First things first...in my haste to post my Arena Football League picks yesterday as I knew the lines were going to moving downward on my totals, I mistakenly said the Dallas-New Orleans total was 112 at the Stratosphere and 111 elsewhere in Las Vegas). I meant to type 102 at the Strat and 101 elsewhere. Hopefully anyone who jumped on that game got the 102 or the 101.5 or at the worst the 101 as Dallas ended up winning 52-49. Late bettors who went under 100.5 or even 100, which is what it closed at several books in Vegas, got a loss. It goes to show that every point or even half-point count. Most novice bettors understand the importance of +3 over +2.5 in pro football but it's a mistake to not shop for the best numbers even when we're talking with an NBA. The oddsmakers are in the ballpark too often to risk losing those games when you should have pushed or pushing games you should have won...they add up over the long haul and can easily be the difference between being a profitable sports bettor and a losing one.
    OK, enough of the preaching. Here are my NCAA picks for Saturday. 
    A pretty common theme is that it appears to me that a lot of the better teams are short road underdogs today. Some have struggled on the road while the teams at home have mostly protected their home courts, so that's why the home teams are favored. I'm hoping talent will prevail, especially with a lot of these road teams jockey for tournament seedings:

Nebraska +4.5 OKLAHOMA ST.
Texas A&M +2 OKLAHOMA
Wake Forest +4.5 GEORGIA TECH
Georgetown +4.5 MARQUETTE
SOUTHERN CAL +2 Arizona St.
Vanderbilt +7 ARKANSAS (take Vandy's confidence-booster over letdown)
George Washington +18.5 XAVIER (worse team but too many points)
TOLEDO +5 Western Michigan

    Hopefully I land on the right 7 in my Leroy's College Challenge contest, where I'm in 18th place with a record of 31-25 (http://www.americanwagering.com/contests/2007/college_basketball/standings.html)