6:40 p.m. ET: Bryant Bulldogs (23-9) vs Wright St. Raiders (21-13)
Spread: Wright St. -3
Total: 154
The Wright State Raiders and Bryant Bulldogs square off in the NCAA Tournament First Four round. Wright State will be making its fourth NCAA appearance. The Raiders are winless in three previous trips, with the latest being a 73-47 first-round loss to Tennessee as a #14 seed in 2018. The Raiders will have a home advantage playing in Dayton, Ohio. Wright State has 3 players leading them offensively in Tanner Holden 19.8 ppg, Grant Basile with 18.5 ppg, and Trey Calvin with 14.3 ppg. The Bulldogs are coming off a 70-43 rout of Wagner in the Northeast Conference title game and have won 16 of their last 17 games. Bryant is led in scoring by Peter Kiss 25.1 ppg and Charles Pride with 18 ppg. Wright State allows 71.5 points per game but is scoring an average of 75.4 points per game with the 54th best field goal percentage at 46.6%. Bryant has won 7 straight to improve to 17-1 over their last 18 games and Wright State has won 5 straight. This line opened with Wright State listed as a 2-point neutral court favorite and even with the public split on this game, we’ve seen Wright State climb from -2 to -3.5 at some books, signaling sharp money on the Raiders but the line is coming right back down. This game will be a toss-up but with the Bulldogs’ playing well right now, could get a big win here on a neutral court and should be able to come out on top.
9:10 p.m. ET: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (22-10) vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights (18-13)
Spread: Notre Dame -1
Total: 133
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the First Four round of the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame has lost 2 of the last 3 games, most recently falling to Virginia Tech 87-80 in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals. Rutgers went just 2-4 over their last 6 games and just lost to Iowa 84-74 in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals. The former Big East Conference rivals will play to see who meets 6th-seeded Alabama on Friday. Ron Harper Jr. is averaging 15.6 points and 5.9 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights and Prentiss Hubb is averaging 9.1 points and 4 assists for the Fighting Irish. This line opened with Rutgers listed as a 1-point favorite and the public is all over Rutgers, yet we’ve seen this line flip to Notre Dame as a 1-point favorite. This signals sharp reverse line movement on the Irish. Notre Dame is ranked 50th and Rutgers is ranked 74th overall and Ken Pom has Notre Dame winning by 2 points. The First Four teams that have opened as favorites but closed as underdogs are 4-0 ATS since 2011. You will want to keep an eye on the closing line to see who remains the favorite but if the line stays where it’s at then Notre Dame will be the play but if we see that line flip back to Rutgers then most likely Rutgers will be the play. With the public all over Rutgers and Notre Dame staying the favorite, indicates the sharps are still hammering the contrarian team. This will be a close game with 2 teams that match up similarly but Rutgers is known to struggle on the road. Notre Dame’s coach Mike Brey is no joke either with plenty of tourney experience. The Irish should be able to get the win here despite Rutgers being the more talented team.