Maryland v. Memphis NCAA Basketball Picks

Written March 21, 2009 by Jack Jones

memphis-basketball-tournament Memphis survived a scare on Thursday as they were just about to become only the fifth No. 2 seed to lose to a No. 15 when Cal State Northridge gave the Tigers a run for their money. This was even though many thought Memphis should have grabbed the No. 1 seed. For those of you looking at that performance as a sign that Memphis dominated a weak conference, you also have to consider if they were just over-confident coming into the tournament and needed a reality check. at least that is what head coach John Calipari is hoping. If you look at the college basketball odds for this game the expert tend to agree, listing the Tigers as nine point favorites over the Maryland Terps.

On the other bench will be Gary Williams, who had to be happy that Maryland made the tournament since they were one of the last four schools to receive an invite. They took advantage of the opportunity in round one when Greivis Vasquez put up 27 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a couple of steals to help Maryland beat Cal as a No. 10 seed. Vasquez’s performance shouldn’t come as a surprise since he had the third triple-double in school history last month and has been doing it all for Maryland. Vasquez leds the team in points, steals, rebounds, and assists.

Memphis not only had to remain calm when the Northridge put the pressure on, but they relied on an unlikely hero in Roburt Sallie. Sallie averaged 4.5 ppg this year, but went off for 35 points by making 10 3-pointers in the opener, good for a first round NCAA Tournament record.

This matchup should be an interesting one as Memphis likes to run and get to the basket but the Terps have a pressure defense that causes problems for the opposition. Maryland did their best to disrupt the Bears on Thursday, holding the nation’s best three-point shooting team to just 7-of-24 from behind the arc.

If the Tigers want to win this one, they have to get better play out of freshman Tyreke Evans and senior Robert Dozier. Both struggled againts Northridge, shooting a combined 8-of-18 for just 21 points, despite combining for nearly 30 per game during the season.

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