Liberty vs. Mississippi State Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
-
Charlie Grant
Almost every year since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 at least one No. 12 seed has upset a No. 5 in the first round. Liberty tries to add its name to that list as a sizable underdog against Mississippi State in East Region play Friday from San Jose, Calif.
Liberty (5) vs. Mississippi State (12) NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
A 12 seed has won at least one first round game in 29 of the last 34 years – but didn’t in 2018. No. 12 seeds are 25-18-1 against the spread vs. No. 5s since 2008. The winner of this East Region game faces either No. 4 Virginia Tech or No. 13 Saint Louis on Sunday. Mississippi State is +20000 to win the national title and Liberty is +100000.
It’s the fourth all-time NCAA Tournament appearance for Liberty and the Flames have yet to win a game in the Big Dance. They last reached in 2013 and lost by a point in the First Four to North Carolina A&T. It’s Mississippi State’s 11th trip and first since 2008-09. The No. 5 seed for MSU is the program’s highest in the NCAA Tournament when the Bulldogs were a No. 2 seed in 2004.
Mississippi State beat Liberty 78-67 in December 2005 in the lone meeting.
Liberty Flames
Liberty was the regular-season co-champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference with Lipscomb. The Flames beat Lipscomb 74-68 in the conference tournament title game. This is Liberty’s first season in that conference; it had been in the Big South. It usually wins with defence, allowing just 60.8 points per game, which ranks Top 10 nationally. Offensively, the Flames play very slow, ranking 342nd in possessions per game with 66.5. The team’s best player is junior forward Scottie James, who averages 13.1 points and 8.8 rebounds. Liberty and Mississippi State played four common opponents: Austin Peay, Alcorn State, Alabama and Vanderbilt. MSU went 4-1 against those schools (split with Alabama), with an average margin of victory of 16.4 points. Liberty went 1-3 against the four, and all three losses came by nine points.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Mississippi State is coached by Ben Howland, who led UCLA to three straight Final Fours from 2006-08 but could never win it all. He was fired from there in March 2013. MSU hasn’t advanced past the first weekend of the Big Dance since 1996 when the Bulldogs reached the school’s only Final Four. Howland’s star is senior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon, who averages 18.2 points per game (SEC-high 19.4 points during conference play). He’s within 15 points of 2,000 career and was named first-team All-SEC. Former starter Nick Weatherspoon remains indefinitely suspended has not played since the Bulldogs’ win over Alabama on Feb. 12. The Bulldogs do have a Toronto native on the roster in forward Prince Oduro, but he’s sitting out this season after transferring from Siena.
