NCAA Tournament: Arizona State vs. Buffalo fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Friday, March 22
Game Time: 4:00 ET
Venue: Bank of Oklahoma Center, Tulsa, OK
Network: TNT
All You Really Need To Know About Buffalo (31-3)
(MAC), NCAA NET Rank: 15. West 6-seed
Dominant during the season and on a 12-game winning streak that rolled through the MAC Tournament with ease, Buffalo is a very talented, very explosive, very fun team loaded with seniors and with a whole lot of scoring punch from CJ Massingburg and Nick Perkins.
They bomb away from three, and while they’re not all that accurate, they’re among the best in the nation at hitting the boards. No, they’re not good on the free throw line, but they can go on spurts to put games away in a hurry. Get ready to play in the 80s with this group.
All You Really Need To Know About Arizona State (23-10)
(Pac-12), NCAA NET Rank: 63. West 11-seed
St. John’s was awful, and Arizona State still had to fight a wee bit to put the game away. But when the Red Storm started to make it interesting, the Sun Devils stepped it up.
However, they HAVE to avoid the turnovers. They gave it up 20 times against St. John’s, struggled against pressure, and weren’t crisp enough. They have to be much, much tighter against a UB team that’s great at coming up with steals.
Now ASU is red hot, winning seven of its last nine under head man Bobby Hurley. This is an active, young, tough team that hits the boards hard at both ends, making up for its mediocre shooting ability. The big problem is all the fouls – ASU isn’t afraid of getting physical. But fortunately …
What’s Going To Happen
Buffalo stinks from the free throw line. It’s the Bobby Bowl, with the program Hurley helped turn into a MAC power needing to rise up and be fantastic against the team that’s growing into something strong in the Pac-12.
Buffalo might be great on the boards, but ASU will hold its own while coming up with a whale of a defensive performance. The Sun Devils are playing with house money at this point, and they’ll play like it with a great combination of attitude and focus.
Fearless Prediction & Line
Arizona State 77, Buffalo 73
Line: Coming, o/u: Coming
ATS Confidence: Coming
5: Watching games by Vegas pool working on fruity drink No. 3
1: Watching game online while doing TPS reports in your cubicle
