Congratulations to San Diego State and Arizona for becoming the first two teams to reach the first ever Degen Madness Final Four!
The two games Thursday evening are the last of the Elite 8 and will result in two more teams joining the Aztecs and Wildcats. The Final Four games will be played Friday night with the championship and consolation games on Saturday so hopefully you have cleared your schedule.
The overs are still hitting at a remarkable rate but the dogs have somewhat come back down to earth (SD St and Zona were favorites). As always, all betting (spreads, totals, odd/even, etc) on MyBookie.AG. Remember all games can be viewed on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter (@GamblingPodcast), Twitter (@theSGPNetwork), Facebook, and Instagram.
Texas Tech Red Raiders @ Kansas Jayhawks
Line: Kansas -6.5
Total: 86.5
Thursday 6pm PST
It’s a battle of Big 12 teams. Kansas was a favorite to cut down the nets and did not disappoint vs Michigan last week. After having a bye in the opening round, the Jayhawks looked completely dominant against the Wolverines running them out of Allen Fieldhouse by a final score of 41 to 19. By far the biggest margin of victory in Degen Madness to date, Kansas looked unstoppable. Udoka Azubuike on the inside and Devon Dotson on the outside are the best 1-2 punch in the country.
Texas Tech has not exactly been a slouch so far either. They went into Tallahassee and dispatched Florida State relatively easily (45-38), and then pulled away from Houston in the second half and won comfortably, 47 to 39. In the regular season, they lost to Kansas twice but each game was close with the outcome not being decided until the closing seconds (78-75 at Kansas and 66-62 at Tx Tech). It will be a uphill battle for the Red Raiders with the Sim data giving Kansas an 84% chance to win and the average margin of victory of over 6 points.
Prediction:
Texas Tech’s backcourt, led by Jahmi’us Ramsey, will be able to hold their own against Kansas. However, I’m concerned the Red Raider frontcourt will be severely over-matched and that will end up being the difference.
Kansas wins and moves into the Final Four, but much like the regular season matchups, it’ll be tight throughout and Texas Tech will cover. I’ll take the Over as well.
LSU Tigers @ Ohio State Buckeyes (-3, 87.5)
Line: Ohio State – 3
Total: 87.5
Thursday 7pm PST
While Kansas was expected to be here, LSU and Ohio State have been nice surprise stories. After beating Auburn on the road in the opening round, the Buckeyes took down the #1 seed Dayton Flyers 55 to 51. In the lead for the majority of the game, Ohio State simply looked like the better team. And now, after a couple nice road wins, the 9-seed gets a home game against the 12-seed LSU Tigers. LSU took down Villanova in the first round and totally stole a game vs Colorado in overtime last weekend. The Tigers should feel fortunate and are playing with house money after shocking the Buffaloes in a game where they probably didn’t deserve to win.
While not as impressive as in the opening round, Skylar Mays and Darius Days are still a tandem to be reckoned with for LSU. For Ohio State it’s all about (F) Kaleb Wesson who held his own against Obi Toppin last week and will be looking to go off against the Tigers. If Wesson can dominate the interior, it may be the Buckeyes playing the Arizona Wildcats for a birth in the Championship game. The data gives the Buckeyes a 63% chance to win. Expect a close game where even a small spread may come into play.
Prediction:
After looking outmatched by Colorado for most the last game, I just can’t get behind LSU to win outright on the road against Ohio State. However, I can get behind them to cover the 3 points. It may not sound like a lot but there’s not much separating these two teams. It’ll be close so give me the dog and the Over as well.
