Creighton vs. San Diego State Elite Eight Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
It’s an NCAA Tournament South Region final that very few anticipated on Sunday as No. 6 Creighton of the Big East faces No. 5 San Diego State of the Mountain West. The Bluejays are short favourites on the college basketball odds.
Creighton vs. San Diego State Elite Eight Point Spread and Betting
The Creighton-San Diego State winner will reach its first-ever Final Four and face either No. 9 FAU or No. 3 Kansas State next Saturday in Houston.
It’s the second year in a row these schools meet in the Big Dance. It was the first round in 2022 when ninth-seeded Creighton rallied for a 72-69 overtime win over No. 8 San Diego State. The Bluejays used a 9-0 run in the final 2:30 of regulation to force overtime.
Most key players on both sides remain. Trey Alexander had the go-ahead three-point play late in OT — Creighton hadn’t led since the first five minutes of the game — and finished with 18 points, five assists and four rebounds for the Jays. Centre Ryan Kalkbrenner had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Matt Bradley had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Aztecs.
Creighton Bluejays (6)
It’s the first time in the Elite Eight for Creighton since 1941 when the NCAA Tournament had all of eight teams. The Bluejays haven’t been tested too much yet and beat No. 15 Princeton 86-75 on Friday to move on. Creighton had a big size advantage and outrebounded the Tigers by 11. Ryan Kalkbrenner led Creighton with 22 points, while Baylor Scheierman delivered 21 and Trey Alexander had 19. The Bluejays shot 58.2 per cent. It marked the first time ever that a No. 6 seed faced a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Creighton is 1-0 all-time against No. 5 seeds, defeating fifth-seeded Florida 83-82 in double-overtime in the 2002 first round. Creighton sophomore Arthur Kaluma is the brother of San Diego State senior Adam Seiko. The Bluejays are 6-1 ATS in their past seven.
San Diego St. Aztecs (5)
San Diego State was +7.5 against No. 1 overall seed Alabama yet that stellar Aztecs defence was the story in a 71-64 upset over the Tide – no top seed has reached the Elite Eight for the first time since seeding began in 1985. SDSU held Alabama star freshman Brandon Miller, the SEC Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Tournament MVP, to 3-for-19 from the field while turning it over six times. Overall, Alabama was 3-for-27 from deep. Darrion Trammell scored 21 points to lead SDSU, the third different player to lead the team in scoring in this event. Overall leading scorer Matt Bradley had an off night with six points on 2-for-9 shooting, including no points in the first half. SDSU did trail by nine midway through the second half. The Aztecs are 5-0 ATS in their past five.
CREI
SDSU