Discover the intriguing backstory of Anton Watson’s basketball journey with Theo Lawson from the Spokesman Review. Delve into Gonzaga’s basketball legacy and Watson’s pivotal role in their success, showcasing his defensive prowess and winning mindset. Uncover how Watson’s family ties and local roots shape his game, while his mentorship under John Stockton hones his skills. Explore Watson’s evolving offensive game and his upcoming showcase in the summer league, hinting at his potential impact on the Celtics with his defensive tenacity and versatile playstyle.

Theo Lawson covers the men’s Gonzaga Bulldogs for the Spokesman-Review. Theo joins the program to teach us about Anton Watson, his defensive prowess, and why he makes SO MUCH SENSE for the Celtics. Twitter: @TheoLawson_SR

1:39 – Gonzaga’s dominant runs
4:26 – Using a dart throw on Watson
11:06 – Watson comes from an athletic family

Celtics Beat is presented by:

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Let’s get right to it. I’ve been all over Gonzaga basketball for the past several seasons. Year in and year out, the Bulldogs dominate the West Coast Conference, play high quality basketball in their out-of-league schedule, and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

But they’ve failed to get over the hump.

This doesn’t matter for oddsmakers, though. For the third year in a row – Gonzaga is the betting favorite to win the NCAA Tournament according to BetOnline.ag. Here are their top ten:

2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion

Gonzaga                                   +750

North Carolina                       +800

Kentucky                               +1000

Houston                                 +1100

Kansas                                    +1400

Baylor                                     +1400

Arkansas                                +1600

Creighton                              +1800

Duke                                       +1800

UCLA                                     +1800

Forward Drew Timme is returning to Gonzaga for his senior season and will look to lead the Bulldogs to the promised land. The 2x Second-Team All American and 2022 WCC Player of the Year is starved for another chance at a title.

Junior Julian Strawther will also return to the team in 2022. The 6’7″ guard started 31 games for the Zags last year and scored 11.8 points per game. They’ll lean on him to continue improving in his third year in Spokane.

Malachi Smith is a massive addition to the Gonzaga team. A transfer guard from UT-Chattanooga, Smith led the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 and was the Mid-Major player of the year. The addition of Smith is the reason why I will again be taking the Bulldogs to win the NCAA Title in 2022-23.

My pick: Gonzaga +750

Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @CLNSMedia for the latest up-to-date Boston sports news!

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The post Can Gonzaga Finally Win an NCAA Championship in 2022-23? appeared first on CLNS Media.

The Boston Celtics were, of course, the favorite at +300 – and the rumors are already flying. I wrote about this yesterday:

I’m having a hard time figuring out exactly what I want Boston to do. On one hand, they have a superstar budding in Jayson Tatum, a glorified star in Jaylen Brown, and the Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Smart.

On the other hand, they threw up a complete dud in the NBA Finals, were clearly not ready for the series, and the path isn’t going to get any easier.

During his press conference this morning, Brad Stevens said that “You’ve got to be able to score in movement. I think (Ime and I) would prefer to play with a little more movement. Those are conversations we’ll have down the road. Ime did a really good job of fitting the pieces together and creating and identity.”

Beal will certainly help you to score, and score in movement. We’ll see if Boston tries to bring him in.

Now – the NBA Draft is set to take place on Thursday from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, so we’re back to writing about basketball again. Check out BetOnline’s odds for who the top five picks will be:

2022 NBA Draft – 1st Overall Pick

Jabari Smith                       -800

Paolo Banchero                 +275

Chet Holmgren               +1600

Though the sharp money has came in on Paulo Banchero over the past few days, it seems like it’s too late for the former Duke star to make the leap to number one overall.

Jabari Smith (-800) from Auburn has this one on lock. The Orlando Magic bring in an uber-talented front court presence to try and mimic what Dwight Howard gave them for so many years.

2022 NBA Draft – 2nd Overall Pick

Chet Holmgren                   -1000

Jabari Smith                        +400

Paulo Banchero                 +1000

Jaden Ivey                          +3300

This is where the draft gets interesting. With rumors of Banchero potentially being taken number one – shouldn’t he naturally fall to number 2? Not necessarily.

Chet Holmgren (-1000) becomes the first true center to be drafted out of Gonzaga since Kelly Olynyk in 2013 –  and makes the Oklahoma City Thunder a very happy franchise.

