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Edgar Chaput
Long Beach St. (15) vs. Arizona (2) Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
Experience doesn’t always count however. As Wildcats fans remember, Arizona was stunned in last year’s edition of March Madness in the very first round by Princeton. The school surely wants to improve on that unenviable exit. Conversely, it’s been a minute since Long Beach has had a chance at glory. Not since 2012 have they partaken in madness of March.
The March Madness odds aren’t messing around with this one. Arizona is a whopping -20.5 favourite!
Long Beach St. Beach vs. Arizona Wildcats NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
These programs collides once every couple of years from 2012 to 2019 for a total of five contests. Arizona won every time. Impressively – or embarrassingly, depending on who one asks – Arizona covered four of the five monumental spreads. The only failure was, get this, a 85-70 victory because they were expected to win by 17.
For all the hoopla surrounding Arizona, they would do well to perform at this year’s edition. Their last memorable run was nine years ago with an Elite Eight participation in 2015. Still, after missing out from 2019 through 2021 due to NCAA sanctions, this is their third successive presence. Beyond this season’s stellar 24-7 outright record, the team was impressive in handling the spread too, going 20-10-1 in the process. Incidentally, they haven’t covered two of their last three, including the most recent playoff win.
Long Beach is known for a few things, although not necessarily basketball. That said, the school has done itself proud by making it back to March Madness for the first time in 12 years. History is not on their side, as their best performance (Elite Eight) were in the 1970s. One reason for optimism is that the ensemble has covered the spread in all three of its playoff games, twice as an underdog, albeit not a +20.5 one. That halted a run of five losses ATS in a row.
Long Beach St. Beach (15)
Fun fact: In a neat twist, Long Beach State scored the most points per game in the Big West Conference alongside UC Irvine Anteaters, who both netted 77.7. Just behind them was UC San Diego was 77.6.
One reason why Long Beach could be in trouble, beyond playing in a lesser division, is the mediocre defence. The team coughed up 75.7 per contest, putting them dead last. They do, however, have a fantastic rebounder in forward Lassina Traore, who grabs 10.4 balls off the glass a night. Marcus Tsohonis leads the side in scoring, with an average of 17.8. Aboubacar Traore, another Ivory Coast native on the roster, dishes out the most assists with 4.5.
Arizona Wildcats (2)
Arizona survived the PAC-12 Conference with a blistering attack, scoring as many as 87.9 points per match, a 7.1 better than the second-placed squad. They’re ruthless when shooting, for that matter, hitting a terrific 48.9 percent of their shots.
Leading the way is guard Caleb Love, who nets an average of 18.1 a game. He also puts in a lot of minutes, capable of playing up to 32 . Just like Long Beach,, Arizona also enters this meeting with a ferocious rebounder in Oumar Ballo (10.1), yet another player from the African continent (Mali). Ballo is not averse to scoring either, typically going for 13.1. He’s followed closely by Pelle Larsson’s average of 12.8.
