March Madness Parlay Picks – Mississippi State vs. Kentucky in SEC Brawl for It All

March Madness basketball bettors will be treated to a thrilling matchup when the Kentucky Wildcats look to finish off their quest for an SEC Championship title against the surprising Mississippi State Bulldogs when they take to the court for their SEC title tilt at Bridgestone Arena today at 1 PM ET.

Sunday, March 14, 1:00 PM ET
NBA Betting Odds: Kentucky -7.5
(O/U) 138
TV: ABC

Mississippi State (23-10 SU, 15-12-1 ATS, 11-7 Conf.)
Kentucky (31-2 SU, 17-14 ATS, 16-2 Conf.)

While the favored Wildcats are in position for a No. 1 seed in the annual NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament, Mississippi State is fighting a postseason berth in the national championship tourney and desperately needs to win this game in order to accomplish their stated goal.

Here is a look at the key head-to-head trends surrounding this matchup.

Underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

Mississippi State 411
Bulldogs are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games.
Bulldogs are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 neutral site games as an underdog.
Bulldogs are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
Bulldogs are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games as an underdog.

Mississippi State is back in the SEC championship game for the second consecutive season after upsetting Vanderbilt 62-52 in the SEC semifinals on Saturday.

The Bulldogs placed four players in double figure scoring while limiting Vanderbilt to 34.6 percent shooting from the field to cover the NCAA basketball betting odds as 1.5-point underdogs and cash in for college basketball gamblers for the second consecutive game and fourth time in its last six games overall.

Kentucky 411
Wildcats are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games following an ATS win.
Wildcats are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following a SU win of more than 20 points.
Wildcats are 0-7 ATS in their last 7 games after allowing less than 50 points in their previous game

Kentucky jumped all over Tennessee in its 74-45 SEC semifinal win on Saturday, pounding their opponents into submission by limiting the Volunteers to just 19 first half points. The Wildcats covered the NCAA basketball betting line as a 4.5-point favorite to snap a two-game ATS losing streak.

Analysis: The Wildcats beat the Bulldogs 81-75 in overtime on Feb. 16 to cash in as 2.5-point road favorites and snap a three-game losing streak to their SEC rivals, but won’t need OT to take down their feisty opponents today.

The Wildcats showed their conference superiority in a big way by routing Tennessee on Saturday and I expect them to make a similar statement in this contest.

The Wildcats used a fantastic defensive effort to limit Tennessee to just 30.9 percent shooting from the field and 13.3 percent shooting from three-point distance.

Kentucky averages seven points per game more than the Bulldogs offensively while allowing less than one point per game more defensively, telling me they’ll cover the spread in this game with a few points to spare.