March Madness Basketball Lock Alert – No. 12 Cornell Looks to Upset No. 12 Temple
The Cornell Big Red will look to extend the rash of first round upsets when they take on the Temple Owls in their first round NCAA Basketball Tournament matchup which gets underway at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena today at 12 PM ET.
Friday, March 19, 12:30 PM ET
NCAAB Betting Odds: Temple -3.5
Cornell (27-4 SU, 16-10 ATS, 8-12 O/U)
Temple (29-5 SU, 22-11-1 ATS, 12-17-2 O/U)
Cornell 411
Big Red are 10-0 ATS in their last 10 vs. Atlantic 10.
Big Red are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 non-conference games.
Big Red are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 neutral site games.
Big Red are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
Big Red are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games as an underdog.
Cornell has won seven straight games and nine of its last 10 overall including an emphatic 79-59 win over Yale in the Ivy League Tournament championship game on Saturday.
The Big Red got a team-high 20 points from 6-7 senior forward Ryan Wittman and 18 points from senior guard Louis Dale in the win and covered the March Madness betting odds with room to spare as an 11-point favorite.
Cornell averages 75.3 points per game while allowing 63.2 points per contest defensively.
Temple 411
Owls are 6-0-1 ATS in their last 7 games following an S.U. win.
Owls are 8-0-1 ATS in their last 9 neutral site games as a favorite.
Owls are 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games.
Sign up HERE to start winning some cash today!
The Temple Owls are one of the hottest teams in the nation, having won 10 straight games and 12 of 13 overall including a 56-52 win over a talented Richmond team in the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday.
Juan Fernandez scored a game-high 18 points for Temple while Ryan Brooks and Ramone Moore each added 12 points in the win.
The final score played out as a Push with the Owls being 4-point favorites against Richmond to move to 6-0-1 ATS over its last seven games.
Temple averages 64.9 points per game while limiting their opponents to just 56.1 points per contest defensively.
Analysis: I guess Dick Vitale and I are the only two people in the country that really know how good the Temple Owls are.
No offense to a very good Cornell basketball team, but they are going down against the Owls in this matchup and they are going down hard.
The good news for Big Red backers is that Cornell has a really fine team this season and actually leads the nation in three-point shooting percentage (.434 percent). Senior swingman Ryan Wittman has made an Ivy League career record 368 threes during his stellar career.
The bad news for Cornell fans and their betting backers – is the fact that the Owls are ranked third in the country in three-point defense (.281 percent) and overall scoring (56.1) defense.
I know Cornell also has a solid 7-footer in junior center Jeff Foote, but despite his height advantage, Foote isn’t nearly as good as Temple’s 6-9 forward LaVoy Allen, one of the nation’s top rebounders (10.8 per game).
Allen’s low post dirty work, combined with the sweet-shooting of sophomore guard Juan Fernandez and scoring of senior guard Ryan Brooks and blossoming junior guard Ramone Moore, not to mention their usual ‘lockdown’ defense, the Owls will win this contest and cover the March Madness betting odds with room to spare.
I know the Big Red have gone a mind-boggling 10-0 ATS in their last 10 games against Atlantic 10 ballclubs, but Cornell has also gone a disappointing 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall and just 2-6 ATS in their last eight neutral site games as an underdog.
Temple has recorded a fine 8-0-1 ATS record in their last nine neutral site games as a favorite while also going an impressive 3-0-1 ATS in their last four neutral site games overall.
I say, play the Temple Owls and call it a wrap college basketball betting enthusiasts.
NCAAB Expert Picks: Temple -3.5 Points
