Back Colorado To Advance Into Field Of 64

Colorado vs. Boise State, 9:10 ET

Yesterday can only be described in one way for my college hoops plays: terrible. I put out three different plays and all of them lost. It was the first time this entire basketball season, and, of course, it comes when more people are looking for bets than ever. I'm hopeful that I can get at least a piece of that back after the debacle from yesterday. Tonight we have the rest of the first four games taking place as Colorado takes on Boise State. This matchup between 10-seeds will finalize the bracket of 64. 

Colorado comes into this game with a 24-10 record for the season. They went 13-7 in the Pac-12, a conference that underperformed this season, but did have some strong talent. Within the Pac-12 Tournament, they were able to win three games. The first game they won against Utah was a fairly easy contest where they had a nice offensive showing. In the second game, they took down a talented Washington State team in a defensive battle. The third game, the championship, came against Oregon, and they dropped that one by seven points. That was the first time they lost to Oregon this season, proving that it can be very difficult to beat a team three times in a season. Before that loss to Oregon in the final, Colorado had reeled off eight straight victories. Their team has a very strong starting five with all of them averaging 10 or more points per game. The problem with the squad is that they aren't overly deep. After the starting five, they only have two guards who get much playing time off of the bench, and they combine to average 13.9 points per game. They do rebound fairly well and do a good job of keeping the entire team involved in the offense. Colorado does seem to turn the ball over a little too often, but if they can control that tonight, this should be an easy victory for them.

IMAGN/USA Today

Boise State ended their regular season with a 22-9 record and a 13-5 conference record. If the Pac-12 underperformed, the MWC was just not a very good conference. Again, this is more of an opinion than anything, and there were a few decent teams, but I wouldn't say this was a great conference. However, they did get quite a few bids to the NCAA Tournament. In order to get here, Boise State had a nice run to end their season as they won six of their last seven games before the tournament began. Disaster struck for them against New Mexico in the MWC Tournament when they lost 76-66. Their team is a lot less complete than Colorado. Boise State is built around their forward Tyson Degenhard who is a good interior presence who puts up 17 points per game and grabs 6.2 rebounds. Their other forward, Omar Stanley, also grabs another six rebounds and puts up 13 points per game. The duo keeps the team running and are supported by a couple of moderately talented guards. The two combine to score 26.1 points per game, but only 2.6 assists per game. They run a deeper rotation than Colorado, but they still don't get much help after the top four players. 

In this game, I think Colorado is going to take down this game. Boise State has some good players and they are able to find ways to win games against talented teams, but I think Colorado has more offensive firepower. This may come down to whoever wins the turnover battle and likely the rebounding battle as well. I not only think that Colorado can win those battles, but they also are more likely to still escape with a win even if they lose one or both of those. I'll take Colorado to win this one -2.5. 

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