*3 Star Play Under* The St. Mary's Gaels and the Villanova Wildcats meet on Thursday night in Connecticut. 

Both of these teams play very slowly. In terms of average possession length, Villanova ranks 339th out of 353 teams. St. Mary's is even slower at 350th out of 353 teams. This game should be played in the halfcourt throughout.

St. Mary's has some impressive numbers at home this year on offense, but their road and neutral offensive efficiencies are much lower. The Gaels averaged 1.202 points per possession at home this year. They averaged 1.085 points per possession on the road. They averaged 1.077 points per possession on neutral courts. They are a long way from home in this one, and neutral courts like this one tend to lean toward the under.

Villanova ranks in the top 5 in most three point shots attempted. The Wildcats go against a St. Mary's defense who ranks 44th in 3 point field goal percentage defense. St. Mary's has ranked in the top 44 each of the last three years when it comes to defending beyond the arc.

Look for a low scoring contest thanks in large part to the tempo this game will be played at. Both teams also rank in the top 80 in the nation in defending without fouling, so barring a ref show there shouldn't be too many free throws in this one.

Take the under. 

*3 Star Play on Old Dominion* The Old Dominion Monarchs are a really scrappy team. They play extremely hard for Jeff Jones. Jones is going through a battle with prostate cancer, but is still coaching the team.

This Old Dominion team is not your typical #14 seed. The champion from Conference USA is usually seeded a bit higher than 14th, especially if they were the regular season and conference tournament champions. Old Dominion is a team with a lot of length and toughness. I don't expect them to be bullied by this Purdue team. Old Dominion is excellent on the glass.

Purdue is very reliant on Carsen Edwards. Edwards is taking 37.1% of their shot attempts on the season. Edwards is dealing with a back injury that he is playing through right now. For a guy who takes as many difficult shots as Edwards does to be dealing with an injury is concerning.

Old Dominion is excellent defensively, and they are great at slowing the pace of the game down. The Monarchs rank 14th in effective field goal percentage defense. They rank 325th in tempo. They are excellent at turning games into a rock fight. They want a 61-58 type game here.

This is a lot of points for Purdue to be laying with the expected low possession count in the game and a total of just 126 points.

I'll take the points here.

Take Old Dominion. 

*3 Star Play on Marquette* The Murray State Racers have a superstar in Ja Morant. He is the best player in this game, but you could argue that Marquette has the next five or six best players on their side for this one. 

Murray State has gotten a lot of love from television analysts because of Morant. He is excellent and I have nothing bad to say there. The rest of the team isn't great though. Murray State struggled badly to grab defensive rebounds this year, and that was against a very weak league. 

Marquette -5.5 or 6 likely would have been the line here in a normal situation. Here, we get a lower line thanks to the public hammering Murray State. The public can definitely move lines in the NCAA Tournament, and this is one of them they have moved. 

Marquette has a star in Markus Howard too, and he said his wrist is good to go for this one. He's received a lot of treatment this week. The Golden Eagles have a bunch of good shooters and a lot of speed. They should be able to cut down on Murray State's transition scoring better than most teams Murray State played.

This is a fade the trendy underdogs selection. A discounted price.

Take Marquette.