weekend.

March Madness: Syracuse Orange vs. Marquette Golden Eagles
Syracuse vs. Marquette Location: Verizon Center, Washington DC
Syracuse vs. Marquette Date/Time: Saturday, March 30th, 4:30 p.m. (ET)
2013 March Madness On TV: CBS

Key #1: The Orange have to stay out of foul trouble this time around
Syracuse hasn’t had any issues here in the dance whatsoever, but it did lose the first time that it faced Marquette earlier this season. The game in Milwaukee basically ensured that the Golden Eagles would have a shot at a share of the Big East title, while it also proved to be a game that kept the Orange on the wrong side of the equation. In that game, G Brandon Triche ultimately fouled out, while F James Southerland ended with four fouls. The end result saw Marquette take a whopping 35 free throws in comparison to just seven for the Orange. Blind aggression has really been what has led Syracuse here to the Elite Eight, and it is going to be that blind aggression that will lead the team in this one when push comes to shove as well if it is given the opportunity to do so. The Orange don’t have the depth to ultimately be in a lot of foul trouble though, and it is key for them to stay out of it against Marquette.

Elite Eight Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
#4 Syracuse Orange -3.5
#3 Marquette Golden Eagles +3.5
Over/Under 128
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Key #2: The lengthy Golden Eagles have to continue playing defense in the half court
What we love about Big East basketball is that a lot of the teams play very similar styles, and it isn’t all that often that a team wins a game and the casual observer is left to wonder why. For anyone that has watched the three games that Marquette has played here in March Madness, the equation has been particularly simple: The Golden Eagles have to force the game into the half court, and from there, they have to let their athleticism take over. Marquette only allowed 62.8 points per game this season, so perhaps we shouldn’t be all that shocked that it has had three very good defensive games in the dance. However, the three clubs that have faced Marquette have combined to shoot under 40 percent from the floor, and that’s the type of number that can really stun some neutral observers. Syracuse has made a habit of forcing teams into bad shots, but the Golden Eagles have been pulling off that same stunt as well in the second season.

Key #3: Three-Pointers have to fly in for Golden Eagles
Marquette is a team that loves to get inside the paint and try to get things to happen. The first time that these two met this year, they only took 26 shots from inside the arc for the whole game, as opposed to 21 that came from the outside. What nearly cost the Golden Eagles that game is the fact that they shot just 5-of-21, 23.8 percent from three-point land. For the season, they’re only just barely shooting over 30% from long range, but here in the dance, they are knocking down a much more respectable 36.4 percent from downtown. It doesn’t take all that many threes to win a game, but the ones that are taken are going to have to be hit. Syracuse is just too good in the 2-3 zone to ultimately allow gobs of points in the paint. Just look back at the game against Indiana. The Orange literally had a block party against the Hoosiers, swatting away a stunning 11-of-47 shot attempts. Marquette won’t be able to challenge on the inside, so it has to take the game outside and be effective out there as a result.

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SportBet Sportsbook is ready to go with the odds to win the West Bracket. There is just one game left for us to bet on in this bracket, and it is the clash pitting the Ohio State Buckeyes against the Wichita State Shockers. Does Cinderella’s slipper have a chance to stay on all the way to the through to the Final Four? Find out right here as we break down the West Region odds and the odds to make the Final Four this year.

#2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-210) – The Buckeyes haven’t always been at their best thus far in this tournament, but they are winning games, and that’s about all that anyone could really ask for. Ohio State’s defense, after allowing just seven teams to reach 70+ points this season, has allowed at least 70 in three straight games here in the NCAA Tournament. Granted, we know that the pace with which the Buckeyes have been asked to play has been a lot faster than what they are accustomed to, and the truth of the matter is that the team has done well to keep up. However, how much longer can a team like Ohio State that isn’t always the best offensively be asked to keep shooting threes at the rate with which it is knocking them down? Not only does the team have a pair of threes with less than five seconds left to play in games, but it also is knocking down exactly half of its triples for the postseason. That’s absolutely unreal. However, we see teams catch fire all the time from the outside here in the dance. Normally, we’re talking about teams like Wichita State getting on fire. When it’s the great teams that do it though, that’s the stuff that National Championships are made out of.

#9 Wichita State Shockers (+190) – The Shockers are here in the Elite Eight, and they are probably the least deserving team of the eight that are left standing. We hear you. It’s a shock to hear that (no pun intended). Wichita State did knock off arguably the best No. 8 team in the land in Pittsburgh right at the outset of the tournament, and any time you take out a No. 1 seed, you deserve a lot of credit. Just how good were the Zags, though? Beating an upstart No. 13 seed that already had to play three games to reach that point in the season was no great shakes as we saw it either. What we do admit though, is that this is a team that deserves a lot of respect. It has played three very different games against three very different teams, and this is going to add a fourth different type of team to that list. The Shockers have a real chance to do some more damage to the average bracket, as Ohio State was the team most commonly picked to advance out of the West. If Wichita State pulls this one off, we’ll have a heck of a lot more respect for the boys from the Missouri Valley.

