West Region March Madness Betting - #16 Vermont vs. #1 Syracuse
by Charles Jay
To say that Syracuse has plenty to make up for after getting bounced in the first round of the Big East Tournament is a massive understatement. They’re slated as the top-seed in the West Region, which is kind of a travesty since they’d be at home in the East Region. One thing experts will emphasize is how good a team is during tournament play, and despite an incredible regular season that saw them blaze trails throughout the country, the Orange fell flat on their faces when the pressure of tournament-style basketball came knocking on their door. That’s why they’re getting the lowest point-spread amongst all number-one seeds in the first round of March Madness bracket betting.
Of course, the biggest news that came out of the upset loss to Georgetown was the cringing knee injury to star Arinze Onuaku. The 6-foot-9 forward is a daunting 261 pounds, and averaged 10.5 points and 5.1 rebounds before crashing down with the knee injury. His knees have been problematic in the past and the Syracuse betting backers are still uncertain of Onuaku’s status heading in to the tournament. As Onuaku’s knees gave it from underneath him, the wheels on the betting bandwagon for Syracuse fell off at the worst, possible time.
Before the loss to Georgetown, Syracuse also dropped a game at full-strength to the lowly Louisville Cardinals and the back-to-back defeats have dropped the Orange to just 4-2 ATS in their past 6 games. As lethal as they may be in the tournament, with solid depth and great coaching, they’re not playing like they should be.
Vermont Catamounts (25-9) vs. Syracuse Orange (28-4) >> Join Now!
Friday, March 19th --- HSBC Arena --- 9:30pm EST
: Syracuse -17 (143)
The Vermont Catamounts weren’t a huge betting team this year. With just seven games noticed by the oddsmakers, Vermont went 5-2 ATS this season, including a 3-0 ATS streak recently. It’s not like anybody expect the Catamounts to become the first sixteen-seed to upset a first-seed in March Madness betting history but this spread is certainly within reach for Vermont.
Syracuse would love nothing more than to crush the Catamounts in their opening game to send a message that they’re a rightful contender for the national title. With or without Onuaku, I’m still hesitant to ever bet on these games. With the injury I’m even more worried.
The Orange are still a great team to bet on for now, but we’ll see on Friday night if they have the resolve that they lacked in the Big East Tournament. It’s always hard to draw conclusions after one game with such parity, but this is a vastly important game for Syracuse. Even though it’s a wash, I’d stay tuned especially if you have Syracuse getting to the Final Four.