2022 NBA Draft – 3rd Overall Pick

Paolo Banchero                  -1200

Jabari Smith                       +800

Chet Holmgren                   +900

Jaden Ivey                          +1600

Keegan Murray                 +2500

Shaedon Sharpe               +4000

Taking away Holmgren and Smith here – Paulo Banchero (-1200) is the only pick that makes sense. He’s arguably the best player in the class.

The former Blue Devil joins Jalen Green in Houston to try and turn around the horrendous Rockets.

2022 NBA Draft – 4th Overall Pick

Jaden Ivey                            -225

Keegan Murray                   +145

Shaedon Sharpe               +1800

Dyson Daniels                  +1800

Chet Holmgren                +2000

In what is being called a three-player draft, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey (-225) falls right into Sacremento’s lap. The Kings are bound to get offers from other teams to move up, but I think they should stick and pick.

Mike Brown gets to build his new team around the former Boilermaker – hopefully this is the year they actually improve.

2022 NBA Draft – 5th Overall Pick

Keegan Murray                      +140

Benedict Mathurin                +190

Jaden Ivey                               +275

Dyson Daniels                        +600

Shaedon Sharpe                   +1400

Chet Holmgren                    +6600

The first four picks seem to pretty much be locks, but pick five is where we go away from the chalk.

Iowa’s Keegan Murray is the favorite to be the fifth overall pick at +140 – but I see the Pistons going in a different direction here.

Arizona’s Benedict Mathurin (+190) goes to Detroit to team up with Cade Cunningham and hopefully put the Pistons on a better track for the future.

Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @CelticsCLNS for the latest up-to-date Celtics news!

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The post 2022 NBA Draft Betting Props, Previews, and Predictions appeared first on CLNS Media.

Who Will Win Each Region of the NCAA Tournament?

March Madness – Betting Odds and Ends For the Round of 64

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Betting Odds Heading into the Sweet Sixteen

And here are my previews and predictions for Thursday’s West Region games with odds – as always –  from BetOnline.ag:

Arkansas vs. Gonzaga – 7:09pm

Odds

Spread: Gonzaga -9.5

Total: 155

Moneyline: Gonzaga -470/Arkansas +380

Storylines

The first thing that comes to mind when I see Arkansas verus Gonzaga is the coaching matchup – and boy these guys could not be more opposite. Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman has coached all over the map since he came on the basketball scene 1989 – coaching in the CBA, the NBA, and now for Arkansas’ since 2019. Musselman is fiery, outspoken, and looks like he physically wills his team to victory on the sideline.

Meanwhile, Mark Few is a man of few words up in Spokane, and he’s a Gonzaga lifer. The soft spoken head coach has been at the helm of the Bulldogs program since 1999 – and was only a GA and an assistant coach for the school before that. He has dominated the WCC for 20+ years and frankly has no reason to leave Washington.

Prediction/Pick

This game is filled with elite talent as guys like Chet Holmgren, Drew Timme, and J.D. Notae have dominated college hoops all season long. We should be in for a good one on Thursday night.

Though I think it will be close early, Gonzaga will it out in the end. The Bulldogs win, cover, and get themselves to the Elite Eight.

Prediction: Gonzaga 84 – Arkansas – 73

Side: Gonzaga -9.5

Total: OVER 155

Texas Tech vs. Duke – 9:39pm

Odds

Spread: Texas Tech -1

Total: 137

Moneyline: Texas Tech -118/Duke -102

Storylines

Coach K is fighting for his basketball life day in and day out it seems. The five-time National Champion had his own little retirement tour this season after announcing in June that 2021-22 will be his last season coaching, and every time you think it’s over he keeps crawling back.

This was especially true when Duke was down 5 with just over 5 minutes to go on Sunday. However, the Blue Devils put Coach K on their back – finishing the game on a 20-6 run to keep their hopes alive for a few more days.

Texas Tech had themselves quite the scare on Sunday as well before taking care of business in the final minute against Notre Dame. Tech has been a rather surprising program over the last several seasons, having qualified for four consecutive tournaments and three of the last four sweet sixteens. The loss of head coach Chris Beard to rival Texas hasn’t mattered much at all, as Mark Adams took over and led the Red Raiders to a promising 27-9 record in 2021-22.

