It was a solid Wednesday for SportsCapPro with our 3* VERY STRONG release on Northwestern -2 coming through 72-64 as they beat Minnesota for the 2nd time in 16 days. Red hot Junior forward Nick Martinelli scorched the Gophers again with 28 points. He had 29 when these teams met on February 25th in a 75-63 Wildcat victory. The Northwestern celebration may be short lived as they move on to battle a strong Wisconsin contingent tomorrow. We also won our 2* STRONG selection as the resurgent Oklahoma Sooners held off Georgia straight up as a 3.5 point underdog. We split our four 1* SOLID releases going 2-2 with Richmond slipping inside the number in a close loss to Davidson, and Georgia Tech getting by Virginia, as the winners. The losses came with Notre Dame getting destroyed by North Carolina and Rider coming up short versus MAAC power, and #1 seed, Quinnipiac. With the addition of 5 Units, our rolling 17 day record is now 43-19 for PLUS 75 UNITS. We will look to keep it going on Thursday.
3* VERY STRONG – Northwestern -2 (72-64) WIN
2* STRONG – Oklahoma +3.5 (81-75) WIN
1* SOLID – Georgia Tech -1 (66-60) WIN
1* SOLID – Richmond +6.6 (65-69) WIN
1* SOLID – Rider +8.5 (64-78) LOSS
1* SOLID – Notre Dame +10 (56-76) LOSS
WRITEUP: 3-12-25: 3* VERY STRONG – Northwestern -2: Here we have a Big 10 tournament battle featuring the Northwestern Wildcats (7-13) taking on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-13). Both teams enter the tournament coming off very disappointing campaigns and the winner will likely be one and done. The Gophers have tasted victory just once in their last 5 tries and one of the losses came at HOME, on February 25th, versus these very same Wildcats by a final tally of 75-63. In that contest they had no answer for Junior forward Nick Martinelli as he torched them for 29 points. It seems nobody can stop this kid as he poured in another 28 last out in a losing effort (74-61) at Maryland. Northwestern relies on their DEFENSE and the limited Golden Gopher offense should struggle mightily once again with no reliable go-to option. Nothing substantial has changed in the last 13 days and getting the better team at such a short number (-2) on a neutral court offers great value. The Wildcats live to see another day with Martinelli likely going off again.