With the Round of 64 set to start on Thursday, chances are that most of you have your brackets filled out and your wagers all lined up and ready to go. That said, there are also sure to be some of you who are somewhat sitting on the fence in regards choosing an eventual winner. After all, this may well be one of the most wide-open college basketball tournaments that we have seen in quite some time. A team that you may have liked as a national championship candidate a few weeks back may now not even have a good spot to win it all according to the latest NCAAB lines. A couple of months back, I was asked who I thought would win it all and I chose Purdue, a team that was hot and sitting in the #3 spot at that time.
My pick appears to have been the kiss of death, as they then lost 3 in a row before righting the ship with 5 straight wins followed by a loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Semi-Final Game. Purdue will get their tournament started as a 20 ½ point favorite on Friday with an opening-round tilt against the CS Fullerton Titans.
They average over 81 PPG, but also play well on the defensive end of the court, holding teams to just 65.6 PPG, which was good enough to land them in the top 30 in that particular category. They had some trouble with ranked teams in the latter part of the season, and while that may hurt them later in the tournament, they should have no issues getting through the first couple of rounds.
Titans vs. Boilermakers Game Info, NCAAB Lines & Pick
The moment you hit your school-record 2⃣4⃣4⃣th career 👌🏽.
👉🏽 According to @NCAAStats, he owns the top 3-pt. % in the NCAA tournament. #Purdue’s Dakota Mathias is America’s best shooter.#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/3xVuvPl7hK — Purdue Men’s Basketball (@BoilerBall) 13 de marzo de 2018
- When: Friday, March 16 at 12:40 PM EST
- Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit
- TV: truTV
- Radio: TuneIn
- Live Stream: MM Live
- NCAAB Lines: Purdue Boilermakers -20.5 (Over/Under at 146 points)
2018 March Madness Odds & Prediction: Bucknell vs. Michigan State
Team Records
- All: CS Fullerton Titans 20-11 / Purdue Boilermakers 28-6
- Home: CS Fullerton Titans 11-4 / Purdue Boilermakers 18-3
- Away: CS Fullerton Titans 9-7 / Purdue Boilermakers 10-3
- ATS: CS Fullerton Titans 18-9 / Purdue Boilermakers 15-17-1
- Over/Under: CS Fullerton Titans 8-18-1 / Purdue Boilermakers 17-16
Why bet on the CS Fullerton Titans?
Cal State finished the season with 20 wins, although they need to go out and win the Big West Conference Championship to make it happen. They went into that tournament as the #4 seed and looked to be in trouble against UC Davis, trailing by 13 at the 17-minute mark of the second half. They somehow pulled out all the stops and got the win, launching themselves into the tournament in the process. That win, as well as the way they came back from a 1-3 start to the season, shows that this team has some real grit. There are a few pundits who have this team as a potential Cinderella, and they certainly can live up to that label if they get the production they need from Kyle Allman, a young man who averaged over 19 PPG during the course of the season.Team Statistics
Offense- Total Score: 73.23
- Field Goal Percentage: 47.04
- Three-Point Percentage: 33.82
- Free Throw Percentage: 73.39
- Total Rebounds: 35.13
- Total Score: 70.03
- Field Goal Percentage: 41.34
- Three-Point Percentage: 34.42
- Free Throw Percentage: 75.81
- Total Rebounds: 33.23
Why bet on the Purdue Boilermakers?
A lot of people jumped off the Boilermaker bandwagon a few weeks ago when they went on that 3-game losing skid that I spoke about at the top of this piece. It may actually have been the best thing that happened to them, as they quickly got back to the business of winning before running into the red-hot Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten Semi-Final Game. Purdue is one of those teams that do a lot of things well.
They average over 81 PPG, but also play well on the defensive end of the court, holding teams to just 65.6 PPG, which was good enough to land them in the top 30 in that particular category. They had some trouble with ranked teams in the latter part of the season, and while that may hurt them later in the tournament, they should have no issues getting through the first couple of rounds.
Team Statistics
Offense- Total Score: 81.15
- Field Goal Percentage: 49.69
- Three-Point Percentage: 42.01
- Free Throw Percentage: 74.28
- Total Rebounds: 35.03
- Total Score: 65.65
- Field Goal Percentage: 41.02
- Three-Point Percentage: 33.71
- Free Throw Percentage: 67.91
- Total Rebounds: 32.47
Latest March Madness Betting Trends
- Boilermakers are 1-10-1 ATS in their last 12 games
- Boilermakers are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Purdue’s last 5 games
- Titans are 4-9-1 ATS in their last 14 games
- Titans are 2-11 SU in their last 13 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Cal State-Fullerton’s last 10 games
