March Madness continues with the first day of Sweet 16 action as there are college basketball games on from 2:40 EDT till around Midnight. That's the potential of 9+ hours of Madness. Our focus will be on the first and last games.
MonkeyKnifeFight.com continues to be ahead of the curve with their canceling of contests amid postponements, so don't worry about wasting money on a player or game that might not play. As always, you can find me @ChrisWasselDFS on Twitter with any questions, especially since lines and players are subject to change throughout the day.
Our featured matchups are Oregon State vs Loyola-Illinois and Syracuse vs Houston. Once you're done here, be sure to also check out the rest of our NCAA Tournament articles and analysis including previews, predictions, sleepers, busts, and guides on how to fill out your brackets.
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Loyola-Illinois vs. Oregon State
Cameron Krutwig (Loyola-Illinois) LESS 16.5 Points - Ethan Thompson (Oregon St.) LESS 14.5 Points
This expects to be a considerable risk on Saturday. Krutwig has been so good but he is more of a point-center than most expect. It may just cut down a bit on his production and Oregon State can play some defense. The Beavers will try to limit Krutwig's field goal attempts from in close. He went 9 for 18 from the field against Illinois but got to the line just twice. That has been a theme of late for the center. The feeling is that Oregon State may be able to get Loyola-Illinois to play a bit more from the outside than Illinois ever could. He will come close but Krutwig probably ends up with something like 15 points on Saturday. Take the LESS.
Ethan Thompson plays his position well defensively but more importantly has a versatile game in development. There were some strange outliers in his game and 16 free-throw attempts versus Oklahoma State. Thompson converted 15 of those. That, right there, would be enough to hit the MORE. However, that has happened far less often of late. When Thompson does not get to the line, his scoring evaporates a bit. Furthermore, the guard has not shot 50% or better from the field in over a month. He is shooting a hair less than 40% on the season so Thompson may struggle just enough to hit the LESS.
A win here pays three times your wager.
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Syracuse vs. Houston
Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse) MORE 20.5 Points - Quentin Grimes (Houston) MORE 18.5 Points
The junior shooting guard is hot right now with four straight 25+ point games and he expects to shoot the ball 15+ times again versus Houston as Syracuse tries to shoot from the outside often. Houston had some problems guarding the Rutgers guards early in the game as they were able to get open looks for perimeter shots. The key with Syracuse is Boeheim though. He will have a tendency to chuck shots up for the sake of shooting. More often than not. this does work. Boeheim shoots a respectable 39.6% from three-point-range and nearly 50% from two-point range. That should be enough if he gets to 15 attempts. Take that MORE.
The second half of this prop features Quentin Grimes. Now, while understandably his prop is low to entice. The thought process is reasonable here. He had struggled before the last stretch of the season but had 18 or more points in his last four games. While Grimes does not get to the foul line often, he did six times in his last game. If he shoots around his season average, that's an extra couple of points possibly. That is enough to make a difference. Finally, what surprised me most is the fact that Grimes is a better shooter from three-point range than Buddy Boeheim. Take the MORE once again.
A win here also pays three times the wager.
Play the Contest Now on Monkey Knife Fight