Our 2013 NCAA Tournament predictions continue on Thursday, March 28th with the Sweet 16. Join us as the #6 Arizona Wildcats and the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes go to war in what should be a remarkable opening game of the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness: Arizona Wildcats vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
Arizona vs. Ohio State Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Arizona vs. Ohio State Date/Time: Thursday, March 28th, 7:47 p.m. (ET)
2013 March Madness On TV: TBS

Key #1: Arizona has to continue to do a great job of defending the perimeter
The Wildcats have really done well on the outside in this tournament, and they have done so against some teams that really can stroke the three-ball. New Mexico had no answer for the three-point shooting that Harvard brought to the table, while most were under the impression that Belmont was going to go all Florida Gulf Coast on the Wildcats. Instead, the two teams were held to just 13 three-point makes between them, and in this day and age in the NCAA Tournament against mid-majors, that’s not all that bad. Ohio State isn’t going to jack up nearly as many threes as the Crimson or the Bruins, but when it does shoot it from the outside, it does so with purpose. Arizona has to find a way to make sure that G Aaron Craft and all of those perimeter players stay quiet, because if they don’t and the Bucks get going, this game is going to be said and done with.

Sweet 16 Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
#6 Arizona Wildcats +3.5
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes +3.5
Over/Under 134
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Deshaun Thomas has to remain a consistent star
For as good as the Big Ten was this season, there aren’t many players that are nearly as good as Thomas is. He’s big, he’s lanky, he’s quick, and he can shoot the ball from anywhere in the gym. He also is insanely consistent in his ways, and he rarely leaves games for more than a blow. He only sat out two minutes against Iowa State, and he has played at least 34 minutes in all but one game since January 26th. More importantly, he feels like he is good for at least 16 points every single night. In fact, in actuality, that’s precisely what he does. Thomas has put up at least 16 points in seven straight games and at least 14 points in every single game that he has played since that January 26th game against Penn State. If Thomas continues at this pace, he’ll be in great shape going forward. However, when he is on a drought, this whole offense seems to be out of whack, so Head Coach Thad Matta knows that he needs to get Thomas’ best game on Thursday to ensure taking care of the Wildcats.

Key #3: Ohio State has to stay on the gas pedal
How much longer can the Buckeyes really keep this pace up? That’s a real question that we have at the moment. Ohio State had to play three games in three days at the Big Ten Tournament two weeks ago, and last week, it had to play at a wicked pace against both Iona and Iowa State in a span of just a few days. We had a sense that perhaps the Buckeyes were getting tired at the end of that game against the Cyclones, and that’s perhaps why a double-digit lead was squandered late in the game, setting up Craft for his heroics. Did the week off really give the Bucks enough time to recover from such a brutal stretch? Playing Arizona isn’t going to make life any easier for sure, and the pace of this game is going to be kept down as a result. OSU doesn’t want to play this game into the 70s like Arizona will want to, and though there is no doubt that both teams can win at the other’s pace, we know that it is more important for the Buckeyes to use their energy on the defensive end of the court instead of having to run up and down with 60-70 possessions each.

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The Ohio State Buckeyes know that they aren’t going to be able to go to a bowl game or the Big Ten Championship Game this year, but they do know that they might be able to ruin the season for the Michigan Wolverines, their arch rivals. Every single year, regardless of the circumstances, the OSU/Michigan rivalry is one of the biggest to watch over the course of the entire season, and this should be no exception. Gone are the days of Lloyd Carr and Jim Tressel, and in are the days of Brady Hoke and Urban Meyer, as both of these teams try to formulate their offenses out of styles that were born outside of the Big Ten. This won’t be a smash mouth football game as it was as recently as just a half dozen years ago, but it is definitely a college football matchup that is going to be one of the best of the season and should not be missed.

Michigan Wolverines @ Ohio State Buckeyes Picks & Info
Michigan Wolverines @ Ohio State Buckeyes Date: Saturday, November 24th
Michigan Wolverines @ Ohio State Buckeyes Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
Michigan Wolverines @ Ohio State Buckeyes Spread: Ohio State Buckeyes -4

This is really the culmination of what amounts to be a brutal schedule for the Wolverines this year. There is a good chance that they will already have three losses and be out of the National Championship hunt, but this might be the difference as to whether they are going to end up in Detroit playing for a spot in the Rose Bowl or not. QB Denard Robinson might have a Heisman Trophy to go out and win as well. Hoke was able to win last year’s game against Ohio State, snapping a brutal run of seven straight losses to the Bucks. That’s what ultimately cost both Rich Rodriguez and the aforementioned Carr their jobs in Ann Arbor. However, if Hoke is really going to endear himself to the Big Blue nation, it would really help to win a game in Columbus, something that the Wolverines haven’t done since 2000. Last year, the defense for Michigan had one of its worst games of the year trying to slow down the Buckeyes, and with a still somewhat raw unit coming together, it could make for another struggle this time around as well.

