NCAA Tournament Betting: East Bracket Breakdown
by Mike Rose
The wildest bracket of the four in NCAA Tournament betting is clearly the East, where any number of teams could find their way to Indianapolis in two weeks time. Here's how some of the betting proceedings will break down in this bracket.
Who Let the Dogs Out? - The dogs with the biggest bite in this bracket are the #13 Wofford Terriers. The Pups are going to go up and against the big, bad #4 Wisconsin Badgers, who are going to look to slug you in the mouth first and ask questions second. However, rather than just falling down, Wofford is going to strike back, and strike back with vengeance. This is a team that is also holding teams in the low 60s in scoring, and is capable of fighting with the Badgers on the inside. Look for F Noah Dahlman to come up big, as the upset of the tournament happens when #4 Wisconsin gets toppled by the SoCon champions. Wofford 58 - Wisconsin 54
The Ugliest of the Ugly - If you thought that Wofford/Wisconsin game was ugly, wait until the #5 Temple Owls end up facing off with the Terriers. Temple players an even slower and uglier game than the Badgers do. Truth be told, it's just a case of better defense overall, and that's saying something for an Atlantic 10 team over a Big Ten team. Neither team should even sniff the 50s in this NCAAB betting battle, but when it's all said and done, Dahlman's presence on the inside will be trumped by the play of G Juan Fernandez's heroics on the outside. Look for Fernandez to bury the shot that moves the Owls into the second week of the dance.
Temple 47 - Wofford 46
The Big East Bracket Bash - The bottom half of this draw features two big time Big East schools, the #2 West Virginia Mountaineers and the #6 Marquette Golden Eagles. Even though the Eagles were 12.5-point underdogs in Morgantown back in December, they nearly pulled off the shocking upset. A 63-62 loss was the first of six defeats in conference play that came by five points or less. One thing is for certain, and that's that the game is going to be incredibly close. That's just the nature of Marquette basketball. But in true Golden Eagles form, WVU's F Da'Sean Butler will pull off yet another set of heroics at the game's end to send Marquette packing.
West Virginia 66 - Marquette 65
Easy Time in the East Final - The one team we haven't discussed yet in this bracket is the top seed, the #1 Kentucky Wildcats. Big Blue should have a relatively easy trek to the East finale, where it will take on WVU squad fresh off of its buzzer-beater win against the Golden Eagles. Remember when the Wildcats just came out and beat the heck out of Tennessee in the SEC Semifinals? We think that we're going to see something similar in the Elite 8 next week from the Cats. Fs Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins should be able to bruise up Butler when he tries to come inside, and that will set the stage for G John Wall to light up the 'Neers and cement his name in Kentucky lore as he leads his team to the Final Four.
Kentucky 78 - West Virginia 60
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