USC vs GONZAGA
When: 3/30/2021 7:15 PM
Where: Lucan Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN

TV: 7:15 PM
LINE: -450
PREDICTION: USC, Gonzaga

Oddsmakers currently have Gonzaga listed as 9 point favorites versus Southern California while the game’s total is sitting at 153.

Most college basketball fans are probably familiar by now with Gonzaga’s big three of Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs, and Drew Timme.

They were the first trio from the same team to be among 10 players chosen for the Wooden All-American team. Kispert was named a finalist for the Wooden Award, which goes to the national player of the year.

The three have led the top-seeded Bulldogs to the Elite Eight, and an accompanying meeting Tuesday with sixth-seeded Southern California.

But what about the Bulldogs’ other starters?

Well, Andrew Nembhard and Joel Ayayi showed in Sunday’s 83-65 victory against Creighton in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region semifinal that they deserve the defense’s attention as well.

Nembhard and Ayayi combined for 30 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists as Gonzaga (29-0), the top overall seed, moved within a game of their second Final Four berth.

“We play our best when we’re just moving the ball because we have so many pieces and so much versatility,” said Nembhard, a transfer from Florida who has played with the Canadian national team. “It’s just like playing in a park with a bunch of guys that click so well.”

Nembhard’s 17 points Sunday were two shy of his season-high set Dec. 2 in an 87-82 victory against West Virginia, the Bulldogs’ lone game to be decided by fewer than 10 points this season.

Gonzaga is chasing history as well as its first NCAA title. The Bulldogs could become the first undefeated champion since Indiana in 1975-76.

“I’m just telling you: We’re not hung up on the undefeated thing at all,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “We’ve got to go undefeated from here on out. We’ve got to go 3-0 if we want to win the championship, which, has been our goal all along. But nobody’s talking about the overall undefeated thing at all.”

Gonzaga’s victory in Sunday’s early game assured the West Region final would be an all-West Coast affair.

While the Bulldogs will be making their fourth Elite Eight appearance in the past six tournaments, the Trojans earned their first trip in 20 years and just their second in six decades with their victory in the late game, 82-68 over Pac-12 rival Oregon 82-68 Sunday night.

Isaiah White led the Trojans (25-7) with 22 points, and their zone defense shut down Oregon’s potent attack.

“We’re making history, and it just means a lot to this program,” White said. “As a team, we’re just super excited and we worked for this, so I’m glad that it’s paying off.”

As for USC’s chances against Gonzaga?

“We believe we can beat anybody,” White said.

USC’s 7-foot freshman Evan Mobley considered a potential top-three pick in the next NBA draft, had just 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting against the Ducks but added eight rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots.

“He takes what the defense gives. He has confidence in his teammates,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “When your most talented offensive player is your most unselfish and most willing passer, you can win a lot of games like that.”

The post Southern California vs. Gonzaga Odds, Picks & Preview 3/30/2021 appeared first on IdealCapper.

IDAHO ST vs GONZAGA
When: 9:00 PM  ET, Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Where: McCarthey Athletic Center, Spokane, Washington

TV: 9:00 PM
LINE: -27.5
PREDICTION: GONZAGA , IDAHO ST

Oddsmakers currently have the GONZAGA listed as -27.5 point favorites versus the IDAHO ST, while the game’s total is sitting at 153.

Fourth-ranked Gonzaga opens the season without one of its top players when it hosts Idaho State on Tuesday. Junior forward Killian Tillie underwent surgery on his right ankle to repair a stress fracture last week and will be sidelined approximately eight weeks.

Tillie, who averaged 12.9 points last season, is one of the reasons the Bulldogs are so highly ranked despite aggravating a previous ankle injury during a recent practice. “It’s been hurting for a while,” Tillie told The Spokesman-Review. “It wasn’t really bad so I was just playing through it, but the last week it was really bad.” Gonzaga is looking to reach the NCAA Tournament for the 21st consecutive time with last season’s foray ending with a loss to Florida State in the Sweet 16. Idaho State has just one winning campaign in the past 15 seasons and is predicted to finish eighth in the Big Sky.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ROOT (Gonzaga)

ABOUT IDAHO STATE (2017-18: 14-16): The Bengals don’t figure to be able to keep the game close, but coach Bill Evans is eager for the challenge. “I’m really excited,” Evans told the Idaho State Journal. “We’re going up to play a really good team in a really great environment, and it’s exciting to me. I don’t fear Gonzaga. I don’t fear other teams. Sometimes, other teams are more talented, but that doesn’t mean you have to fear anybody, and I don’t fear anybody.” Idaho State’s top players are junior swingman Jared Stutzman and junior guard Brandon Boyd, who shared the team leadership by averaging 14.9 points last season.

