The No. 3 seed BYU Cougars, will try to hold off 11-seed Gonzaga on Saturday when they play in the round of 32 at the Southeast Regional of the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., with tip-off to go at approximately 7:45 pm Eastern.
Odds makers at most off shore sports shops list BYU as 1 1/2-chalk NCAA Point Spreads favorites for the game with a combined point total of 132. Moneyline odds are currently OFF the board for this game.
Gonzaga (25-9) (10-5 road) is currently on a nine games winning streak and has covered for backers going 16-12-1 ATS for the season. At 30-4, BYU has one of the best won-loss records in college basketball; but struggled covering the betting spread going 14-17 on the season.
Early Betting Trends, always good tools for making good NCAA Basketball Picks , show betting stroger on BYU to win SU (66 %). Totals wagering is on the side of the OVER with 77 % of the action taken in.
Gonzaga advanced to the third round by knocking off 6-seed St. Johns on Thursday 86-71 and covering ATS as a 1-chalk favorite. Marquise Carter scored 24 points and added six rebounds and six assists to lead the Bulldogs. Steven Gray added 16 points, six rebounds and five steals while Elias Harris contributed 15 points and eight boards.
This game is drawing lots of interest primarily because of BYU's Jimmer Fredette. The Senior Guard averaged scoring 35.3 points per game in the MWC Tournament and was named tournament MVP. He leads the nation in scoring at 28.5 points per game.
For my NCAA Basketball Predictions , I'm going to take a risk here and predict Gonzaga pulls out a SU win. And of course that's all they need to cover the +1 1/2-point spread.
