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David Bastl
UMBC (16) vs. Kansas State (9) Odds: March Madness Prediction
WOW! Just WOW! Never in the history of the NCAA has a #16 seed upset a #1. In fact, with over 17.3 million brackets submitted to ESPN, Virginia was the most popular team to win the entire tournament. Now, the Retrievers face a Kansas State Wildcats team that pulled a small upset themselves, beating the #8 Creighton Blue Jays.
NCAA Tournament Odds and Betting Analysis
The Retrievers enter this as game winners of six in a row, and nine of their last ten games. The over has been in play in six of the last eight non-conference games for the Retrievers. The Wildcats are surprisingly 3-3 in their last six games, and are 6-4 in their last ten games. Kansas State is 12-5-1 to the under in their last 18 games overall.
MD Baltimore County Retrievers
It’s crazy to some that the Retrievers were part of this tournament to begin with. UMBC needed to hit a buzzer beater to beat Vermont just to get into the tournament. Then, they pull off the upsets of upsets. Number 16’s were 0-135 against number 1’s – but the Retrievers can boast that there’s now a one in front of the 135. Amazing. The Retrievers shot an incredible 54.2 percent from the field and hit half their 3-point shots. Senior Jairus Lyles was 9 of 11 from the floor, scoring 28 points in the convincing 74-54 win. Can they pull another upset in the round of 32?
Kansas State Wildcats
The Wildcats had no problems putting away #8 Creighton on Friday night, beating the Blue Jays 69-59, and covering the final spread by 12.5 points. Guard Barry Brown Jr. who was nursing an eye injury, showed no signs of the injury, scoring 18 points and 6 rebounds in the win. But the big story advancing to the round of 32 for the first time since 2012 was they did it without Dean Wade. Wade was the team’s leading scorer without the season, and is still listed as day-to-day. Head Coach Bruce Weber didn’t rule out having Wade on Sunday, “I don’t think it’s going to be major minutes but he wants to be part of it.” The Wildcats top forward has been dealing with a stress fracture in his foot.
