NCAA Basketball Free Pick – Wednesday, March 12, 2011
Northeast Conference Tournament Championship
Robert Morris Colonials 18-13 vs Long Island Blackbirds 26-5
Last meeting: LIU beat Robert Morris 83-67 at RMU in January.
The Robert Morris Colonials finished third in the Northeast Conference this year and advanced to finals thank to a game winning shot with just 6 seconds left against Quinnipiac in the semi-finals. The shot was made by Velton Jones who has had to to step up again with Robert Morris’ leading scorer Karon Abraham out with injury. Beating Long Island University in the finals is going to be a very tough test. LIU dominated in their win against Robert Morris in January though it should be noted that the Colonials dealt LIU, one of only two conference losses all season on an earlier visit to the Blackbirds, winning by a point 70-69. Jones was the hero in that one too leading the way with 20 points.
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The Long Island Blackbirds haven’t been this good for a while. They dominated in Northeast Conference this season, losing just twice including the aforementioned game against Robert Morris. This is a very balanced team with 4 scorers averaging between 11 and 13ppg. They are very athletic, mostly playing with a lineup that doesn’t feature anybody over 6’7″. They love playing an up and down style and are 6th in the nation in scoring. If they can dictate the pace than they should be able to capture the team’s automatic qualifier bid. It would be a shame if the 26 wins they have gathered to this point didn’t amount to that.
The current line on this one is LIU -4.5. These teams are tough to figure out against the number as they each only had 2 lined games all season. Still with the short spread the odds are the winner will cover. I will back the Blackbirds.
The odds makers have the Long Island Blackbirds as a -4.5 point favorite with an over/under of 110.
Prediction: Robert Morris has proven in the past that they can slowdown the Blackbirds and they will be effective enough to do so, just not enough to win. LIU grabs the automatic bid and could put a scare into someone if they don’t have a strong inside presence.
Check out the latest College Basketball Odds here.
Score: LIU 81 – Robert Morris 75
Need more help making your picks winners? Check out our top handicappers.
Trends Robert Morris
- ROBERT MORRIS is 13-12 straight up against LONG ISLAND since 1997
- ROBERT MORRIS is 3-2 straight up against LONG ISLAND over the last 3 seasons
Trends Long Island University
- LONG ISLAND is 9-3 straight up against ROBERT MORRIS since 1997
- LONG ISLAND is 1-1 straight up against ROBERT MORRIS over the last 3 seasons
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