The NCAA Men’s Tournament begins on Tuesday night with two First Four games. The one that is the most intriguing to us features the North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Xavier Musketeers from Dayton, Ohio. The Wolfpack enter this game after an impressive run through the ACC tournament that saw them fall one win shy of the title game. Xavier is back in the tournament after missing out last season. Despite missing the dance last year, we like Xavier to win tonight.
Xavier happy to be back in the big dance
The Musketeers made seven consecutive appearances in the national tournament up until last year, when they missed the tourney. This means that the Musketeers do not have much experience on the roster heading into tonight’s game against the Wolfpack from North Carolina State. This game is being played on a neutral court, but Xavier will be considered the home team. They will not be the favorites of the crowd though, since they are former A-10 rivals of the Dayton Flyers.
Wolfpack low on tournament experience too
North Carolina State only has two players on its roster who played in the NCAA tournament last season, which could come into play in this contest with Xavier. Wolfpack leading scorer T.J. Warren has harsh memories from last year’s game at the same arena against Temple. His Wolfpack team dropped a 76-72 decision to the Owls in the first round. Now, Warren and his Wolfpack teammates are back on the same court, hoping for a different result from one year ago.
With two teams meeting on Tuesday night that have a lack of NCAA tournament experience, the Musketeers from Xavier are favored by three points over at Bovada.lv. This should be the better First Four game of the two on the schedule tonight, which is why we will lay the line with 10 percent of our bankroll in favor of Xavier.
Chris Wassel
AA, AAS
CURRENTLY
Sports Writer and Journalist
RESIDES IN
Rahway, NJ
EDUCATION
Union County College, Montclair State University
EXPERTISE
Business, Writing, Sports, Food, Grilling, Olympics, Injuries, Politics, and more
Summary
Member of FSWA, FSGA, and a variety of Sports Betting Groups.
Lead arranger of news and injury reports for Rotoballer Hockey. Also did the news lead for NASCAR on the same site coming out of COVID.
Strategy and mapping out of various sports betting and sports articles for MyNHLTradeRumors and gambling.com.
Runs a hockey and fantasy hockey podcast that teaches fantasy hockey players how to improve their skills.
Experience
Chris Wassel has 20+ years of sports journalistic experience in various disciplines..
His ability to play sports is well documented. Most people in the business just write. However, Chris will race cars and even a super Moto bike from time to time. There is that fitness and hiking/cycling aspect too.
Chris has climbed mountains from Mount Washington to Mount San Jacinto in Palm Springs, California. For those that do not know. Chris also dabbles in food eating contests and challenges. Having a unique background with friends including Joey Chestnut and Casey Webb, Chris has the ability to eat a whole 16-pound turkey or a 32 inch meat lover's pizza.
Since 2013, Chris has primarily focused on sports writing and fitness. On social media, he will answer any question in many different aspects. Even Chris's ability to wager on Entertainment and US Elections is well documented. He was able to predict Joe Biden's inevitable dip in approval rating below 40%.
Throughout his career, Chris has worked at a lot of places from DraftKings to USA Today and much more.
Finally, Chris has been nominated for quite a few awards from the Fantasy Sports Writers Association for Hockey Writer Of The Year. Also, there have been a number of amazing fantasy hockey championships from expert to high-stake leagues.
Education
Chris received an Associates from Union Country College for business and accounting. Chris did sports journalism work at Montclair State University covering the hockey, baseball, and football teams.
Quote from Chris Wassel
"Do Not Think, Just Do.”
Education
1999 Graduate of Union County College
1993 Graduate of Rahway High School
Professional Achievements
Media credentialed member of the New Jersey Devils since 2010
Covered several NHL Drafts including the one day event in Newark in 2013
Been on countless podcasts, TV shows, and more including Sportsnet and even NHL Network