#13 Murray St vs #4 Vanderbilt -4.5

[nolesfan08]

discuss....interesting line here

[upinya83]

MURRAY, Ky. -- The mother of Murray State reserve guard Picasso Simmons was killed in a car crash Monday, on the eve of the team's departure for the NCAA tournament.

Freeda Simmons died in Nashville, Tenn., Murray State spokesman Dave Winder said. Her son is planning to go to the Racers' first-round game Thursday against Vanderbilt in San Jose, Calif.

Simmons' mother, who ran track at Murray in the early 1980s, was pleased the team made the tournament, Winder said. The bracket was announced Sunday.

"His mom was real, real happy that he was getting a chance to go," Winder said. "He just feels that she would want him to go, and he wants to honor her in that way."

Picasso Simmons, a walk-on junior guard from Gallatin, Tenn., saw limited time in seven games for the Racers, who went 30-4 and won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Simmons' sister, Galileo, has also competed in track and field for Murray State, and their father played football there in the early '80s, Winder said.

"Our basketball team is a family," Winder said. "We had all the jubilation of yesterday, and something like this puts it into perspective."

[JR7302001]

This is one of my upset picks right here.

[FlyersFan]

I love love love Vandy in this one. Everybody and their brother is on Murray State to win. Funny thing is they beat NOBODY this year. They played Cal and LaTech and lost to both (Cal was down 2 starters) and they also lost to a meager Western Kentucky team. Other than that Seth Greenberg did the scheduling for the rest of their non conference. Vandy has 4 losses since Jan 1st and 2 of those were to Kentucky. They are probably one of the most complete teams in the field with lots of bigs and they can shoot the 3 ball. Murray State's only prayer is to hit a ton of 3's and try and get this game into the 80's and Vandy won't let that happen. Murray State has yet to even play a team CLOSE to as good as Vandy this year so i am curious why everyone has them in an upset role? This is one of those watercooler "me too" plays that somebody started the ball rolling on and now people are spitting murray state out like mad. I will ride a very very solid Vandy squad in this one. Murray State's best win was James Madison when James Madison was playing awful basketball.