2013 West Region Odds @ SportBet Sportsbook (as of 3/29/13):
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Ohio State Buckeyes (-4.5) -210
Wichita State Shockers (+4.5) +190

The 2013 NCAA Tournament continues on Friday night in the Midwest Region, where the Duke Blue Devils and the Michigan State Spartans are going to renew what has become a very important rivalry over the course of the last few years. Head Coach Tom Izzo’s Spartans are the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region, and they are lined in what basically is a pick ’em game against the No. 2 seeded Blue Devils, who have to still feel slighted over the fact that they aren’t on the top line in the dance.

March Madness: Michigan State Spartans vs. Duke Blue Devils
Michigan State vs. Duke Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
Michigan State vs. Duke Date/Time: Friday, March 29th, 9:45 p.m. ET
March Madness Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Ryan Kelly needs to make his first legitimate appearance of the tourney
It’s clear that when the Blue Devils are at their best, Ryan Kelly is at his best as well. This is a man that is going to be a matchup nightmare for the significantly less athletic Spartans to try to handle if he gets going. Kelly is every bit of 6’11”, and he can step back from the outside and knock down some big time shots. However, Kelly has gone four straight games now, scoring a total of just 25 points in those outings, and that’s just not good enough at this level for a team that is expected to challenge for a spot in the Final Four this week. If Kelly is hitting his shots, either F Adreian Payne or F Derrick Nix is going to have to step out and try to guard him on the perimeter, and if that turns out to be the case, the battle on the glass is going to be won by the Dookies in easy form. Kelly really didn’t have to exist against Albany or Creighton because those teams weren’t going to challenge F Mason Plumlee on the glass anyway, but if Kelly can’t step back and draw a defender away from the basket, Plumlee could have some problems.

Michigan State vs. Duke Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
#3 Michigan State Spartans +2
#2 Duke Blue Devils -2
Over/Under 134.5
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Key #2: Keith Appling’s shoulder had better be good to go
The Spartans have put together two very impressive games here in the dance, but there is a big, big difference between playing against Memphis, playing against Valpo, and playing against Duke. The Blue Devils have legitimate NBA-type talent from one to five in this lineup, and there is no doubt that they are going to be in it for the full 40 minutes. That means that the Spartans have to be playing at full strength as well, and that might be a tad difficult. Appling hurt his shoulder in the win over Memphis on Saturday, and he ended that game with just two points, two assists, and a rebound. Granted, others like G Gary Harris were able to pick up the slack at that point for Sparty, but we just don’t know if there is enough talent here on this team to come up with a big time effort against the Blue Devils to carry the load for a player that might be carrying an injury.

Key #3: The Dookies have to be ready to get down and dirty
The one thing about the ACC this season is that there really weren’t a lot of teams that willingly played the knock down, drag out games that the NCAA Tournament is known for. This is where we are going to learn a heck of a lot about Duke and its prospects of not just winning this game, but its chances of winning the whole enchilada as well. When you really look at the games that the Blue Devils played this year, they really weren’t forced into a lot of half-court type of games. The Virginia Cavaliers did it to the Dookies in Charlottesville, and the hosts won that game 73-68. Duke does have a win over the Ohio State Buckeyes to its credit as well from back in November of the same caliber, but that game was a long time ago, and obviously, OSU is a heck of a lot better now than it was before. However, with so many great teams that could play some big time defense left in the dance, the Blue Devils are going to need to prove that they can play this gritty type of game if they are going to win and be successful.

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Either a team that came out of the First Four or one that has made a magical run from the Missouri Valley Conference will find their way to the Elite Eight on Thursday night, as we make our March Madness predictions for the clash between the La Salle Explorers and the Wichita State Shockers.

March Madness: La Salle Explorers vs. Wichita State Shockers
La Salle vs. Wichita State Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
La Salle vs. Wichita State Date/Time: Thursday, March 28th, 10:17 p.m. ET
March Madness Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: Wichita State has to continue to be a strong three-point shooting team
Remember when the VCU Rams ran from the First Four to the Final Four two seasons ago? It’s not out of the question that La Salle could do the same this year, but the run seems very similar for Wichita State as well. That VCU team was a relatively average three-point shooting team that caught fire in the dance and started literally knocking down everything left and right. Now, the Shockers are doing the exact same thing. Wichita State hit 50% of its threes on Saturday when it knocked off the top seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs, and that’s a far cry from the 33.7 percent from three-point land that the team has hit for the season. This time of year, it’s all about the 3-ball, and knocking them down at that rate is clearly going to be one of the keys to get this team into the Elite Eight, and perhaps even the Final Four beyond. If the threes aren’t falling at that type of clip though, the Shockers are going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble against a very athletic team.