Michigan Wolverines vs. Ohio State Buckeyes Past Games (Since 1995)
2011: Michigan 40 – Ohio State 34
2010: Ohio State 37 – Michigan 7
2009: Ohio State 21 – Michigan 10
2008: Ohio State 42 – Michigan 7
2007: Ohio State 14 – Michigan 3
2006: Ohio State 42 – Michigan 39
2005: Ohio State 25 – Michigan 21
2004: Ohio State 37 – Michigan21
2003: Michigan 35 – Ohio State 21
2002: Ohio State 14 – Michigan 9
2001: Ohio State 26 – Michigan 20
2000: Michigan 38 – Ohio State 26
1999: Michigan 24 – Ohio State 17
1998: Ohio State 31 – Michigan 16
1997: Michigan 20 – Ohio State 14
1996: Michigan 13 – Ohio State 9
1995: Michigan 31 – Ohio State 23

By now, we will definitely know if Meyer is going to be able to work his magic in Columbus with QB Braxton Miller the same way that he was able to do so with QB Tim Tebow with the Florida Gators. Miller is really built in the same type of mold Robinson is, and in the end, that might be what it takes to be able to get this team back to the top of the Big Ten quite soon. There are going to be eight senior starters and several others in reserve that are going to be playing their last game here at the Shoe against Michigan, many of which have started for two or three years for the program. Winning this game would mean absolutely everything in the world. Remember that Ohio State has a whopping 19 returning starters from a year ago, and it starts right at the top with Miller, still just sophomore at quarterback.

Michigan @ Ohio State Free Picks^^: This is the Super Bowl for the Buckeyes, knowing that they aren’t going any further with their season than right here. This is the game that will be circled on the calendar for months and months prior to this point, and we expect to see the hosts shine. Miller should be in for a big time game, as he leads the Buckeyes to victory and likely makes himself a favorite to win the 2013 Heisman Trophy at the same time. It’s a sucker’s bet to be taking the Wolverines and the four points.

^^Note: This is a college football prediction that is made as of August 2012, and it does not reflect the opinions that our expert NCAA Football handicappers will have on this game. This article by our very talented sports blog staff is for entertainment and informational purposes only. If you would like to purchase our premium college football picks for the year, please Click Here.

Our college football expert handicappers will have their Michigan @ Ohio State picks ready on Saturday, 11/24.

Tons of NBA level talent and All-Americans are going to be on the court in the Bayou on Saturday night, and tonight, we are making our 2012 Final Four predictions by breaking down the Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Kansas Jayhawks betting lines.

2012 Final Four Matchup: #2 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. #2 Kansas Jayhawks
Final Four Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Final Four Date/Time: Saturday, March 31st, 8:45 p.m.
Ohio State vs. Kansas Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: The bigs for the Buckeyes have to stay out of foul trouble
Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger are really the heart and soul of the Buckeyes. They are the men that truly can dominate the game on both sides of the court, and when they are on, they are capable of some big time damage. They are averaging nearly 34 points and 15 boards per game between them, and they have to stay on the court. Sullinger battled foul problems at times this year, averaging right around three foul per game on average. We have seen him struggle against some decent big men that were right around his height, but this time around, he is going to have two big time post players in Jeff Withey and Thomas Robinson draped all over him on both sides of the court. The depth just isn’t there for this team if Sullinger is on the bench, as there isn’t a player that averaged even a dozen minutes per game for Head Coach Thad Matta this year outside of his starting five. It could be bad news if Sullinger gets two quick fouls, and if that turns out to be the case for the second straight game, OSU might not be all that lucky.

Final Four Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Ohio State Buckeyes -2.5
Kansas Jayhawks +2.5
Click Here to Bet Your Final Four Picks!

Key #2: Tyshawn Taylor has to have a second straight star-like performance
When Taylor signed on the dotted line to come to Lawrence, there was a heck of a lot of hope that he would be the next in a great line of Kansas guards. That being said, he has largely disappointed. This is the first year that he has averaged double digits in scoring, and in his first three tourney games in 2012, he scored just a grand total of 26 points. That isn’t going to cut it in this one to say the least. Taylor did score 22 against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Elite Eight last weekend. It was encouraging to say the least, but Aaron Craft and William Buford are significantly more experienced and have more to bring to the table defensively than the Tar Heels could without both of their best point guards from the start of the season playing. This is a man that is a lifetime 37 percent shooter from beyond the arc, and he shot at least 48 percent from the field over the course of his career as well. Taylor has to keep that up and be the hero on the biggest stage now that he is a senior.

