This is Year Four of the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. It still doesn’t feel like it — and probably never will — but these games count. So, here’s some help in making the games more interesting:
Albany (-1½) over Mount St. Mary’s: This game is all about pace, with the Mountaineers looking to run and Albany content to crawl. The Great Danes don’t play pretty, but sport an edge, with much of their core appearing in the Big Dance for the second straight season. That experience will prevent them from entering a race they can’t win, frustrating the NEC Champions.
North Carolina State (+2) over Xavier: As lucky as a team can be that’s forced to make a pit stop in Dayton, Musketeer fans will have to travel less than an hour to Tuesday’s game. Still, momentum is on the side of the Wolf Pack, who won four straight — including wins against Syracuse and Pittsburgh — to slip inside the bubble, before losing to Duke in the ACC Semifinals. Xavier has lost three of its past four.
2014 record: 14-5-1
2011-13 record: 72-47-2
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