Sweet 16 Betting - (3) Kansas Jayhawks vs. (2) Michigan State Spartans

#3 Kansas Jayhawks vs. #2 Michigan State Spartans 9:35 ET

The evening shift of Friday night’s Sweet 16 slate kicks off at 9:35 ET at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN when the defending champion Kansas Jayhawks (27-7, 20-8 ATS) lace ‘em up to take on Head Coach Tom Izzo’s Big 10 Champion Michigan State Spartans (28-6, 18-12-1 ATS). Both of these teams were very good to CBB bettors throughout the first weekend of the tournament by winning and covering the closing pointspread in each of their games. Kansas fought tooth and nail before covering the 9.5-point spread against North Dakota State in round 1, and then rolled to the easy neutral court cover against Dayton who grossly overachieved against West Virginia in round one. Michigan State also barely covered its first round match-up against Robert Morris winning 77-62 as 14.5-point favorites, and did so once again in their 2nd round bloody battle with USC winning by a 74-69 final count as four-point choices. Kansas is 2-2 SU and ATS in its four neutral court sports betting affairs this season, while MSU counters with 5-2 SU & 4-3 ATS marks under the same parameters.

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Michigan State currently sits as short 1.5-point neutral court favorites in its Sweet 16 match-up with the Jayhawks at BetUS Sportsbook; the ‘total’ has been set at 138. The defending champs have been one of the biggest $$$-makers for CBB bettors this season (20-8 ATS), and they went 2-3 SU & 3-2 ATS when installed an underdog. That said; Michigan State went a stellar 23-4 SU when installed a favorite this season, and cashed for its betting backers as well by churning out a 15-11 ATS mark.

A tip of the cap is certainly in order for head coach Bill Self who after losing all five of his starters from a year ago got the Jayhawks right back into the Sweet 16. Excellent recruiting and even better coaching has gotten KU where it is now, and Jayhawk Nation hopes the ride continues through the weekend. The crimson and blue might be very young, but they sure didn’t play like it throughout the first weekend of the tourney. Point guard Sherron Collins combined to score 57 points, but the play of super soph Cole Aldrich mustn’t go without mention. After scoring 23 points and hauling in 11 rebounds against NDST, the big man recorded the first NCAA Tournament triple-double in six years when he went off for 13 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 blocks against Dayton.

After going scoreless in 21 minutes of game action against Robert Morris, senior guard Travis Walton erupted against USC by scoring a game high 18-points to allow Sparty to pull off the neutral court cover. Kalin Lucas and Delvon Roe also chipped in with 10 apiece, but missing from the box score was Raymar Morgan and Goran Suton who combined for just 10 points after putting forth solid efforts in round one. If they pull no shows in this spot, MSU will head back to East Lansing with their tails between their legs.

You couldn’t have asked for a better Sweet 16 match-up than this one since both of these squads won their respective regular season conference championships. Even though the Big 12 is the more powerful conference having sent three teams to the Sweet 16, I feel as if the Big 10 will be able to crow after this one’s all said and done. KU’s inexperience has yet to rear its ugly head due to the play of Collins and Aldrich, and I feel it will do so in this spot against the veteran Spartans. HC Izzo is every bit as good of a ball coach as Mr. Self, and his current players have been on the precipice of entering the Elite 8 a couple times of late. After falling to Memphis in the Regional semifinals last season, they won’t let the opportunity get away from them this time around. Sparty, unfortunately, will pull out the victory and cash its betting backer’s tickets along the way.

Rose’s Recommendation: 5* Michigan State (-1’)

(Grading scale = 1* to 5*)