The NCAA Tournament East-Regional commences Friday hoops action from its sub-regional site at Spokane Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash., with two games. The four-seed Texas Longhorns play No. 13-seed New Mexico State Aggies at 7:25 p.m. followed by five-seed Southern California Trojans playing the 12-seed Arkansas Razorbacks beginning at 9:55 p.m. ET.
The Longhorns (24-9, 12-4 Big 12) received an at-large bid to this year’s tournament after falling in overtime to No. 2 Kansas in the Big 12 Championship game. The Aggies (28-8, 11-5 WAC) won their first WAC Tournament title last week when they knocked off Utah State in the tournament finals.
The Aggies will have a difficult time keeping up with the Longhorns and national player of the year, Kevin Durant. The 6’9” freshman finished fourth nationally with a 25.6 p.p.g. average and third in the country in rebound average with 11.3 boards per game.
Texas has been installed the favorite with an -8.0-point chalk by most offshore sportsbooks with a 154 ½ total. Point-Spreads.com pick: Texas -8.0.
The Southern Cal Trojans (23-11) will be playing the Arkansas Razorbacks (21-13) in one of the nights most intriguing match ups of the night. The Trojans were blessed with a 5-seed by the selection committee but possibly cursed by drawing a hot Arkansas team as an opponent. The Razorbacks might have a chip on their shoulder coming into the game if the Hog players listened to the early criticism by pundits from their at-large selection to the tournament over Syracuse who was left out.
Arkansas earned its at-large bid to the tournament after winning the last five games of the season before falling to 2006 National Champion Florida by a score of 77-56 on March 11. The Razorbacks have four players scoring in double digits, led by SEC Freshman of the Year Patrick Beverley who is averaging 13.8 points. USC and Arkansas have met twice before with the Trojan winning both games, 70-67 in 1967 and 88-74 in 1986.
Southern Cal has been installed a slight favorite (-2.0, 135 ½ total) at most offshore sportsbooks. Point-Spreads.com pick: Arkansas +2.0.