Prediction/Pick

This should be a great game. Both team’s are playing great basketball so it should be fun to watch. Though Texas Tech has been impressive, I think Duke wins on Thursday as they win both the talent and the coaching matchup.

In what will be Coach K’s final win (as they’ll be no match for Gonzaga on Saturday), the Blue Devils get by Tech in a tight one.

Prediction: Duke 63 – Texas Tech 60

Side: Duke +1

Total: UNDER 137

Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @CLNSMedia for the latest up-to-date Boston Sports news!

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The field is truly wide open, and you can bet on who will win it all using BetOnline.ag. Here’s a list of their top ten to win the NCAA Tournament:

NCAA Tourney Odds to Win

Gonzaga               +400

Kentucky              +650

Arizona                  +775

Duke                      +900

Kansas                 +1200

Baylor                  +1200

Purdue                 +1200

Auburn                +1200

Villanova             +1800

Texas Tech          +2200

This past Saturday, the top SIX teams in the country lost. Like I said – wide open.

A historic day in college basketball

No. 1 Gonzaga LOST
No. 2 Arizona LOST
No. 3 Auburn LOST
No. 4 Purdue LOST
No. 5 Kansas LOST
No. 6 Kentucky LOST

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 27, 2022

A majority of the top 25 are your common blue blood power houses, but others (Saint Mary’s, Murray State, Arkansas) are a surprise.

With that being said, no one has really separated themselves as the elite talent in the field, and it may be a crapshoot right up until the end, Here are my top five favorite bets to tournament:

5. Providence (+6600)

Call me crazy, but Ed Cooley has something going down in Providence. They are the ninth ranked team in the country, and are coming off of a dominant home win against the Creighton Jays. Center Nate Watson has been an outstanding interior player for Providence, and is shooting 65% from the field in the team’s last four games.

They head to Villanova on Tuesday night to take on the 11th ranked Wildcats – a true test to see if Providence is for real in 2022. If they can get some momentum going heading into the Big East tournament, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the 24-3 Friars playing basketball into April.

4. Baylor (+1200)

Baylor shocked the world last season by beating down on the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs in the NCAA tournament final, and have kept that domination going into this season. The Bears are 24-5 and are currently the third ranked team in the country.

As they proved last year, they can compete with anybody. If they get a good pull in the tournament, Baylor can easily make the Final Four again and set themselves up to repeat as National Champions.

3. Kentucky (+650)

Kentucky has actually been a bit of a surprise this season. Although they currently have the second highest odds at +650 to win the tournament, this wasn’t always the case for John Calipari’s Wildcats. They opened the year at +1400, and junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe, who is the heavy favorite to win this season’s Wooden Award (-400 according to BetOnline.ag), wasn’t even on their board when the season began.

Tshiebwe has been the anchor for the Wildcats, averaging 16.9 points per game and 15.3 rebounds per game this season. He is the key to a successful Kentucky tournament run.

2. Duke (+900)

I’m always down on Duke when it comes to NCAA tournament time. They are constantly underperforming (according to their standards), and haven’t been to a Final Four since 2015.

That being said, this is Coach K’s last season in Durham, and he’s going to do everything in his power to go out on a high note. He has a program great in forward Paolo Banchero leading the way for his Blue Devils, and frankly it’ll be a bust if this team isn’t playing in the Final Four.

1. Gonzaga (+400)

Gonzaga will forever be dominant under Mark Few – but can they finally get the championship monkey off of their back in 2022? Projected number one overall pick Chet Holmgren has been a godsend for the Bulldogs, and senior Drew Timme continues to dominate down low.

Playing in the WCC may be this team’s only true downfall, and it’s something that they need to get over. They have the talent to play against the elite in college basketball, and I think this is the year they finally get their ring.

I am sitting on a Gonzaga future at +550, so here’s to hoping this is actually their year.

Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @CLNSMedia for the latest up-to-date Boston sports news!

Also be sure to check out our new sports betting Twitter account @CLNSBetting for all the latest odds and content from CLNS Media.

Use code CLNS50 for 50% off your first deposit at Betonline.ag.

The post Let the Madness Begin – My Top Five Picks to Win the NCAA Tournament appeared first on CLNS Media.