Golden Bears vs Orange East Region Spread/Handicapping
The Orange barely broke a sweat in beating Montana on Thursday. They may be a number 4 seed but they played like a one.
NCAA Tournament – East Bracket
#4 Syracuse Orange (27-9) vs #12 California Bears (21-11)
Saturday March 23
HP Pavillion – San Jose, CA
9:40PM
Moneyline: Syracuse -360, California +300 at WagerWeb
Spread: Syracuse -7.5
O/U: 125
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Syracuse
They may be catching a break with Cal upsetting UNLV in their matchup, one of three PAC 12 teams that came through on the tournament`s first full day.
Syracuse looks like they might be returning to the form that had them ranked in the top 10 for most of the season.
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Syracuse gave up just 34 points against Montana. Amazingly no Grizzlie scored more than 5 points and top player Will Cherry made just one shot. Part of it was that vaunted 2-3 zone defense and part poor play. On offense the Orange were very effective shooting better than 50% for the game.
They played almost their entire roster so they should be the fresher team on Saturday night.
Given how good Syracuse looked it is surprising that the number isn`t higher for this one. That makes me think there could be some good value in this one, especially if the line moves in the Orange`s favour due to parlays and other plays throughout the course of the day.
This game is probably under the radar but could be an opportunity. [ad-6571516]
California
When California lost to Utah in the PAC 12 tourney they might have sealed their NCAA fate…but the committee saw differently and that confidence was justified by their performance in their win against UNLV. So far the PAC 12 has shown that their criticism might have been unjustified.
Still I am not sure they have the right kind of team to beat Syracuse in a game like this. They just aren`t a good enough shooting team.
Cal has a strong backcourt with Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs. The combo averages more than 33 points between them but neither is a great range shooter and I worry that they won`t find as many opportunities against the 2-3.
They are a good rebounding team though and they will have to be strong with the ball. They are a good defensive team too keeping opponents below 40% shooting.
They got the upset victory over UNLV but they have not been a good bet throughout the season with just a 13-16 ATS record. They are going to be underdogs again and they have covered and won the last three times they were in that role.
It is a short streak and one that will end Saturday night.
Spread Pick: Syracuse -7.5
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Syracuse 75 – California 65
