Thursday, March 24, 2011

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Betting Preview: San Diego State vs. Connecticut Huskies

Point Spread: Huskies -1

Over/Under : 130

The closest matchup on tap for Thursday pits the No.2 seed San Diego State Aztecs against the No.3 seed Connecticut Huskies in the West Region semifinals of this year?s NCAA Men?s Tournament. Game time from the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. is set for 7:15 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on CBS.

San Diego State had a fairly easy time of it against No.15 seed Northern Colorado in its first game with a 68-50 win as a 14 ½-point favorite. Things got a bit dicey from there as the Aztecs needed two overtimes to knock-out No.7 seed Temple 71-64 as a 5 ½-point favorite to advance to the Sweet 16.

Billy White led the way against Temple with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds and sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard matched his total with 16 points of his own and added nine more rebounds in the win. Leonard leads San Diego State with 15.6 points and 10.6 rebounds a game, while Malcolm Thomas has also been a key contributor with 11.4 points and 8.1 rebounds a game.

Connecticut came into this tournament with a five game winning streak and ran it to seven with an 81-52 rout of No.14 seed Bucknell in the second round as a 10-point favorite, followed by a 69-58 win over Big East foe No.7 seed Cincinnati as a 3 ½-point favorite.

Kemba Walker recorded 18 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists in the win over the Bisons, but lit up the scoreboard against the Bearcats with a game-high 33 points including 16 down the stretch to close-out the win. Jeremy Lamb added 14 points and Alex Oriakhi pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to support Walker?s effort.

This game will come down to the Aztecs? ability to win the battle of the boards against the 11th-best rebounding team in the country as well as try and contain Walker, who appears to be just warming up. Add in the Huskies? momentum coming into this game and it all points to a trip to the Elite Eight for Connecticut.

 

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Betting Preview: San Diego State vs. Connecticut Huskies

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.