Packing for Vegas: College Basketball Picks Nov. 19

The college basketball season is underway, and it's exciting to be betting on college hoops once again. My brother Brian and my good friend Lee exchanged our preseason Final Four picks, per tradition, a few days ago. Here are our selections, with champion in bold:

Brian: UNC, Louisville, UConn, Gonzaga

Lee: UNC, Louisville, Duke, Memphis

Me: UNC, Louisville, Pitt, Oklahoma

Needless to say, the Duke, Gonzaga, Memphis, and Oklahoma picks all sparked debate, as did Lee's decision not to pick UNC to win it all. What we all could agree on—besides the Heels and Cards reaching Detroit—is that the impact of freshmen makes it very hard to determine which teams will be playing best come March.

Moving on from fun but ultimately meaningless preseason selections, we began discussing Tuesday night's games.

The big game of the night was No. 21 Davidson at No. 14 Oklahoma. Two First Team Preseason All-Americans—Davidson's Stephen Curry, arguably the best guard in the country, and Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, probably the nation's most skilled big man—were facing off in Norman.

The Sooners were a 3.5-point favorite. Brian, Lee, and I decided to stay away from the game. I e-mailed them saying I was simply going to sit back and enjoy this one, and that's exactly what I did. It was a great game, with OU winning by four.

Lee e-mailed us back saying he was taking Arizona -5 at home vs. UAB. I responded, writing that I was putting two units on Gonzaga -28 vs. Idaho, because they played last year and the Zags won by 37. Also, Idaho had lost 100-62 a few days before to Michigan State. The result? Gonzaga was covering at halftime and won 80-46.

The other game I liked was Arizona State -3.5 at San Diego. I looked into it, and it wasn't like SD was exceptionally good at home. I feel like ASU is a potential Elite Eight team, so this is a game they should win. Brian mocked my pick, saying ASU was "VERY overrated," but I put a unit on them anyway.

Reading the recap of the game this morning, I learned that ASU's star player, James Harden, had some sort of virus. Luckily he was able to play, and the Sun Devils covered, winning by six.

Brian didn't take my advice on Arizona State, but at least Lee did, which was good, because it helped him make back the money he lost on the better-known team from the Copper State, a team that, on this particular night, was unaware of the score of the game for most of the second half. Two bonehead fouls in the final 30 seconds cost Arizona a chance to at least force overtime.

Tuesday's Games: Gonzaga -28 vs. Idaho (W); Arizona State -3.5 at San Diego (W)

Season Record: 2-0, +3 units

Note: In the future I will post my selections before the games start. This is the only article that will refer to past selections.