Villanova vs. Baylor Sweet 16 Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
When the No. 5 Villanova Wildcats face off against the top-seeded Baylor Bears on Saturday evening, the story of the game will probably be told from beyond the arc. If the treys keep going down for the Wildcats, they have as good a shot as anybody to knock off the Bears. If not, Baylor may cruise to the Elite Eight.
Villanova vs. Baylor NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The betting public is firmly behind the Baylor Bears with 70 per cent of the early betting handle, while the over/under has gone up a bit from the open to 139.5. It’s worth noting that Villanova is 3-0-1 against the spread (ATS) in its last four games as an underdog. The over may be worth a look in this matchup, too. Baylor has topped the total in 12 of its last 14 and two of Villanova’s last three have played over.
(5) Villanova Wildcats
Villanova has already proven its naysayers wrong (myself included) and looks like a completely different team from the club that struggled down the stretch of Big East play. Now the Wildcats are taking care of the ball and hitting everything from outside. They turned it over just six times and dished out 19 assists on 31 field goals while they blew out North Texas in the second round, adding 15 treys on 30 outside attempts. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl led the team with 18 points and six assists again and three other Wildcats chipped in with at least 10 points. So, while they’re still learning on the fly to play without star point guard Collin Gillespie, their depth and talent are showing through. They’ll have to avoid extended shooting slumps from outside and stay out of foul trouble to hang in there with Baylor. Villanova is 9-1 when making 10 treys this season – that’s where the Wildcats need to pile up points.
(1) Baylor Bears
No surprise here, but Baylor hasn’t really faced any adversity so far in the Tournament. The Bears are lighting it up from beyond the arc too, hitting better than 40 per cent of those shots in each of their last seven games. This is a team that doesn’t give up much from outside either and forced the Wisconsin Badgers into 15 turnovers in the second round. Baylor knows it can score in a lot of different ways and has the depth to do so against just about any team in the country. Case in point: Matthew Mayer came off the bench to score a team-leading 17 points against Wisconsin in just 24 minutes. So now the focus has now shifted to a swarming defence while the offence takes care of itself. Look for that to be the difference in the second half as Baylor pulls away.
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