Cornell vs Missouri: March Madness Picks & Predictions

Written March 20, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz

missouri-cornell-march-madness-predictions-032009 The Missouri Tigers are the Big-12 conference tournament champions. If they are not considered the single most underrated team in this tournament, they are certainly in the top three. The well balanced Tigers are led by All-Conference (possible All-American) senior forward DeMarre Carroll who averages 17 points and 7 rebounds per game. While Carroll is the teams main man, they have plenty of other contributors. One of them being Leo Lyons, their dominating big man. Lyons averages 14 points and 6 rebounds a game. My personal favorite player on this team is shut down guard J.T. Tiller. He is a guy who can defend any team’s best guard. These three give Missouri what I like to call the triple threat. An all around scoring machine in Carroll, a big man down low in Lyons and a defensive specialist in Tiller. Matt Lawrence and Zaire Taylor are also important to Mizzu’s success. The Tigers average 80 points per game and only give up 67 against. The one thing Missouri will have to overcome if they want to make a final four run is their 66% free throw shooting statistic. Their opponent Cornell, the Ivy League Champs, will not case them any problems. It is important for Mizzu to stay sharp however, they do not want to be sluggish in a probable match up vs Marquette. Odds makers have Missouri -12.5 over Cornell.

The Cornell Big Red are the Ivy League champions. They are 21-9 this year with their best out of conference win probably coming at home against La Salle. They do have a junior forward named Ryan Wittman who is impressive. He averages 18.5 points and 4 rebounds per game. In a loss against Syracuse earlier in the year Wittman dropped 33 points on the Orange shooting 12-28 from the field. Cornell averages 73 points a contest while giving up 65 against. The Big Red are a 74% free throw shooting team which is superior to Missouri’s 66%. If Cornell can keep this game at a slow pace and get to the line often, they might be able to keep this competitive. What is going to be very difficult for them to handle is Missouri’s full court press. Cornell is not athletic in any way. Jeff Foote, their senior center will be the key for Cornell to keep it close. He must be able to not so much neutralize, but prevent Leo Lyons of Mizzu from being a major factor and most importantly, he must keep Lyons off the glass. Cornell is above .500 this year ATS, so we shall see how they come out against what I believe is the hottest team in the nation.

Haimo’s Hot Notes: Missouri is currently 12.5 point favorites. If The Tigers come out and Jump on Cornell getting up 17-4 early, right then and there it could be game set match. There is just no way Cornell will sustain long runs against Mizzu. They are to athletic, strong and have tremendous team depth. 75% of the betting public is riding Missouri and rightfully so. When you think about laying 12.5 points in this match up it really isn’t that much at all. That is an average of 6.5 points per half for the Big-12 champs to outscore Cornell. I like those odds.

Missouri is 17-10 ATS this year

Cornell is 13-10 ATS this year

Betting Line: Missouri -12.5

Jordan’s Pick: Take Missouri -12.5

For those of you looking to do some NCAA basketball betting, make sure you have our expert NCAA basketball picks and the latest NCAA basketball lines for all the big games at Betfirms.

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