DTM’s College Hoops NCAA Tourney Sweet 16 Special | XAV vs. ARIZ

NCAA TOURNEY Sweet Sixteen – WEST REGION

#11 Xavier Musketeers vs. #2 Arizona Wildcats

When: 10:09 PM ET, Thursday, March 23, 2017

Where: SAP Center, San Jose, California

America’s Bookie Line: Arizona -7.5

TV Coverage: TBS

By Dan Leach

Follow Dan on Twitter @DanLeach971

Ohhhh the mighty Musketeers! This Xavier team is one of the hottest squads in the country and goes up against many a peeps picks to win the whole sha-bang in Arizona. The Cats are clearly the more talented team with more weapons, but Xavier is gritty, focused, and playing with unbelievable confidence right now. This is going to a battle of wills and I see the Musketeers having what it takes to be in this one until the bitter end.

Zona can beat you a ton of different ways and will look for run Xavier out of the gym early, but even without Edmond Sumner, this Musketeers team feels like they can play with anybody and will show it from the tip on Thursday night. Sean Miller has his Cats playing with the kind of intensity and confidence you need to have to cut down the nets in April and as much as they will be tested until the bitter end in this one, I still see them moving on in one of the better games of the tournament.

Look for Xavier to have a lead multiple times in this one, but late in the game for Arizona to impose their will with some huge defensive stops and big triples by Dusan Ristic and game changing inside play by the best big man in the tourney in Lauri Markkanen. This is going to be a lot of fun and the 7.5 are just too many points to not side with the Musketeers. If Zona gets thru to the Elite 8, I would start thinking of throwing some cash on them to win the whole thing at some solid value.

7.4 DTM Bagels and Locks on the Musketeers (XAN +7.5)

Dan Leach was the world’s first human to live under the sea for more than 60 days, created what is now used as the International Olympic Flag, was the basis of Denzel Washington’s character Frank Lucas in “American Gangster”, Is often consulted on matters of national “Sports Security”, was the first human to interview Dracula, started the American Revolution on a dare, once sat in on drums with Led Zeppelin, and is a noted expert in the field of Time Travel.