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Jeremy Perry
Montana St. vs. Kansas State Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The Montana State Bobcats won the Big Sky Conference Tournament to punch their ticket to March Madness. Meanwhile, the Kansas State Wildcats didn’t win their conference tournament but delivered a season that was far beyond anyone’s expectations.
In this contest, it will be fascinating to see how these two teams react to being in the pressure cooker of the NCAA Tournament. Kansas State is a No. 3 seed and Montana State is No. 14, so the pressure is on the Wildcats. They’re an 8.5-point favorite in this spot.
NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
Montana State could be offering some value here as they’re 5-1 against the spread this season when they’re the underdog. They enter the tourney with momentum as they’ve won eight straight. However, they’ve only covered twice in their last eight games.
Kansas State was a perfect 17-0 this season when posted as the favorite. The Wildcats went 13-3-1 against the spread in those games. They were 16-7 against teams with a winning record and have covered seven of their last nine neutral site games.
Montana St. Bobcats (14)
The Montana State Bobcats had a very good team in 2022, so the Bobcats were a foremost contender in the Big Sky Conference entering this season. However, the Eastern Washington Eagles won 18 games in a row in the middle of the year, thrashing the Big Sky competition, so they got the top seed at the Big Sky Tournament. Eastern Washington entered the conference tournament as the favorite to cut down the nets and advance to March Madness. Montana State got some help when the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks stunned Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Tournament, wiping the No. 1 seed off the board and making a stunning run to the tournament final. That was stunning as NAU entered the Big Sky Tournament with 22 losses and yet it beat the team which won 18 in a row. Go figure.
As a result, Montana State was able to handle NAU without too much of a problem in the final and earn a spot in the madness. Had that not happened, they wouldn’t be dancing.
The big question will be whether that tournament title – won not against EWU, but against Northern Arizona, a much weaker opponent – will leave Montana State underprepared for this NCAA Tournament game.
Kansas State Wildcats (3)
Kansas State did not win the Big 12 but it finished third, ahead of Baylor and TCU, two teams that were in the top 20 of the polls before the season began. No one expected the Wildcats to do this well after they completely missed the NCAA Tournament the year before. First-year head coach Jerome Tang did a spectacular job with this team and was accordingly named the Big 12 Coach of the Year. Now he has a team-seeded third in the NCAA Tournament, ready to make some noise in March Madness.
Kansas State can win high-scoring games (it scored 116 points in a road win at Texas, a team that is a No. 2 seed for March Madness) and low-scoring games (61-55 over Iowa State, an NCAA Tournament team). In this spot, they just can’t have a sleepy effort. If they’re focused and on their game, they’ll be in control from start to finish.
