The Kansas Jayhawks are showing why they were the top overall ranked seed coming into the NCAA Tournament after barely being threatened in double digit wins against Austin Peay and Connecticut. Now the Jayhawks will get a test from an extremely talented Maryland Terrapins squad looking to live up to their lofty preseason ranking.
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HOW THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS WILL COVER THE SPREAD
Perry Ellis has been one of the leaders for Kansas all season long and has performed great in the tournament through two rounds. Ellis scored 21 points in each of the Jayhawks’ first two tournament games and is shooting over 70 percent from the floor. He led the team in scoring on the season and has Kansas poised to win the national title in his senior season.
Wayne Selden Jr. is another one of the stars for the Jayhawks and has performed well to this point also. Selden Jr. is hitting better than 50 percent of his shots and is playing at the elite level Kansas needs him to in order to win it all.
The one member of Kansas’ big three not playing well is Frank Mason III. Mason is just 3-of-15 from the floor and turned the ball over four times against UConn in the Round of 32. He hasn’t broken double digits in scoring in his last four games now, but he’ll need to impact other areas of the game like he did much of the year if he continues to shoot poorly.
HOW THE MARYLAND TERRAPINS WILL COVER THE SPREAD
Hawaii jumped out to a good start against Maryland and gave the Terps a run for their money during the first half. However, the Terrapins rose to the top at the end thanks to stars like Melo Trimble and Diamond Stone who carried the team for spurts to get the win.
Trimble wasn’t shooting great, but was able to get to the line consistently, and that spurred Maryland to the win here. Trimble hit 13 of his 14 from the free throw line and Maryland as a team hit 28 of its 31 on a night where they couldn’t buy a bucket from the perimeter. The Terps missed their first 15 three pointers and went just 1-of-18 from three-point range in all and will need to hit at a much better clip if they have aspirations of knocking off Kansas.
Diamond Stone had a solid game as well although it isn’t as evident in the stat sheet. When Maryland got down early and couldn’t hit anything from the floor, Stone got the team level again by banging down low before running into foul trouble.
The one thing he’ll need to do better against Kansas is rebound; one rebound for Maryland’s starting center won’t cut it against the best team in the nation.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Kansas is now 23-11 ATS on the year and looking more and more dominant with each passing game. The Jayhawks have played a plethora of under games this season despite having a lot of scorers. The under is 20-12-1 overall in Kansas games to date.
The Terrapins haven’t been as great for bettors with a 16-17-1 record against the number overall and a 4-5-1 ATS mark over their last ten. Maryland also plays a lot of under games with it 20-13-1 overall.
Both of these teams are extremely talented, but Kansas has lived up to its hype while Maryland hasn’t. The Terrapins are one of the few teams that have the ability to knock off Kansas, but the knock is they haven’t been consistent all season.
In a tournament that has been absolutely bonkers, roll the dice with Maryland playing to its talent level and take the Terps on the moneyline.
Maryland 71, Kansas 67
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