And then there were four. We’re now down to the Semifinals in the SEC Tournament with the Kentucky Wildcats set to face the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats are the reigning champs and have 29 tournament championships. It seems fitting that it’s the Tide going head-to-head with the Wildcats here in the Semifinals as Alabama claims the second most titles in conference history, of course with just six, it’s a far cry from Kentucky’s total.
At 12 p.m. ET, tune into CBS for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball showdown, part of the SEC Tournament, on Saturday, March 11, 2017, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN.
We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Sunday schedule.
Odds at BookMaker.eu
Kentucky will enter play has favorites as the No. 1 seed advanced past Georgia with relative ease. The Wildcats aren’t the unstoppable force they’ve been in recent past, but they’re still one of the better teams in college basketball and the odds should reflect that.
As for the Crimson Tide, Alabama overcame being the four-point dogs in the Quarterfinals, topping South Carolina to improve to 5-2 ATS in their last seven games. Surprisingly, they did it with a bit of second half offense.
Player to Watch
Alabama is a defensive minded club with the Wildcats are fifth in college basketball in points while shooting an impressive 47.6 percent from the floor. The Tide can only do so much on defense against a team like Kentucky so they’re offense will have to step things up, too. With that, keep eyes on guard Dazon Ingram.
Ingram scored 17-points for the Tide in the first round of this tournament, helping the team cruise to a win over Mississippi State. In that game, the Tide were on fire on offense. They shot 47.2-percent from the floor against the Bulldogs and sank half of their shots from three.
Interestingly, Ingram now has just two games with double-digit points in his last seven games after scoring just X in the Quarterfinals against South Carolina.
In the two games that Ingram has reach double digits, he scored 17 and 22 points respectively and the Tide ended up putting up 75 and 70 points. They were in the 50s in the other games. There’s also a direct correlation between Ingram having a big game and the team winning.
For the Crimson Tide to even keep this one close, they’ll need to score early and often and that all boils down to Ingram. He scored 12 the last time these two teams faced-off after going head-to-head with the deep Kentucky backcourt featuring Malik Monk, Isaiah Briscoe and De’Aaron Fox.
Last Meeting
These two teams met in the regular season exactly one month prior to their Semifinal showdown and to nobody’s surprise, the Wildcats got the easy win on the road, topping the Tide, 67-58 and covering the 7.5-point spread.
The Wildcats actually won the game in the first half as the Tide did a good job keeping the game close in the second half, although it continued to remain out of reach.
As noted Ingram did score in the double-digits, but it was Braxton Key who big performer, scoring 21 while shooting 8-for-13 while mostly avoiding the stacked Kentucky backcourt, taking care of business inside the paint.
As it turns out, it still wasn’t enough. Aside from a few points from Key and Ingram, the Wildcats controlled the game. They notched four more steals and had six blocks while the Tide defense didn’t have a single block.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
The Wildcats are the favorites to win this tournament and they have been since the very beginning and with good reason. John Calipari’s teams are consistently amongst the best in college basketball, let alone the SEC. He’s got another potential No. 1 seed in the Big Dance on the line.
Once again, this team is loaded with quality freshman talent, but they’ve got some veterans in the fold that’ve helped all year long.
For the Tide, the goal is simply to look good against Kentucky as the NCAA tournament bubble team tries to make a strong last case for itself.
Overall, this backcourt is too strong. The Tide may be able to keep pace early with its strong defense slowing the Kentucky attack, but look for the Tide to fade in the second half as the fast-pace of the Wildcat’s offense wears them down.
The shooters on the parameter lead to victory for Kentucky while Derek Willis and Edrice Adebayo inside the paint help them win the battle of the boards, further disadvantaging ‘Bama.
College Basketball Odds: Kentucky 74, Alabama 59
BookMaker.eu offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker.eu!
