The New Mexico State Aggies won the Western Athletic Conference tournament to earn an automatic berth to the Big Dance. They'll face a Clemson Tigers team that will be eager to play ball again after getting knocked out in the semifinals of the ACC tournament by eventual champion Virginia, and will be playing its first NCAA Tournament game in seven seasons. Note that New Mexico State has lost its NCAA Tournament opener in its last nine appearances and the Tigers are a perfect 5-0 in their last five game non-conference games.

Sure, New Mexico State is WAC champions while Clemson finished tied for third place in its conference, but here the Aggies will face a defense of a different caliber than they've seen so far in a tough Clemson D that is ranked 35th in the nation in opposing field-goal percentage (41%). I have no problem laying points on the superior ACC team here.

My selection is a 10* play on Clemson Tigers.