Free College Basketball NCAA Tournament Pick
#1 Kentucky Wildcats (34-1, 14-2 SEC) vs. #12 Cornell Big Red (29-4, 13-1 Ivy League) Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY, 3/25, 9:57 PM
The best team remaining in the tournament takes on the lowest remaining seed in this Sweet 16 game. But don’t expect it to be a cakewalk. Cornell is the first Ivy league team in over a decade to get past the first round of the tournament, and now they are looking at a chance to get to the Elite 8.
With so many other surprises in this tournament, Cornell has possibly been the biggest. Northern Iowa was the first team to knock off a number 1 seed, but no one anticipated anything from an Ivy League team. Especially a team that hadn’t ever won a tournament game before. The Big Red won the conference and then beat Temple and Wisconsin to get to this point. In their second round game, Cornell led the entire game, leading by as many as 24 points at one point. Louis Dale scored 26 and Ryan Wittman added 24. Cornell has already played two of the other 1 seeds in this tournament. They lost to Syracuse by 15 early on in the season, but lost by only five to Kansas in December. Could the third time be the charm?
Kentucky would like to end this Cinderella story, and they have the team to do it. The Wildcats haven’t taken either of their opponents lightly beating Eastern Tennessee State by 29 in the first round and Wake Forest by 30 in the second round. They are averaging 95 points per game in the tournament. Darius Miller led the way with 20 points and 9 rebounds in the win over Wake. Star freshman John Wall scored 14 and had 7 assists in the game. Dismantling an ACC team the way Kentucky did to Wake bodes well for their upcoming game, but Cornell is not any average Ivy League team.
If anyone has a home court advantage, it is Cornell. They are the underdogs, who tend to be favored by tournament crowds, and the Carrier Dome in Syracuse is only about 45 miles away from Cornell’s campus. Syracuse fans in attendance will certainly be interested in seeing this number 1 seed goes down, as they hope for the Orange in the West.
Kentucky is currently favored by 9.5 points.
Kentucky Betting Trends:
Kentucky is 8-4 ATS in its last 12 games |
Kentucky is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games |
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Kentucky's last 5 games |
Cornell Betting Trends:
Cornell is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games |
Cornell is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games |
Pick: Take Cornell +9.5
Betting Trends by Bodog.com |