Key #3: The Buckeyes can’t try to get into a three-point shooting game
There aren’t many aspects to the game that the Buckeyes aren’t very good at, but shooting the three-point shot is one of them. They shot just 33.2 percent from beyond the arc this year as a team, and they have the tendency to go cold when push comes to shove. This is a team that has only taken 20 or more three-point shots once in the three games here in the dance, and that one game was the truly close call against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Last year when the Buckeyes were pounding the interior, they were relatively unstoppable. However, when they tried to push their game to the outside in the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats in the Sweet 16, they were simply off the mark when it counted the most. OSU has to get the ball to the inside more often, and then shooting games like William Buford had against UK when he shot just 2-for-16 from the floor won’t happen. If that’s the case, it would take a herculean effort by a Jayhawk to pull off the mild upset.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Final Four picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

Two of the top teams in the whole NCAA Tournament are going to square off on Thursday night in Beantown, and we are set to make our Elite 8 predictions with our Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Syracuse Orange keys to the game.

2012 Elite 8 Matchup: #2 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. #1 Syracuse Orange
East Region Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Elite 8 Date/Time: Saturday, March 24th, 7:05 p.m.
Ohio State vs. Syracuse Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Someone is going to have to take over the role of Fab Melo in the middle
Syracuse has been able to use a strong enough defense to get the job done against some of the other teams in this tournament, knowing that none of the three opponents that the team has faced has scored more than 65 points. That being said, there really hasn’t been that dominating big man that would be able to penetrate into the teeth of that 2-3 zone like Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas will likely be able to. It is hard to see how anyone else is going to be able to anchor the middle of this defense for a lineup that is suddenly quite small, and if no one can take to the task at hand, the big boys for the Buckeyes are going to have a field day assuming that the guards take care of the basketball and can work it inside.

Elite 8 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Ohio State Buckeyes -3
Syracuse Orange +3
Over/Under 135.5
Click Here to Bet Your Elite 8 Picks!

Key #2: Aaron Craft has to make sure the OSU offense keeps up at a good clip
It’s hard to always identify which one of the Ohio State guards is truly the point guard, but Craft is the man that has to make a lot of the big time passes to get the ball inside in the post. He did a remarkable job of this against the Cincinnati Bearcats, another team from the Big East, and another team that plays a heck of a lot like these Orange do. We know when Sullinger and Thomas get the ball in their hands, they know what they are doing with it. They shot a combined 17-of-30 from the floor and had 49 points between them, and they also had 18 boards. The key is going to be keeping them involved and getting the ball to them in the post as early as possible. If that’s the case, not only will the inside game be working, but the outside game is going to likely get involved as well when the others in the Syracuse backcourt are crashing down to help out and double team.

Key #3: Kris Joseph has to kick his game into gear
Joseph is a man that averaged shooting the ball over 10 times per game in the regular season, and he shot 42.2 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from downtown. He is the man that is almost certainly going to have to step up and hit the big time shot down the stretch. However, the problem is that he has now had six straight games with 12 points or fewer, and all of those games are below his scoring average, which currently sits at 13.5 points per game. It is going to take senior leadership to get the job done in this one against an Ohio State team that is likely a heck of a lot more talented than the Syracuse team that is going to be on the court.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Elite 8 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

The East Region will send its last team to the Elite 8 on Thursday night, and the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Ohio State Buckeyes duke it out for that spot. We’re set to make our Sweet 16 predictions for the clash in Beantown.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #6 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes
East Region Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Thursday, March 22nd, 9:45 p.m.
Cincinnati vs. Ohio State Television Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Yancy Gates has to keep up with the Ohio State bigs
We give Yates all the credit in the world for getting to his 10 points and five boards in spite of the fact that he was battling foul trouble and a stout Florida State Seminoles defense. He had a huge impact on the game defensively, but the argument could be made that this is going to be an even tougher task. Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger are both fantastic big men, and they are going to be a heck of a lot tougher of a draw on both sides of the court than Florida State’s big men were. Gates is a big time forward who can come up with that double-double on any given night. It’s not necessarily going to have to show up on the stat sheet, but Gates is going to have to stay out of foul trouble and be a real nuisance to these other two big boys on the other side of the court, or it will be a long game for the Bearcats.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Cincinnati Bearcats +8
Ohio State Buckeyes -8
Over/Under 129.5
Click Here to Bet Your Sweet 16 Picks!

