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It isn't all that much of a surprise that the Oklahoma Sooners reached the Elite Eight. All year long, they had the resume of a No. 1 seed, and though they didn't finish on the top line, no one ever doubted their viability for the second weekend of the tournament. In fact, it's almost a little bit more of a shock that the Oregon Ducks, the surprising choice as the top seed in the West, is still dancing with a shot to go to Houston for the Final Four.
Want to bet on the NCAA Tournament games this weekend? We'll have all of the March Madness odds at BookMaker.eu.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Thursday night was a lesson in what depth will do for you. It's not that either Oklahoma or Oregon is a super deep team, but in both cases, guys were able to step up who aren't used to being heroes to make some buckets to put away foes in the second half.
The Ducks didn't really totally pull away from Duke at any point, but they were always the better of the two teams and were seemingly always trending in the right direction in that game. Their 14-point margin of victory probably was a bit more than what we should've ultimately seen, but there was never a doubt that live bettors deserved victories at most of the numbers which were posted over the course of that game.
Oklahoma meanwhile, never really looked back against Texas A&M once it got rolling. The Sooners were only up four at the under 8:00 timeout, but from there, it went on a 17-2 run to essentially put the game away. The Sooners had moments where live bettors had to cringe just a bit, but if you kept back the Aggies figuring there was a number that they were going to beat, you probably ended up on the wrong side of that beating. Very few numbers posted at BookMaker were ultimately won by Texas A&M in live betting.
KEY MATCHUP
Rebounding the basketball will be vital in this one. Oklahoma has a lot of size, but that size is often considered a little soft on the inside. Ryan Spangler was a double-double threat every time he stepped foot onto the court in the regular season, but here in the NCAA Tournament, he hasn't even come close to a double-double yet, and he hasn't even reached 10 rebounds in one game.
If the Sooners aren't able to create some offense off of missed shots in this one, they're as good as dead for live betting purposes. Oregon's rebounding was spot on against both Holy Cross and Duke, and the one time that it really struggled came against St. Joe's, the only game of the three which was even remotely close to being lost.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
Some would be surprised by the fact that the Sooners have only gone 1-2 ATS in the NCAA Tournament, but that's right on line with what they've done all season long. When you've got the best player in the nation on your side along with a bunch of jump shooters, you're going to have a lot of games where you just don't cover the spread even if you do win the game. Oklahoma was the king of that all season long, and that's why it has just a 13-20 ATS record in totality in 2015-16.
Oregon is now 7-2 ATS in its last nine games overall, and it hasn't been beaten in a game since February 13. The Ducks have only been beaten once either at home or on a neutral floor this year, and calling that one loss against UNLV at the MGM Grand as a "neutral site" game is clearly unfair since the MGM Grand is just right up the road from the Thomas & Mack Center in Sin City where the Rebels play.
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Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so start betting with BookMaker today! The Oklahoma Sooners and Oregon Ducks will square off Saturday, March 26, 2016, at 6:09 p.m. ET at the Honda Center. This Sweet 16 matchup will be televised live on CBS.
