Abilene Christian vs. Texas Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
No state has more teams in the 2021 NCAA Tournament than Texas, and two schools from the Lone Star State face off in East Region first-round play Saturday from Indianapolis when No. 14 Abilene Christian meets No. 3 Texas. The Horns are 9-point favourites on the college basketball odds with a total of 140.5.
Abilene Christian Wildcats vs. Texas Longhorns NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
Seven teams from Texas are in the field of 68, the most of any state and tying the most Texas has ever had. The winner of this game will face either No. 6 BYU, No. 11 Michigan State or No. 11 UCLA in the Round of 32 – the Spartans and Bruins play in the First Four on Thursday for the right to face BYU in the first round. The Longhorns are +600 to win the East Region and the Wildcats are +10,000.
Since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 schools in 1985 (now 68), No. 3 seeds have won 85 per cent of their matchups against No. 14s and swept all four matchups in each of the past three tournaments. However, at least one 3 vs. 14 matchup has been decided by single digits in each of the past 10 tournaments. Here is an interesting statistic: The previous three No. 3 seeds to lose in the first round all came from the Big 12, like Texas.
Little Abilene Christian of the Southland Conference surely would do anything to face big brother Texas every regular season, but these schools have never met. The Wildcats are 5-0 against the spread in their past five neutral-site games. The Longhorns are an astonishing 0-9 ATS in their past nine NCAA Tournament games.
(14) Abilene Christian Wildcats
Abilene Christian (23-4) finished a close second behind Nicholls in the Southland regular-season standings, but the Wildcats blew out Nicholls 79-45 in the conference tournament title game to earn the automatic bid. Abilene Christian held Nicholls to more than 30 points under its scoring average in league games this season, and defence is how this team succeeds. The Wildcats rank No. 7 nationally in allowing 60.5 points, and No. 1 in turnovers forced at a whopping 20.3 per game. Offensively, Kolton Kohl leads the team at 12.3 points per game despite averaging only 18.9 minutes. It’s the second NCAA Tournament appearance for the school; in 2019, the Wildcats were a No. 15 seed and routed by No. 2 Kentucky 79-44 in the first round.
(3) Texas Longhorns
Few Power 5 coaches entered this season on a hotter seat than Texas’ Shaka Smart, but his seat is much cooler now, as the Longhorns (19-7) won their final six games (one a walkover due to COVID with Kansas) and captured the Big 12 Tournament title for the first time in school history. Texas was ranked No. 9 in the final AP Top 25, its first top-10 ranking in the final AP poll since 2011. The Horns are 11-2 in non-home games this season, including 5-0 at neutral sites. It’s the 35th NCAA Tournament appearance for Texas but only the fifth time it is a top-three seed. Smart has a stellar veteran guard trio of Andrew Jones (14.6 ppg), Matt Coleman (13.3 ppg, 4.1 apg) and Courtney Ramey (12.6 ppg, 4.0 apg).
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