La Salle vs. Wichita State Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
#13 La Salle Explorers +4
#9 Wichita State Shockers -4
Over/Under 135.5
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Key #2: Someone needs to figure out how to stop Ramon Galloway
Had we looked at the keys to the game for La Salle last round against the Ole Miss Rebels, we would have said that someone needed to slow down G Marshall Henderson. Instead of doing that though, Galloway just stayed shot for shot with him for the full 40 minutes. Galloway really looks a heck of a lot like Henderson did for the Rebels for all of those games, as now, the La Salle leader is averaging 21.3 points per game in the dance in this, his senior season. With nearly 1,600 points in his collegiate career, there is no doubt that Galloway is a man that knows how to take over a game, and after hitting six threes on Sunday against Ole Miss, he can really flex his muscles as one of the best players in the tournament in this one against Wichita State.

Key #3: Wichita State can’t get killed on the offensive glass
Rebounding hasn’t been an issue for the Shockers all year long, but all of a sudden against Gonzaga on Saturday, all of that changed. Wichita State gave up a whopping 20 offensive rebounds to the Zags, the most that it had allowed in a game all season long. That isn’t going to cut it, needless to say. La Salle is actually a terrible rebounding team, as it is one of the few teams in the tourney that has allowed more rebounds per game this season (31.5) than it has picked up (31.3). The Explorers don’t have F Elias Harris or F Kelly Olynyk or any of the other bigs that Gonzaga brings to the table, so this should be a much different type of challenge for a team that is used to physically overwhelming its foes. If the Shockers can’t win the battle on the glass, particularly the battle on the defensive side of the court, they’ll be in a ton of trouble. Possessions absolutely have to be limited to one and done as much as possible for Wichita State to knock off La Salle.

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Our 2013 NCAA Tournament predictions continue on Thursday, March 28th with the Sweet 16. Join us as the #3 Marquette Golden Eagles and the #2 Miami Hurricanes go to war in what should be a remarkable opening game of the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness: Marquette Golden Eagles vs. Miami Hurricanes
Marquette vs. Miami Location: Verizon Center, Washington DC
Marquette vs. Miami Date/Time: Thursday, March 28th, 7:15 p.m. (ET)
2013 March Madness On TV: CBS

Key #1: Someone aside from Vander Blue has to step up for the Golden Eagles
Marquette seems like it is a team that has nine lives right now. The squad was down and out in the first round of the dance against the Davidson Wildcats, and it was F Vander Blue that hit the shot that ended up keeping the team alive for another day. Blue came up in a big time way again in the third round for the Golden Eagles against the Butler Bulldogs, scoring 29 points against a tremendously stingy defense. However, against Miami, someone aside from just Blue is going to have to bring something to the table to advance. The rest of the team is only averaging 14.5 field goals per game here in the NCAA Tournament, and the club is shooting just .354 from the field. That really isn’t going to come closing to cutting it. This really isn’t a team that hits all that many shots from the outside either. Blue has five three-point shots made in two games. The rest of the Golden Eagles have just four for the tournament. Whether it be F Davante Gardner, F Jamil Wilson, G Junior Cadougan, or any of the other Golden Eagles, someone is going to have to step up and help out Blue if they are going to beat the best team that they have faced in this tournament to date.

Sweet 16 Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
#3 Marquette Golden Eagles +5.5
#2 Miami Hurricanes +5.5
Over/Under 127
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: The Hurricanes need to take advantage of a smaller Marquette front line
Miami has a huge edge against most teams in terms of their size and their depth on the inside. The combination of C Reggie Johnson, F Julian Gamble, and F Kenny Kadji should be able to rip down at least 20 boards virtually every single night, especially against teams that are just far too small to keep up with them. Update: Johnson is out of the lineup for the Hurricanes with a knee injury. However, the Illinois Fighting Illini, a team that doesn’t have a single rebounder averaging five boards per game this year, actually outrebounded the Hurricanes 36-33 on Sunday in the Round of 32, and that isn’t going to cut it in this one. Miami would have probably been beaten in that game if not for the fact that G Brandon Paul and G DJ Richardson combined to shoot just 3-of-19 from beyond the arc. The key is going to have to be on the glass here against Marquette. These Golden Eagles are undersized, and there isn’t a big time rebounder on the team. There is no excuse whatsoever for the Canes to not win the battle on the boards, and if they don’t, they could be knocked out of this tournament.

Key #3: Buzz Williams has to do a good job managing the game
Head Coach Buzz Williams is truly a tremendously underrated coach. This is a man that took a Marquette team that was picked to finish in the middle of the Big East this season and made it the regular season co-champs and ultimately a No. 3 seed in the dance. We know that Williams pushed a lot of the right buttons down the stretch in both of the first two games of this tournament, and we know that he is going to have to push the right ones again in this one. Miami has the superior athleticism, and as a result, it is going to make its runs. The question is going to be how Marquette handles those runs. Timeout usage is going to be key for the full 40 minutes, as will substitution patterns. The Hurricanes can handle any style that Marquette will throw their way, and Williams is going to have to mix it up, find the right combination of guys, and ultimately take advantage of whatever opportunities the Hurricanes give him if there is any hope of getting into the Elite Eight.

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