Key #2: Ohio State has to get out of its mind the struggles of past tourneys
The Buckeyes are going to be thinking all week long about the fact that they were eliminated last year by the Kentucky Wildcats right here at this juncture in the Sweet 16. In both situations, OSU was the team that was expected to advance last year over Kentucky, just as it is expected to do this time around as well. Everyone thought that Sullinger was going to head to the NBA, but he eschewed that opportunity to come back to the NCAA Tournament again with these Buckeyes. This is a team that has a heck of a lot more experience right now, and that could prove to be a real asset. That being said, it is a problem that cannot haunt Head Coach Thad Matta and the gang, as this is a team that always seems to be coming up just short of the ultimate goal.

Key #3: The Buckeyes have to be solid with the basketball
There isn’t a heck of a lot that the Buckeyes could complain over in the first two rounds of their tourney, but if there is a bugaboo, it is that they turn the ball over too much. OSU has 30 turnovers in two games, raising its average up to 11.7 turnovers per game. These Bearcats have been flat out awesome turning other teams over in March Madness. They have 28 turnovers already forced to their credit, and they pick up a lot of steals on a regular basis. Cashmere Wright had five steals on his own against Florida State, and if he and the rest of his teammates can get the job done and frustrate the Buckeyes, just as the Wildcats did last year, the Bearcats are going to have a shot at springing this upset.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

If You Are Looking For More Information & Details on the NFL Supplemental Draft (Such As How Does The Supplemental Draft Work & When it Takes Place, Scroll To The Bottom of This Post For More Info

The Ohio State Buckeyes have been through quite a bit in this offseason. Before their bowl game, word broke that they were losing some of their star players to a five game suspension for this upcoming NCAA football betting season thanks to their connection with selling autographs and memorabilia while under scholarship at the university. Later on, it was determined that Head Coach Jim Tressel knew of these violations, and he was suspended by the university as well.

However, after a long offseason filled with tons of questions such as, “Why is Terrelle Pryor driving around in this luxury sports car?” Tressel resigned two weeks ago and stepped away from the university. The next shoe, likely not the last, came in the form of Pryor leaving the university after three years in Columbus.

The career for Pryor was always a high profile one. He was the top rated recruit in the country four years ago, and he was drawing the same type of attention that Tim Tebow did when he was with the Florida Gators. Instead of picking the Michigan Wolverines or the Oregon Ducks, Pryor decided to become a Buckeye and to play under the more pro-style system that Tressel had in place in Columbus.

Pryor won games — make no mistake about that. No, he never did win the Heisman Trophy, and no, he never went on to lead Ohio State to a National Championship, but he was a proven winner, and he has the skills to be a deadly quarterback professionally.

The question is where he’ll end up going. Pryor has a slew of options right now at his disposal, but none of them are remarkable. One of his options would be to go to the Canadian Football League, where the Saskatchewan Roughriders have claimed his negotiating rights. However, CFL training camps have already started, and the season starts in just three weeks. Pryor would also be battling with a proven quarterback in Darian Durant, who has the promise to take the Riders to the Grey Cup title after coming up just short in back to back seasons. Aside from that, the rules and quirks of the CFL take time to adjust to, and Pryor has had no experience whatsoever with anything anywhere near these rules in his football playing career.

The UFL is also a possibility. This is a league that has already drafted though, and all of the teams know who their quarterbacks are going to be. The pro to that is that Pryor would get to work on his NFL game, as the rules in this league are awfully similar to those of the NFL.

However, the most likely choice for Pryor at this point is to join the NFL’s Supplemental Draft, which typically is held right around this time each year.

Of course, the problem with doing any business right now with the NFL is that there are no operations going on at this point for the teams. There is no date set for a Supplemental Draft, and players that end up getting drafted from this day don’t typically end up ever making a roster.

How Does The NFL Supplemental Draft Work?

If you are wondering; What is the NFL Supplemental Draft?…and are curious as to how it works, here’s a brief crash course on how the NFL Supplemental Draft has worked in years past…

Players that did not file to be in the main NFL Draft can try to enter into the NFL Supplemental Draft the year in which they leave college. The reasons that players typically join the Supplemental Draft is because they had eligibility issues in college. Last year, Harvey Unga was the only player that was picked in the Supplemental Draft, and the only reason in which he joined was because the BYU Cougars kicked him out of school after the NFL Draft was already completed.  Normally, there are no big name players like Terrelle Pryor in the Supplemental Draft.

