#8 Wildcats (21-10) vs #9 Golden Eagles (25-8)
The Big 12 was a very good conference this year. Kansas and Mizzou took #2 seeds with Baylor right behind them with a #3.
Thursday March 15
East Region – Pittsburgh, PA
12:40PM
Moneyline: Not currently listed
Spread: Kansas State -5
O/U: 134
Kansas State
The Wildcats beat two out of those three teams and finished a solid 5th behind the aforementioned teams and Iowa State. Like its coach Frank Martin this is a very tough minded team.
Missing star guard from last year Jacob Pullen they are little lighter on talent but no less feisty.
This year shooting guard Rodney Macgruder has taken another step forward, leading the team with 15 points per game. Only one other player, forward Jamar Samuels, is in double digits and sometimes this club really struggles to score. They are especially limited because even though they have some very athletic players nobody really is great at creating off the bounce.
They can run out of scoring options if the pace really quickens.
Southern Miss
When the Golden Eagles lost to Marshall in the Conference USA tourney I though they were done for. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
However, in looking at the seeding it seems that they were not on the bubble as much as many thought. I guess those 25 wins, including a couple against bubble teams that made it into the field – Colorado State and South Florida – were enough.
This matchup with K-State definitely offers the opportunity to extend the season to the weekend.
The Golden Eagles will look to push the pace and show off their depth against K-State. They don’t have a dominant player but 9 players average more than 10 minutes per game with 6 scoring more than 9 points per game. Southern Miss is a good bet down the stretch of close games because they shoot free thrown very well – 73%.
8 vs 9 games are usually pretty tight but 9’s win more often than 8’s it seems.
I think that will be the case here.
Spread Pick: Southern MIss +5
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Southern Miss 69 – Kansas State 66
