Two weeks to go until the NCAA tournament tips off. One week to go until the major conferences get their tournaments really rolling. We’re almost at the best two weeks in sports, but we’ve got one more set of parlay plays available before we reach that explosion of basketball games.
Wednesday didn’t get off to a great start for me, but Maryland, Wake Forest and Georgetown’s defense all did enough for me to make the day into a win when all was said and done. We’ve got plenty of action available today, so it’s time to get to it. Here are my best plays for March 3.
LESSONS LEARNED PARLAY: JACKSONVILLE -9.5, MONTANA ML, PURDUE FORT WAYNE TTO 76.5, +480
March is where you put the lessons of the season into practice, and these three teams have given us plenty of lessons throughout the year. Jacksonville is 14-0 SU and 9-1 ATS inside Swisher Gym, Montana has won all but one game played in Missoula and Purdue Fort Wayne has really hit the gas as of late. The Mastodons have hit 81 points in three straight games and should be pushing hard in a conference tournament situation, so they’re a good bet to keep the points coming at home.
BIG SKY PARLAY: PORTLAND STATE TTO 78.5, IDAHO STATE +9.5, EASTERN WASHINGTON -9, +500
Defense has proven optional at best and non-existent at worst for Idaho, which has allowed nine of its past 10 opponents to score at least 76 points. Portland State comes in playing some of its best basketball of the season and should be able to put up a nice output in this game. Idaho State is also playing much better right now and catches Southern Utah coming off its trip to Bozeman, giving the Bengals a reasonable chance to hang around. Eastern Washington, on the other hand, should be able to blast Northern Arizona, which appears to have put up its axe and gone home for the season.
PLAY-IN PARLAY: SOUTH ALABAMA -10, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT ML, SAN DIEGO ML, +300
Pepperdine and Pacific are a combined 0-26 away from home this year, and the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds have lost eight consecutive games in the WCC tournament, so they shouldn’t be much more than cannon fodder. South Alabama faces a Little Rock team that has lost four straight games by at least 12 points, so taking this at 10 points makes a lot of sense. This won’t be exciting, but it should create solid value by backing a few favored squads.
