History has not been kind to No. 11 seeds that advance to face a No. 2 seed in the Sweet 16, but the Xavier Musketeers are looking to change that. The lowest-seeded team remaining in the NCAA Tournament, Xavier sure didn’t look its seed in a second round thrashing of Florida State in perhaps the most dominant performance of the tournament. But that’s old news, and now it’s on to San Jose for a showdown with the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, March 23, 2017, at 10:09 p.m. ET at the SAP Center. The game will be televised live on TBS. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Thursday schedule.
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A couple of weeks ago, the Musketeers weren’t even sure they’d make it to the Dance, enduring a six-game losing streak and needing a win over the Big East’s last place team DePaul to keep its hopes alive. They got that win and two more to advance to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament to secure its spot. During that run, which includes Tournament victories over Maryland and Florida State, the Musketeers are 5-1 SU and 6-0 ATS and they’ll be facing a hefty spread as an underdog to the Wildcats.
Arizona has a nice streak going under Sean Miller. When the Wildcats enter the NCAA Tournament with 30 or more wins, they’ve reached the Elite Eight every time. This year’s team was 30-4 on Selection Sunday, which bodes well for them. They also catch the No. 11 seed Musketeers in the Sweet 16 and No. 2 seeds are 12-1 SU all-time against No. 11s when meeting in this round. The Wildcats needed a gutty effort to outlast Saint Mary’s on Saturday, overcoming a sluggish first half to put things together and pull away for a 69-60 cover win.
Injury Report
Rawle Alkins will have a few days to get his injury treated and ready for Thursday’s Sweet 16 battle with Xavier, but will that be enough time. Alkins dislocated his right index finger and suffered a small fracture in Saturday’s win over Saint Mary’s. He had the digit taped by team doctors and returned to the game, but was obviously affected by the injury. He ended the game with just six points in 27 minutes. He averages over 11 points per game for the season.
Alkins will likely play against Xavier, he has started all but one game this season after all. But the lingering effects of the injury are what should be concerning. A bum finger certainly can cause a change in shooting motion and it isn’t easy to handle a basketball with such an injury. Teammate Kadeem Allen suffered a similar injury earlier in the season and it took him a few games to find his groove. Unfortunately, the Wildcats don’t have the time to wait for Alkins’ finger to get properly healed.
Player to Watch
The Wildcats better keep an eye on Trevon Bluiett or they could be in trouble. One of the most efficient scorers in the country, Bluiett has taken over following the injury to Edmond Sumner and the team is now his. And he’s delivering. It was a quiet beginning to the Tournament for Bluiett, but since the second half of the game against Maryland, the athletic wing player has been carrying the Musketeers.
He went for 18 of his 21 in the second half of a 76-65 win over the Terrapins and followed that with 29 points on 8 of 14 shooting against the Seminoles. Guard play is magnified in the Tournament and the X-men have that in Bluiett. If they can get him a little bit of help against Arizona, the Musketeers are better than a No. 11 seed and could give the Wildcats some problems.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Arizona is as balanced a team as there is in the Tournament, but the injury to Alkins could hurt them in that area. The Wildcats are not particularly deep and the Alkins injury could force Sean Miller to use his bench more than he’s done recently. The front line is imposing with Lauri Markkanen, Dusan Ristic and Chance Comanche and the Wildcats will look to take advantage of that mismatch down low against the smaller Musketeers. The great equalizer is the three-point shot and Xavier will need to can a few to hang close. That might be tough against a team that defends the three so well.
The loss of Sumner should have hurt the Musketeers more than it has so far. But his game will be missed against the Wildcats. Sumner is Xavier’s second leading scorer and facing a more balanced team like Arizona, his loss will come into play as the Musketeers won’t be able to keep up.
College Basketball Odds: Arizona 81, Xavier 69
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