It’s been a rough go of things lately for Tommy Amaker and the Harvard Crimson. Harvard won the Ivy League and made the NCAA Tournament for four straight years from 2012 to 2015, but the last two seasons have not gone well. The Crimson not only failed to make the tournament last year, but posted a losing record as well. Harvard is under .500 at this point this season too and now has to travel to take on one of the best teams in college basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats.
This war on the floor will go down Saturday, December 2, 2017, at 3:30 p.m. ET at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The game will be televised live on ESPN. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Harvard only has one decent win this season, a neutral site victory over St. Joseph’s. Other than that, things have not gone well though. The Crimson lost to Cal State Fullerton, Manhattan, and Massachusetts as a favorite and was hammered by Saint Mary’s. Harvard is 1-4 ATS this season as a result.
The Wildcats are starting to right the ship after a tough start to the season. It’s always tough for a young team of mostly freshmen to come together, but John Calipari has been pretty good at getting it to happen quickly. Kentucky is 6-1 on the season with its lone loss coming against Kansas. The Wildcats started the season 1-4 ATS and all of those games went under as the offense was struggling to find a rhythm. Each of their last two games though were wins and covers that also went over the total.
Player to Watch
It was a rough start to the season for Kevin Knox, who had some trouble with his shot the first two games of the season. He went just 6-23 from the floor in wins over Utah Valley and Vermont and his struggles encapsulated Kentucky’s.
However, something clicked in the loss to Kansas and he has looked very good ever since that point. Knox has hit 55.7 percent of his shots over the last five games and that has been a big boon to this Kentucky team. He was the most hyped freshman in this year’s class and is expected to be the team’s primary scoring option all year.
Knox is a 6’9 forward with range and a solid post-up game to boot. His three-point shooting isn’t where it needs to be, but isn’t bad either, and he needs some polishing at the free throw line too. He is extremely talented though.
Key Stat
Harvard has had a hard time getting the ball to fall in the basket this season. The Crimson are hitting just 42.3 percent of their shots and that has been the biggest problem with their play. They just haven’t been able to shoot well all season long. Harvard has struggled from beyond the arc too. The Crimson are hitting just 28.7 percent of their threes as a team and no player is hitting more than 40 percent of their treys either.
If you shoot that poorly, you have to be solid in other areas of the game. Unfortunately, Harvard is averaging just 33 rebounds per game this season and is turning it over 15 times per outing.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Kentucky is going to be a pretty large favorite in this game, possibly north of 20 points considering how Harvard has been playing. The Wildcats will have had a week of rest before this one, while the Crimson are going to be playing Northeastern in Beantown on Thursday night. I really like Kentucky to cover the number in this one as it only has one more game against a mid-major before it starts taking on the big boys.
College Basketball Odds: Kentucky 94, Harvard 71
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