The dancing will continue for Marquette and Florida when they meet Thursday night at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. The journey will end here for one of these two squads, so find out who we expect to advance to the next round.
The sportsbooks are yet to release their NCAA Basketball odds for Thursdays showdown, but be sure to check back with us closer to game time for the latest NCAA baketball betting lines.
Lets preview this matchup and decide where us bettors should lay our NCAA Basketball picks.
The two talented
teams advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament by turning in
dominating second round performances. The Golden Eagles routed BYU 88-68 in
their first game of the tourney and came back with a 62-53 win over Murray
State securing the ATS victory on both occasions.
Marquette got
another clutch performance from Jae Crowder in its win over the Racers. Crowder
had 17 points and 13 rebounds following up a 26-point, 16 rebound effort
against BYU. For the year Crowder is averaging 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per
game. He leads the Golden Eagles in shooting (50.4 percent) and steals.
Gators Growling
Florida has a pair
of double-digit victories to its credit including an 84-50 rout of the Norfolk
State Spartans on Sunday.
The Spartans shook
up the West Regional when it upset No. 2 seed Missouri 86-84 on Friday, and was
trying to become the first 15 seed to reach the round of 16. However Florida
put a quick end to that idea, draining five 3-pointers during a 25-0 run that made it 29-6 midway
through the first half. Overall FU was 10 of 28 from beyond the arc and shot
52.8 percent from the field.
Kenny Boynton
scored 20 points as the Gators reached the regional semifinals for the second
straight year and sixth time in 12 NCAA tournament appearances under Coach
Billy Donovan.
Florida (25-10 SU, 14-15-1 ATS) has made it look easy in its first two games coasting to lopsided wins
and easy ATS victories. They opened the tournament with a 71-45 blow-out of the
Virginia Cavaliers on Friday. The Cavs were allowing only 53.7 points a game.
They limited North Carolina to 54 points in a three-point loss three weeks
ago. Georgia Tech mustered only 38 while Wake Forest and
Maryland scored just 44. Then along came the Gators.
Florida Flattens
Virginia
Despite an off day
by their big guns, the Gators got a surprising effort off the bench by Casey
Prather who scored 14 points. Prather made 6 of 7 shots in a season-high 22
minutes while Bradley Beal had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Those efforts more
than made up for Florida’s 4 of 23 shooting from beyond the arc including a 0
for 13 streak to open the game.
Overall, Donovan’s
club shot 52.8 percent including 70 percent in the second half. They became
just the third team this season to score 70 or more against the Cavs. At this
rate, they could be looking at a third National Title in five years.
Getting defensive
The Gators have
been downright stingy in the first two games. They held the Spartans to 27.3
percent shooting including 4 of 24 from downtown (16.7 percent). Virginia was
successful on just 38.3 percent of its shots including 16.7 percent (3 of 18)
from 3-point land.
Notes
In the history of
the tournament, No. 15 seeds are 6-107 against No. 2 seeds in the round of 64.
They are 0-6 in their second games after the Spartans' loss.
Marquette has been
a solid play on the ‘over’ this season going 19-12 including three out of its
last four games. The Golden Eagles are 7-3 to the high side in its last 10
outings.
Florida is 5-1 ATS
in its last six NCAA tournament games and 4-1 vs. the number in its past five
neutral court games. The ‘over’ is a resounding 15-3 in the Gators last 18
non-conference games.
Free college basketball pick: Either one of these teams would make a fine representative for the West
in the Elite. Barring injury though, I’m going with Gators to advance opposite
the Michigan State vs. Louisville winner.
Good luck!