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Jeremy Perry
Jacksonville St. vs. Auburn Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
It’s NCAA Tournament time, when poise and resolve have to be foremost qualities of basketball teams.
Jacksonville St. vs. Auburn NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The Gamecocks have been reliable against the spread of late as they’ve covered five of six. They are a big dog here but thrive in that role, covering in 13 of their last 17 as a dog and nine of 12 as a dog on a neutral site.
As for Auburn, they’ve covered four straight NCAA Tournament games. They’re off a loss (overall) but tend to rebound well, covering five of their last six following a straight-up loss.
Jacksonville St. Gamecocks (15)
The Gamecocks won the regular-season championship in the Atlantic Sun Conference. They lost to the Jacksonville Dolphins in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Why are they even here in the NCAA Tournament? The reason is that the Bellarmine Knights won the A-Sun Tournament. Bellarmine is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament since the program is in a transitional period, moving to Division I from a lower level. Because that transitional period prohibits Bellarmine from being able to play in the NCAA Tournament, the Atlantic Sun ruled that the regular-season conference champion should get the bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Some people felt that Jacksonville, since it beat Jacksonville State in the conference tournament and made the A-Sun final before losing to Bellarmine, should have been the team to represent the league, but Jacksonville State got the nod instead. It will be interesting to see how Jacksonville State plays in this game, knowing it did not win the conference tournament and is therefore not playing winning basketball right now.
Auburn Tigers (2)
The Tigers were a No. 1 seed for much of the year, but they lost steam late in the year, losing to Tennessee, Florida, and then to Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. The Tigers are struggling on offense. Their guards are taking and missing a lot of 3-point shots instead of getting the ball to a possible No. 1 NBA draft pick, Jabari Smith. Coach Bruce Pearl has done a great job with this team, but not getting the guards to make better decisions with the ball has been the one glaring Achilles heel for the Tigers, who have a lot to improve at the offensive end of the floor before March Madness starts. This is a game in which to work off those rough edges and become more polished and developed as a halfcourt offensive team.
Auburn’s defense should be able to force a lot of turnovers from Jacksonville State in this game. The Tigers should be able to apply relentless full-court pressure and not allow Jacksonville State to settle into its offensive sets.
