The Kansas Jayhawks finished the regular season and the conference championship games as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, but it is the Villanova Wildcats that are making the most noise in March Madness as arguably the most impressive team so far in the NCAA Tournament. Saturday will offer college basketball betting enthusiasts a chance to know once-and-for-all who is the better of the two teams. Here is a brief NCAA Basketball betting preview of this mouthwatering Elite 8 showdown, complete with free college basketball picks.
Villanova vs. Kansas Elite Eight NCAAB Betting Preview
When: Saturday, March 26, 8:49 PM ET
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
TV: CBS
Online: NCAA March Madness Live
Radio: Westwood One
NCAAB lines: Kansas (-3), OVER/UNDER 145
Why Bet on Villanova (32-5)
When you talk about Villanova, the first thing that comes to mind is their red-hot shooting game that has been extremely efficient this season and even better in the Tournament. After shooting a Tournament-best 60.3 percent in their first two March Madness games, the Wildcats were even better against the stingy Miami (FL) defense, shooting a blistering 63 percent from the field en route to a 92-69 blowout win over the hapless Hurricanes.
This victory took Villanova’s record to 3-0 SU and ATS so far in the Tournament, highlighting the kind of task that awaits Kansas this Saturday. Given that Villanova is a better offensive and defensive team (in terms of scoring) than Kansas, and the Wildcats are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games after scoring 90 or more points in their previous game, it goes without saying that Villanova is a team as good as any other to upset the Jayhawks.
Why Bet on Kansas (33-4)
Besides leading the all-time series against Villanova 3-2, the Jayhawks enter this Elite Eight matchup riding on a nation-leading 17-game winning streak, which is marched with a stellar 14-3 ATS mark, underlining just how good and dominant this Kansas team has been. In their most recent 77-63 win over Maryland as 5-point favorites, it was business as usual, as Kansas’ leading scorer Perry Ellis scored a game-high 27 points, the most by a Jayhawk in an NCAA Tournament game since 2009, to help Kansas to edge away a solid win after a close first half against the Terps. As long as Perris and Co. continue to stay hot, it will be hard to take them down. As a concern, though, the Wildcats are a lights-out shooting team, something that is guaranteed to test the Jayhawks defense in a much tougher way than has been done by any of Kansas’ opponents so far in the Tournament.
Expert Predictions and NCAAB Pick
No doubt, you won’t find any two teams better than Kansas and Villanova meeting in South Final. And based on their potential, this game is likely to be close toss-up contest that will go down to the very wire. I seriously like how Kansas knows how to adjust to big games and it can frustrate even the best of shooters, but I have a problem with trusting them to outwit the Wildcats who are laden with shooting talent from all over the field. And because of that, I am inclined to go with the better-loaded Villanova to take down Kansas’ team that is mostly reliant on Ellis for a winning performance.
NCAAB Picks: Villanova (+3) for SU and ATS
Final Score Prediction: Villanova 74, Kansas 68
