Well, it has been a disappointing season, to say the least, for the Michigan State Spartans, who are usually one of the favorites coming into the Big Dance, but made it into the NCAA Tourney field by the hair of their chinny chin chin. On Friday night they will go up against the Miami Hurricanes in their first game in the Midwest region, beginning at 9:20 PM ET at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa. This game will be televised by TNT, and VietBet customers will have the opportunity to place wagers even after the contest begins, by using the state-of-the-art software available through Live Betting Ultra.
NCAA Tournament Betting Line – Michigan State vs Miami:
So that is the question coming into this game against Michigan State. Can they slow things down? As far as the NCAA Tournament betting odds at VietBet are concerned, they are favored to do so:
Miami Hurricanes -2.5
Michigan State Spartans +2.5
Over 125.5 points -110
Under 125.5 points -110
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NCAA Tournament Betting Round 1 – Michigan State vs Miami – CJ’s Take:
Miami, which is 21-11 straight-up a but only 11-19 against the basketball pointspread, suffered some early setbacks to Florida and Iowa State, and posted a record of 11-9 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Considering the caliber of competition in that league, that was actually not a bad result. They were able to score some significant victories on the season, including one where they really slow things down against Duke, beating them 55-50 while holding them below 32% shooting. That was an accomplishment, considering how talented Duke is. Just five days before that, however, Miami had done the same thing to Virginia, beating them in Charlottesville in overtime by a 54-48 score. Clearly, you can tell by those results that this Hurricane team wants to be deliberate and control the pace of play.
Michigan State is still smarting from the first-round upset they suffered last season at the hands of Middle Tennessee in this tournament. And they have lost eight of their last 15 games. But head coach Tom Izzo knows how to get his team ready for this kind of competition; after all, he has been to seven different Final Fours and has a national championship under his belt. Naturally, this is not a Spartan team that has as much talent as those earlier editions, but there are a couple of rising stars they will depend on. One of them is Miles Bridges, a freshman who is ticketed for the first round of the NBA draft. Bridges averaged 16.6 points and 8.2 rebounds, and VietBet patrons may know that he is clearly the go-to guy. But the Spartans have some muscle on the inside, with Nick Ward, who averaged 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds, led the nation in offensive rebounding percentage Andrew more fouls than anyone on a per-minute basis. This has to be a concern for Miami, which has some size but most definitely is strongest in the backcourt.
College basketball bettors should also be aware of a few other things going into this matchup. Michigan State is minus its best guard, as Eron Harris was lost for the season with an injury. Miami has at least three standouts at the guard position, all of whom could be on the floor at the same time. In addition to that, Dejan Vasiljevic can come off the bench shooting threes, and he really bailed them out in the ACC tournament against Syracuse. Michigan State is only 5-12 straight-up away from home, and Izzo’s opposite number, Jim Larranaga, has some beneficial NCAA Tournament experience, having previously led an obscure George Mason team to the Final Four in 2006.
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