Morgan State vs Oklahoma: NCAA Tournament Preview & Betting Odds
Written March 17, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz
The Oklahoma Sooners from the Big-12 got an at large bid. They are led by the soon to be unanimous player of the year Blake Griffin. The Sooners stud forward and soon to be #1 overall pick in this years NBA Draft averages 22 points and 14 rebounds per game while shooting a ridiculous 63.5% from the field. Those are just abnormal numbers. While Griffin is the nations best player, their All-Conference freshman performer Willie Warren is a major contributor to this teams success. Warren averages 15 points and 3 assists per game. Blake is also not the only Griffin on this team worth mentioning. He plays alongside his brother Taylor Griffin who averages 10 points and 6 rebounds per game. Point guard Austin Johnson is also a solid player averaging 9 points and 4 assists per game. The Sooners are stacked with talent, they score at an alarming rate dropping 79 points per game. Their defense is pretty solid. While they do give up 68 points against, they hold their opponents to under 40% shooting on average. Before Blake got hurt Oklahoma was considered to many the most dangerous team in the land. They have slipped a little since his return losing to Missouri in the regular season and Oklahoma State in the conference tournament. Morgan State is their first round opponent and will certainly be no match for The Sooners, the key will be their second round game against Clemson (if they get by Michigan). Oklahoma must be sharp going into round two. Blake Griffin’s health will obviously be priority number one. The Sooners are 16.5 point favorites over Morgan State in the first round of the tournament.
The Morgan State Bears are the conference champs of the MEAC conference. Their total school capacity is 4, 250 students. The Oklahoma Sooners who play their home games in Norman almost triple their school’s capacity. The Bears are not strangers to big wins however, they defeated Maryland on the road this year 66-65. They also lost a close game to Mississippi which they led by two at the half. So Morgan State will not be intimidated one bit. They will just be out matched. They average only 67 points per game, while they only give up 62 against that is versus the competition mostly in their conference. Morgan State has no big man to even think of guarding Blake Griffin and I don’t believe they have any to guard his brother Tyler. The Bears best big man is 6′8 Kevin Thomspon who averages 9 points and 7 rebounds. They do have one scorer that will be able to challenge Oklahoma’s guard and that’s guard Reggie Holmes who averages 17 points and 5.5 rebounds this season. He is a nice player with great scoring ability. The Bears are not big enough or strong enough to play Oklahoma close in this game. The spread is Oklahoma -16.5. So, who knows? Not worth me putting my stamp on that’s for sure.
Haimo’s Hot Notes: Oklahoma has no chance of losing SU, we all know this. The question in hand is the large 16.5 points they are laying. Morgan State has beaten Maryland this year and was ahead at half against Mississippi. Blake Griffin will do his thing and I believe his brother Taylor will have a great game also. The key will be how guard Willie Warren comes out. If he decided to take the night off considering the opponent, they wont cover. If he comes out with a killer’s mentality, they’ll win by 25+. Here is a trend to chew on, Morgan State are 4-11 in their last 15 games ATS overall.
Morgan State was 3-2 ATS this year
Oklahoma was 13-13-1 ATS this year
This caps off my South region articles, I will be getting a select few out to you folks from the West region by tonight. If there are ANY requests at all please make sure to post it on one of the articles as I check them frequently. Once again listed below are my four decided picks for the South openers.
Win more this season when you bet on college basketball with top NCAA basketball picks from our experts. They can help you beat the NCAA basketball odds during this year’s tournament.
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- NCAA Tournament Predictions: Oklahoma vs Michigan
- NCAA Championship Odds: Oklahoma Sooners
- Siena vs Ohio State: NCAA Tournament Preview & Betting Odds
- 2009 NCAA Tournament Odds: South Region
- Oklahoma at Missouri: Basketball Odds & Predictions
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