2009 Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Picks: East Region, March 20

At CBBPlace.com, we've been doing College Basketball Picks Against the Spread all season. There are five of us from CBBPlace who also write on B/R: Ryan, Mitch, Dave, Shaun, and Steve. There is a very good chance that if you have been following college basketball this season (even just casually), you have read something by one of us.

With that in mind, we have decided to do our first ever collaboration article—we are all going to do quick picks against the spread for the NCAA Tournament, and they will be posted in a series of articles broken out by the date of the game and region of the tournament.

We have posted well over 1,000 Free Picks Against the Spread this season and have amassed more than 500,000 hits since the site went up at the end of January! The bottom line: Hopefully we know a little something about the teams involved in these games!

NCAA Tournament—East Region

Friday, March 20

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No. 1 Pitt vs. No. 16 ETSU
2:55 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 1 Pitt	28-4	15-3	16-9-1	78-0	64.0
No. 16 ETSU	23-10	14-6	2-2	78-6	70.0

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 1 Pitt	48.4	41.1	35.4	33.6	67.4	42.7	7.1	18.0	12.0	3.9
No. 16 ETSU	46.8	40.6	33.6	32.6	71.5	41.0	8.5	12.6	14.2	3.9

Line: Pitt -20.0

Mitch: Pitt -20.0—BLOWOUT!
Dave: Pitt -20.0—Needs to justify seed in many eyes.
Ryan: Pitt -20.0—Look for Blair and Young to dominate the frontcourt after getting knocked out of the Big East tournament.
Shaun: Pitt -20.0—The Panthers will be on a mission after bowing out of the Big East tourney early.

No. 4 Xavier vs. No. 13 Portland State
7:25 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 4 Xavier	25-7	12-4	15-10-1	72.4	62.4
No. 13 Portland St.	23-9	11-5	10-15-2	73.8	68.3

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 4 Xavier	46.3	38.9	39.9	33.2	67.5	42.7	5.4	13.5	15.0	5.1
No. 13 Portland St.	45.4	45.1	38.0	34.3	68.6	37.6	7.5	15.3	13.8	2.8

Line: Xavier -11.5

Mitch: Xavier -11.5—Built for tourney play.
Dave: Xavier -11.5—Superior play.
Ryan: Xavier -11.5—Xavier is a much better team.
Shaun: Xavier -11.5—Xavier won't be challenged in this one.

No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Wisconsin
9:55 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 5 Florida St.	25-8	10-6	17-10	68.6	64.6
No. 12 Wisconsin	19-12	10-8	10-15	64.4	59.0

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 5 Florida St.	43.4	38.5	33.8	32.1	72.2	38.9	8.4	12.4	15.8	5.8
No. 12 Wisconsin	44.2	44.1	36.9	32.3	72.4	33.7	5.0	12.2	10.1	2.6

Line: Florida State -3.0

Mitch: Florida State -3.0—Just the better team.
Dave: Florida State -3.0—Probably the best bet in round one.
Ryan: Florida State -3.0—FSU was competitve all season long and is the better team in this one.
Shaun: Florida State -3.0—This will be a slugfest, but Douglas and the Seminoles will find a way to win.

No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. No. 9 Tennessee
12:25 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 8 Oklahoma St.	22-11	9-7	17-9	81.1	74.2
No. 9 Tennessee	21-11	10-6	13-15-1	79.0	72.6

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 8 Oklahoma St.	45.7	44.3	38.4	34.3	74.3	38.0	7.7	12.6	12.4	2.5
No. 9 Tennessee	46.1	44.2	31.4	34.0	37.3	41.4	6.8	16.4	13.3	3.8

Line: Oklahoma State -2.5

Mitch: Tennessee +2.5—Take the over.
Dave: Tennessee +2.5—Another team that is hungry after losing tourney title. OSU not a top four team in the Big 12.
Ryan: Oklahoma State -2.5—Tennessee isn't as good as their inflated SEC record indicates. They lost a lot of OOC games they shouldn't have, which showed their true colors.
Shaun: Oklahoma State -2.5—The Cowboys are lethal from long range and Tennessee does a poor job guarding the perimeter.

If you enjoyed these picks, please take a look at CBBPlace.com, where we will be picking every March Madness game!

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Please take a look at our other NCAA Tournament First Round Picks:

Midwest Region, March 20
East Region, March 19
East Region, March 20
South Region, March 19
South Region, March 20
West Region, March 19
West Region, March 20