I can’t even begin to express how amped I am for this matchup between the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats and No. 5 seed Houston Cougars! The Coogs will undoubtedly possess the rest advantage after getting the best of both UAB and Illinois with relative ease through the first two rounds. Zona was however forced to expend a ton of energy to get by what proved to be a game bunch of TCU Horned Frogs in overtime just to make it out of the first weekend. Houston’s pair of dominant showings allowed for it to leapfrog the Wildcats in the most up to date Pomeroy Ratings. Even so, online sportsbooks currently have Tommy Lloyd’s kids installed short favorites to return to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2014-15 when it fell to the Wisconsin Badgers also as short favorites. I tend to agree and have no qualms in backing Bennedict Mathurin who gave off some major “MJ” vibes coming up huge when needed to punch the team’s ticket into the Sweet 16. That 3-ball to force overtime was cold blooded!
Take this Sweet 16 matchup in live on TBS at 9:59 p.m. ET from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX on Thursday, March 24, 2022. BookMaker.eu will have NCAA basketball odds available for this and every game lined up for today’s NCAA Tournament schedule.
NCAA Tournament Odds at BookMaker.eu
Houston Cougars +2
Arizona Wildcats -2
Total 146
Odds Analysis
The South Region’s top-seeded Arizona Wildcats opened up as short 2-point favorites to advance into the Elite Eight with the total set at 145. It’s currently installed the +174 favorite to represent the region in the Final Four, and clocks in +525 only behind Gonzaga +246 and Kansas +500 to win the NCAA tournament. Having said that, Kelvin Sampson’s crew is hot on their trail offering up a +198 return on investment should it win the South. As it stands, linemakers expect one of these two teams to be one of the last four standing. The point spread is yet to move off the opener though the Wildcats side of the impost has been tagged with heavier -113 juice. These teams represent two of the better bets in the country with Arizona going 20-15-1 ATS and Houston covering all five of its postseason matchups to move to 24-12 versus the closing college basketball odds overall. The O/U is up a full point to 146.
Houston Cougars
A second embarrassing regular season loss to Memphis looks to be exactly what the doctor ordered to put the Coogs in HAM mode since postseason play tipped-off. It would go on to blitz both Cincinnati and Tulane in the AAC tourney before winning it by slicing up the aforementioned Tigers in the title game. From there, it had very little issue disposing of Jelly Walker and trendy dog UAB in the first round, and then kept Illinois at an arm’s length all game long before locking up the 68-53 win and cover as 3.5-point favorites. That finds the Coogs 5-0 SU and ATS heading into this tilt that’s destined to see them bring their “A” game to the hardwood knowing full well a return trip to the Elite Eight will be on the line. Expect another max effort!
Arizona Wildcats
The last couple weeks have been trying for the Wildcats even though they won the Pac-12 tournament and followed it up with a pair of wins in the first week of the Big Dance to qualify for the region semifinals in Lloyd’s first go-round in Tucson. The 1-2 punch of Mathurin and Christian Koloko almost single-handedly allowed for the Wildcats to advance late Sunday night with the former going for 30 points and eight boards, while the latter went for 28 points and 12 boards with seven of the offensive variety. Arizona’s ability to compete with Houston on the glass will go a long way in allowing the Wildcats to live up to being the favored side in this matchup even though all the analytical sites state they should be the one catching a possession.
Betting Prediction
This is the best matchup of the eight tilts set to go down in the Sweet 16! Will Houston allow Arizona to play to its preferred frenetic pace, or will it be able to turn it into the grinder it plays to with regularity? Either way, I don’t envision the Cougars having much of a chance if it can’t make the Wildcats pay for their shoddy ball handling. Houston ranks No. 27 overall in defensive turnover percentage, and forced a total of 27 in its first two tourney triumphs. Zona must clean up its miscues! It turned the ball over a whopping 35 times in the wins over Wright State and TCU. It’ll be a quick death if they turn it over anywhere close to that average! Regardless, I’m fully expecting the Wildcats bulk underneath the basket to simply be too much for Kyler Edwards and Co. to overcome. Houston’s a damn good team that owns the experience advantage, but Arizona is a type of animal it’s yet to have run up against this season. The Wildcats are also the much better free throw shooting team by far, and the Cougars have shown a knack for sending their opponents to the charity stripe often (No. 286). Look for that edge to contribute to Arizona taking a step closer towards locking down the region with a hard fought win and cover.
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