Dayton vs Kansas: NCAA Tournament Picks
Written March 21, 2009 by Jay Horne
The no. 3 seed Kansas Jayhawks took care of business like expected in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament when they beat the North Dakota State Bison 84-74 on Friday. The Jayhawks possibly may have been anticipating a match-up with number 6 seed West Virginia in round two. However, the Dayton Flyers scored a big upset in their opening performance over the Mountaineers and will be the Jayhawks opponent in round two. Dayton controlled the entire game in their meeting with West Virginia as Chris Wright scored 27 points in the underdog victory. The Flyers will now go toe to toe with the defending national champions in effort to score their second straight upset performance. Odds makers have Kansas -7.5 against Dayton Sunday.
Kansas did not appear overwhelmingly dominate in their first round win over North Dakota State, but they also did not play bad by any means as well. The Jayhawks emerged at the end of the regular season by passing Oklahoma in the Big 12 winning the regular season crown. The young Kansas team has really come on strong in the latter part of the season and they appear to be poised to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. Junior guard Sherron Collins got hot in the opening match-up knocking down 32 points in the Jayhawks win over the Bison. Collins leads the Kansas team in scoring with 18.3 points per game on average this season and they will need the sharp shooter to stay hot. Cole Aldrich also had a solid showing in the first game. The near 7’0 giant pulled down 13 boards and knocked home 23 points in the winning effort. Aldrich will possibly be in a heated battle with Dayton forward Chris Wright among the battle on the inside.
Dayton’s victory over West Virginia was possibly one of the biggest bracket busters of the first round. The Flyers not only pulled off the upset, but they controlled almost every aspect of the game. Dayton forwards Chris Wright and Charles Little combined for 45 points on the inside the paint on a combined shooting effort of 66% from the floor. The Flyers defense held the high scoring offense of West Virginia to only 60 points and also held the Mountaineers to shooting only 36% as a team from the floor. Dayton will need another solid all around effort in their meeting with Kansas. The Flyers victory over West Virginia was their first victory in the NCAA Tournament in almost 20 years dating back to 1990. However, if the magic is to stay alive Dayton will likely have to play even better this Sunday to capture their second straight upset.
A few things to keep your eye on in this game will be for one the offensive rebounding. The Flyers offensive rebounds really made a big impact in their victory over West Virginia as they did not allow the Mountaineers any control on the glass. Kansas is another strong rebounding team. While Dayton may not be able to pull down as many boards, they can equalize the glass play by pulling down some offensive rebounds like they did against West Virginia. The big area to watch will be the game in the paint. The Flyers to strong forwards will need to play big against Kansas center Cole Aldrich to be effective. Also, if the two guards can manage to play solid defense against Aldrich and hope Collins does not get hot from the outside the game could also be closer than expected.
Pick – Take Kansas -7.5
Get more out of your college basketball betting this tournament season with top NCAA basketball picks from our leading handicappers. You should also check our NCAA basketball odds feed that streams lines from several of the top online sportsbooks in the world.
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- March Madness Picks: West Virginia vs Dayton
- Odds to Win the NCAA Tournament: Kansas Jayhawks
- 2009 Kansas NCAA Tournament Predictions & Odds to Win
- NCAA Tournament Preview: North Dakota State vs Kansas
- Sweet Sixteen Picks: Kansas vs Michigan State
One Response to “Dayton vs Kansas: NCAA Tournament Picks”
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saludos mental get the bookmark for you today in ncaa teams are very hard to find k for mental play that I directed
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