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Kansas Villanova Predictions, Picks, & Odds
The NCAA Tournament is ready for week 2 of breath taking action, and we are going to take a look at one of the big games out of the Midwest Region. Here we see a Sweet 16 matchup of #1 Kansas and upset minded #12 Villanova. Here we will take a look at both teams and give you our predictions on the game and it’s total.#1 Kansas has looked great so far in the tournament. They easily took care of #16 by 24-points, and then sent #8 UNLV packing with a 19-point victory in round 2. Kansas has not only shown its dominance on the offensive end, their defense has looked great so far allowing 58.5 PPG so far in the tournament. Kansas rolled through what many thought as one of the toughest conferences for a share of the Big 12 regular season title, and winning the Big 12 Tournament title with a victory of Texas in the finals. The Jayhawks are led by the duo of Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush. Both come in scoring right around 13 PPG and both add over 5 RPG. While these two lead the team in scoring, Mario Chalmers comes in averaging 12.6 PPG and a team leading 4.5 APG, and Darnell Jackson comes in at 11.5 PPG and a team leading 6.7 RPG. So while these four guys have really led the team all season, the Jayhawks have plenty of depth and have players on the bench such as Sherron Collins who can come in and put up solid numbers, as he averages 9.5 PPG.
#12 Villanova was part of the crazy action in round 1 in Tampa, FL. This site saw every underdog win on day one. Villanova was able to shock #5 Clemson to get things underway, then took advantage of #13 Siena in round 2. Villanova along with Western Kentucky comes into the Sweet 16 as the two lowest seeds, and will both need an even bigger upset to make it to the Elite 8. While the focus is on defense, that doesn’t mean this is a great defensive team. While they have improved over the season, they still need to put up their share of points if they want to win. Its pretty clear that Wildcats go as far as sophomore Scottie Reynolds takes them. Reynolds comes in averaging 16 PPG, and when he isn’t on the floor the team just isn’t the same. The only other player that comes in averaging in double digits is Dante Cunningham at 10.4 PPG. For Villanova to pull off the remarkable Reynolds has to stay out of foul trouble and be at the top of his game.
Lets get it straight Kansas is a good team and has the potential to blowout Villanova, but at the same time Villanova is the type of team that could get hot at the right time and upset Kansas. While we don’t think an upset is going to happen, this game is going to be a lot closer than the 12-point spread. A big trend is to play against a favorite who is a 10-19.5 favorite, when the favorite is an explosive offensive team playing against an average offensive team. Since 1997 this trend has went 48-19 for a 71.6% winning rate.
This game will be higher scoring that it might seem. While Kansas plays solid defense, they won’t slow down Villanova enough for it to go under the total. So far this season Villanova has went over the total 6 out of 6 times in road non-conference games this season. With the game so close to home for Kansas they should have a big crowd supporting them, making it seem like a road game for Villanova.
Final Score - Kansas 81 - Villanova 72
So head over to Sportsbook.com today and take our advice on these two plays, and win big this weekend. Sportsbook.com has all your betting needs for the NCAA Tournament. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment box.
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