What is it with the Jim Boeheim and his Syracuse Orange going deep into the NCAA Tournament when the selection committee installs them No. 10 seeds or higher? After destroying San Diego State in the Round of 64 and following it up with a more competitive outright win and cover against West Virginia immediately after, the Orange are now 9-2 SU and 10-1 ATS at online sportsbooks as double-digit seeds. Kelvin Sampson’s No. 2 seed Houston Cougars are now the +114 favorites to take down the Midwest Region after Illinois bowed out early, but they best not count their chickens before they hatch with a red hot Buddy Boeheim and company out to take down another top seed and become just the ninth No. 11 seed to advance into the Elite Eight. Early numbers have the betting public riding Syracuse and I’m going along for the ride; Buddy and the giant killers aren’t done just yet!
Take this Sweet Sixteen matchup in live on TBS at 9:55 p.m. ET from Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday, March 27, 2021. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and the other three games set to go down on Saturday’s NCAA Tournament slate.
College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Syracuse Orange +6
Houston Cougars -6
Total 140.5
Odds Analysis
For a bulk of the season, Syracuse found itself installed around 85-1 choices to cut the nets down in April. After getting as high as 233-1 at the beginning of March after dropping two straight against Duke and Georgia Tech, the Orange enter their Sweet 16 tilt with the Cougars 45-1 to be the last team standing. They also find themselves third in the pecking order to represent the Midwest Region in the Final Four +585. Since December, Sampson’s Coogs have been a steady favorite to win it all. Their odds to do so got as high as 37-1 initially, but leveled out to +1600 up until the NCAA Tournament began. They now offer up a +915 return and are the +114 favorites to win the Midwest slightly ahead of Loyola-Chicago +156. The side and total for this matchup initially hit the board with Houston installed 6.5-point favs and the total lined at 140.5. Since then, the number to beat has fallen to -6 while the total hasn’t budged.
Syracuse Orange
What Cuse did to SDST in the opening round could be considered illegal in the other 49 contiguous states. Boeheim and the gang came out smoking hot in the first half to take a 32-18 lead into the break. They then put it on cruise control matching the Aztecs punch for punch in the second half. After only 50 combined points hit the board in the first half, the team’s would go on to tally 90 total points over the final 20 minutes to hand under bettors one of the worst defeats of the first round. When the dust cleared, Syracuse would log the 78-62 outright win and cover as 3-point underdogs with the 140 combined points going over the closing total by a bucket; gross! In the next round, Buddy continued his scorching hot ways by going off for a game-high 25 points which included an electric 6 of 13 showing from downtown. By way of the Cuse’s bothersome zone limiting each of its first two opponents to 37 percent or less from the field, the team is back in the Sweet 16 for the 24th time and third in the last six tourneys.
Houston Cougars
The Cougars looked nothing if not dead in the water trailing by 10 points with just over four minutes remaining in their Round of 32 tilt against Rutgers. But then the unthinkable occurred! It started hitting shots and ripping down rebounds. Lots of them! The end result was an improbable 63-60 comeback win that punched the program’s ticket into the Sweet 16 for the first time in 35 years. I personally still can’t believe they got it done. Rutgers had the game in the bag but failed to administer the knockout blow. All the credit goes to Quentin Grimes and Dejon Jarreau for digging down deep and coming up with the plays needed to extend the season; especially the latter who was clearly playing in immense pain after suffering a nasty hip pointer early in the second half. The duo is going to need Marcus Sasser to step up against the Orange as it won’t be able to survive if he can’t hit water from a boat once again.
Syracuse vs. Houston Prediction
I’m not done riding the Buddy Boeheim wagon just yet. Though his missed free throw in the closing seconds against West Virginia has those that hit the over late still likely furious at him, I’m eating everything he serves up hook, line and sinker. The kids in one of those patented March Madness grooves right now, and I’ll be betting against the Coogs No. 4 ranked 3-point defense finding a way to put out his flames. How recovered from the hip injury will Jarreau be? The kid was laboring out there! His defense is one of the primary reasons why Houston is so good at defending the perimeter. But it’s not just No. 35 that has me seeing through an orange lens. Marek Dolezaj, Joseph Girard III and Quincy Guerrier are all lending helping hands. If you offer me up 6-points with a red hot Boeheim paired with that patented Syracuse zone, I’m all in! If the shots aren’t falling, Houston likely romps. Still, I’ll pay up to see.
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