How does that cheesy saying go, “When you lose, don’t lose the lesson” or something like that? The lesson I am taking from last night’s two losses are summed up by two performances. Two weeks ago Aaron Gray messed the bed against Georgetown and scored only 6 points. Personally I put too much stock in that kid, a 7’0″ Senior Center that again did nothing last night in a big game. In the Texas A&M loss, Senior leader and prolific scorer AC Law IV missed a layup late in the game that would’ve put A&M up 3 and managed only 13 points. I still believe that Senior leadership is a key ingredient to Tournament success, but when a team’s best player is a Senior that spells trouble. The reason being, if the kid is a true superstar he wouldn’t be in college for four years.

There were two victories last night, and both were great games. Southern Illinois did what it needed to and had their chances, they were an easy cover. Tennessee meanwhile is going to have a lot of sleepless nights before they get over last night’s loss to Ohio St. Regardless, it was a cover and kept me at 2-2 for the evening, with 4 more games tonight. Let’s take a look at them:

Florida -10

Butler has some nice wins this year, Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee, Gonzaga, Purdue and Maryland. But those teams are nowhere near the caliber of Florida. George Mason had some nice wins last year too; remember what happened to them when they met Florida? Florida’s experience and poise are too much to go against so I am laying it down on Florida this evening. Remember, poise counts!

Georgetown -7.5

Vanderbilt’s claim to fame this year is a win over Florida. That was certainly a great accomplishment, but let’s not let that cloud our judgment. Only twice this year have the Commodores won more than two games in a row. And since January they have been on a neat little streak of winning two and then losing one. Let’s also go back to the first game of the year and Georgetown’s 16 point victory of Vanderbilt. Granted it was a long time ago, but that is some history that shouldn’t be ignored. With that said, the line is higher than I anticipated and that gives me some additional comfort in giving the points and taking the Hoyas.

UNLV +3

This game has me a bit perplexed. Oregon started the year hot, cooled in the middle and has seemed to get hot again. UNLV meanwhile began an impressive run on their conference tournament and through the first two games of the Big Dance. UNLV is a senior dominated team but the low spread has me feeling like I am walking into a trap. Well, if I am I am not going to hesitate, I am running right through it and taking the points and the Running Rebels

North Carolina -8.5

USC was very impressive against Texas, but they aren’t playing a one man show tonight. The Trojans got demolished in the PAC-10 championship game but people are still raving about their win over Texas. Get over it, it wasn’t all it seemed. The Heels are legit and The Dean likes them to cover this line tonight.