March Madness, you are quickly marching our way.  We’ve seen Elite 8-type matchups thus far this season.  Speaking of which, we get treated to Duke vs. Syracuse Part II today. Here are my picks to improve on Matt’s ATS, standing at 36-32 on the season after last week’s comeback (6-2) performance.

Here are the team’s to take today:

St. John’s +11 at Villanova
Baylor +3 1/2 at West Virginia
Notre Dame +12 at Virginia
LSU +12 at Kentucky.
Syracuse +5 /12 at Duke
Texas + 11 1/2 at Kansas
Stanford +1 vs. UCLA
New Mexico – 3 1/2 vs. San Diego St.

I think West Virginia has finished showing us its best basketball of the season.  Baylor played tough in a must-win game against Oklahoma St.  With so much on the line, I could easily see a one possession game in this one.  As much as I love Virginia, they play games in the 40s and 50s.  That makes this 12 point spread too irresistible.  Good sports schools like Notre Dame surprise shoe-in tourney teams this time of year.  It’s like they want to claim relevance although nowhere near the bubble.  See Auburn’s near-win at Florida this week.  LSU beat Kentucky once already this season.  That was by far the highlight of the season, as they’ve struggled since.  However, if they swept Kentucky, they’d have to be in the bubble team conversation, right?  LSU matches up well with Kentucky with a quick-footed front court and much more experienced backcourt.  As great as the first Syracuse Duke matchup was, I have to bet on the Orange for the first time this season.  Boeheim will obviously have his players attention after the loss to Boston College, and the zone gave the Blue Devils a lot of issues with its mid-range game last time at the Dome.  I just can’t see Duke running away with this one.  The 5 1/2 points feel safe.