There are typically only a handful of players that are eligible to be drafted in the Supplemental Draft. This year, Janoris Jenkins of the Florida Gators is also likely going to be on the board for the Supplemental Draft, and both he and Pryor are likely to be picked at some point.

Teams are lined up in draft order as they were in the NFL Draft, and there are seven full rounds. You don’t have to make a selection. The mass majority of picks are passed. If you take a player when it’s your turn to draft, you lose that corresponding draft pick next year. In other words, if a player were to be taken in the fourth round of the Supplemental Draft, the team that drafted him would forfeit their fourth round draft pick in the next year’s draft.

There is no way that anyone would spend earlier than a third round pick on Pryor in all likelihood. Even if the Supplemental Draft does take place in the near future and the NFL season is played as scheduled, Pryor holds virtually no chance whatsoever at being able to get on the field. Not only does he clearly have some character issues and off the field problems, but he would have not picked up a football in over nine months. He’d have to adjust to the speed of the game and would need to get in line with his receivers.

It almost seems like the best case scenario for Pryor would be to take the entire year off, work with some trainers, and to get ready for the 2012 NFL Draft, where he can go through a regular combine and workout and be compared to the rest of the players that will be in his draft class.

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The Ohio State Buckeyes could be reaching the end of an era this week at the Sugar Bowl, where they are going to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. There are storylines galore to analyze before making our NCAA football picks in this one, and we have the three keys to the game that you have to watch out for here at Bankroll Sports!

Key #1: The Buckeyes have to let the off the field issues stay off the field
Though we know that QB Terrelle Pryor, WR DeVier Posey, and RB Daniel Herron are amongst the five players that have vowed to come back for their senior seasons next year, we aren’t so sure that that is going to be the case. These five juniors, all of which are eligible to go to the NFL Draft next year if they please, were at the center of a scandal in which they were suspended for the first five games of next season. Head Coach Jim Tressel and company were lucky to find out that none of the top Buckeyes were suspended for the biggest game of the season in the Sugar Bowl, though. That being said, nothing is stopping these players from hopping out of Columbus right after this game is over, never getting punished for their actions. All of these distractions could be a tremendous key in this game. If OSU isn’t focused, it is going to be punished by a well disciplined bunch of Razorbacks. The Buckeyes also have to forget about that the Big Ten was dominated on New Year’s Day is bowl games. They are a totally different team this year than the rest of this conference was, and they can’t let the conference’s 2-5 record stop them.

Key #2: This Buckeye defense has to be as nasty as advertised
After watching the TCU Horned Frogs take down the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl, we’re not really so sure about this argument, but this Ohio State defense really could have been the best in the nation this year. The Buckeyes held teams to just 251.6 yards per game this year, and though this was a country mile away from what the Horned Frogs allowed, it was still easily good enough to finish second in the land. OSU ranked No. 6 or better in the land in every single major defensive categories this year. Allowing 13.3 points per game this year, and this was a stat that would have been a lot better had this unit not been victim to a number of special teams and offensive blunders. We also have to remember that this was a fairly brutal schedule this year, and the only team that scored more than 24 points against this ‘D’ was the Wisconsin Badgers.

Key #3: Ryan Mallett has to continue spreading the ball around to the rest of his offensive weapons
Mallett was one of the most unheralded quarterbacks in the nation this year, and we are somewhat bothered by the fact that he really has fallen off of the map as a potential top NFL prospect. We’re not so sure that he isn’t the best signal caller in the land as a pure passer, and that includes Heisman Trophy winner QB Cam Newton in his own conference. Mallett completed 66.5 percent of his passes this year for 3,592 yards and 30 TDs against 11 picks in the toughest conference in America. The recently declared QB Blaine Gabbert for the Missouri Tigers is supposedly a Top 20 pick in the NFL Draft, and he might be up into the Top 5 when push comes to shove. This is really the chance for Mallett to shine against one of the best defenses in the country, though. We also have to remember that Mallett hasn’t had WR Greg Childs since the end of October. Still, there are going to be six receivers on this team that end up with more than 600 yards for the season assuming that TE DJ Williams has at least 11 yards for the game. There are a ton of speed burners on this team right now. WR Cobi Hamilton is averaging 19.6 yards per reception to lead this team, but WR Jarius Wright is at 18.9 yards per catch as well. WR Joe Adams is at 16.9 yards per catch to boot. This is why Mallett is averaging almost ten yards per time that he drops back to throw the pigskin. If that keeps up, the Hogs have a great chance at pulling off the upset.