The Samford Bulldogs will play the Kansas Jayhawks on Thursday night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. This game is between the 13th and 4th seeds. The winner will advance to the second round on Saturday and play the winner of Gonzaga or McNeese State.
For the 13th seeded Samford Bulldogs, they come in with a 29-5 record on the season. The Bulldogs won the Southern Conference regular season title, and then blew through the conference tournament. The Bulldogs have won four straight games, and 8 out of their last 10 overall.
For Kansas, they have dropped back to back games. The Jayhawks lost to Houston in the regular season finale, and then to Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament. Kansas is 22-10 on the season. The Jayhawks finished sixth in the Big-12 this season.
Kansas is -7.5 over Samford in this game. The total is set at 153.5.
Upset Minded Bulldogs
The Samford Bulldogs are battle tested and ready to go. They lost their first two games of the season on the road at Purdue and at VCU. The loss to Purdue was by 53 points. The other three losses this season came at Furman, at Mercer and at Wofford; all conference games.
In the conference tournament, the Bulldogs won by an average of 10.3 points per game. During the season, Samford scored 86 points per game. That ranks fifth in College Basketball. The Bulldogs are one of the best three point shooting teams in the country, making 39.3%.
The top scorer for Samford this season has been Achor Achor, with 15.8 points per game. The Bulldogs are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000. During that season, they were a 13th seed, and lost to Syracuse.
History Filled Jayhawks
Of course the Kansas Jayhawks come in with all sorts of NCAA Tournament history. The Jayhawks have the longest standings streak of reaching the tournament, and have not missed since 1989. The Jayhawks are 34-2 in the first round of the tournament, and have won second round games 23 times. Kansas also has been to 10 national title games.
The Jayhawks this season have been a little bit of a mess. The biggest question mark is the health of their top two scorers – Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar. They both missed the Big 12 Tournament, and are question marks for this game. Without them, the Jayhawks were smoked by Cincinnati.
Dickinson is scoring 18 points per game, and ripping down 10.8 rebounds per game. McCullar is at 18.3 points per game, and 6 rebounds per game. KJ Adams is next for Kansas, with just over 12 points per game.
Jayhawks Wins; Bulldogs Cover
The Kansas Jayhawks are a mess right now. The Samford Bulldogs are a flashy pick to pull an upset in this game. But, Bill Self is going to make sure his team is ready to go. They are going to be as healthy as they can get for this game.
Look for the Jayhawks to pull out all the stops in this game and come away with a win. It may be close, but the Jayhawks win. In the end, Kansas wins by 5. Bet on Samford to cover the spread. The final bet is Samford +7.5.
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