Butler @ Syracuse
A) Butler is not an up tempo team
B) Syracuse is a superior athleticism team.
C) Butler is too fundamentally sound of a team to get blown out of the building like Vermont and Gonzaga, but by the same token its hard to see them getting within 10 points of Syracuse.
Butler will be challenged by the size and length of the Syracuse Orange in the paint. The Big East regular season champions are the best shooting team in all off college basketball making 51.7% of their shots. Butler will have issues on the glass as this Syracuse team can leap and board with their length. This is a bad match up for the Bulldogs.
Syracuse Orange is 6-2 ATS in their past 8 games.
Cornell @ Kentucky
Cornell is smart and fundamentally sound.... But there’s a good deal of doubt, however, as to their ability to slow the tempo against Kentucky. Kentucky just has so many weapons & Cornell simply don’t have the talent or athleticism to keep up IMO....
The question for the Big Red backers in this game is if the team can continue this blistering shooting against a very good Kentucky Wildcats team that sits fourth is defense allowing just 37.9% shooting from the field. Cornell will be tested by the speed and athleticism of the Wildcats. Kentucky is 9th in all of college basketball in scoring offense as the team averages 80.1 points per game.
Play #1: -6
Play #2: Syracuse-2/Kentucky-4 (tease)
Play #3: Kansas St-1/Washington+8.5 (tease)
Play #4: -4 over Pacific