ABOUT GONZAGA (2017-18: 32-5): The loaded Bulldogs have three other returning players who averaged in double digits last season in sophomore guard Zach Norvell Jr. (12.7 points per game), senior guard Josh Perkins (12.3 points, 5.3 assists) and junior forward Rui Hachimura (11.6). Perkins (83) and Norvell (77) combined for 160 3-pointers last season and both players recorded over 40 steals — 44 for Perkins and 42 for Norvell. Gonzaga has two transfers who are expected to be strong contributors in senior guard Geno Crandall (16.6 scoring average at North Dakota last season) and junior forward Brandon Clarke (17.3 average at San Jose State in 2016-17).

TIP-INS

1. The Bengals hold a 33-25 series lead over the Bulldogs but the last meeting was during the 1996-97 season, shortly before Gonzaga turned into a national power.

2. The Bulldogs have won more than 30 games in four of the past six seasons.

3. Stutzman made a Big Sky-leading 52 percent of his 3-point attempts last season.

PREDICTION: Gonzaga 104, Idaho State 66

The post IDAHO ST vs. GONZAGA 11/6/2018 Free Pick & CBB Betting Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

3:35 p.m.

Sindarius Thornwell has been red hot for South Carolina in the NCAA tournament. Not so much in the first half against Gonzaga.

The SEC player of the year was scoreless through the first 12 minutes of the game. And his backcourt mate Rakym Felder drew the wrath of South Carolina coach Frank Martin, who came onto the court midway through the first half to give a piece of his mind to the freshman guard.

Thornwell averaged 25.8 points through the first four games of the tournament.

—

3:25 p.m.

South Carolina is taking a rare approach against Gonzaga by not double teaming Przemek Karnowski.

Previous teams in the NCAA Tournament have sent double teams at the Polish big man and he picked them apart with his deft passing. The Zags made 12 of 24 from 3-point in last week’s win over Xavier, many of those coming on kick-outs by Karnowski.

South Carolina has no one who can match the size of the 7-foot-1, 300-pound center, but the Gamecocks have held their ground so far.

—

3:15 p.m.

The official who received death threats from Kentucky fans after the Elite Eight is the crew chief for the Final Four game between South Carolina and Gonzaga.

John Higgins worked last weekend’s game between North Carolina and Kentucky, which the Tar Heels won 75-73. Kentucky coach John Calipari began his post-game news conference talking about fouls and Kentucky fans began harassing Higgins, who runs a roofing company in Nebraska.

The Sarpy County Sheriff’s office in Nebraska said Higgins’ roofing company received about 3,000 harassing emails and an unknown number of phone calls, some including death threats. The Facebook page for Higgins’ company also was inundated with negative comments.

—

3:10 p.m.

It’s game time in the desert.

Gonzaga and South Carolina, both in their first Final Four, tipped off as fans poured in to cavernous University of Phoenix Stadium. Gonzaga brought an especially vocal fan contingent to cheer on the basketball-crazy school from Spokane, Washington.

The teams emerged from clouds of artificial smoke to take the court for final pre-game warmups.

The national anthem was performed by female athletes from each of the schools in the Final Four.

The game is being played in a retractable roof stadium, but the roof will be closed for the Final Four matchups.

—

2:45 p.m.

Rock music rang out in between commercials on the giant video screen at University of Phoenix Stadium as tens of thousands of fans, paying $40 a pop just to park, filtered in for the semifinals of the Final Four.

South Carolina and Gonzaga meet in the first game, followed by Oregon against North Carolina.

Capacity for the game was more than 70,000, some far, far from the court in the upper reaches of the building. The stadium has been the scene of two Super Bowls and multiple big college football games.

But this is its first Final Four.

—

1 p.m.

The NCAA Tournament is ready to carve out its finalists from among the Final Four.

South Carolina, Gonzaga, Oregon and North Carolina are the last teams standing in a March Madness field that started with 68 teams.

There are three games left to determine the 2017 champion, starting with two semifinals on Saturday night.

The first game between South Carolina and Gonzaga features a key matchup between two interior players: 7-foot-1 Przemek Karnowski of Gonzaga and South Carolina’s Maik Kotsar, who stands at 6-10.

Oregon stands in the way of North Carolina’s chance to reach the title game for a second straight year. One key for North Carolina will be the health of point guard Joel Berry II, who has been battling ankle issues but is expected to play.

The winners will play Monday night for the title.

—

For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

The post The Latest: Gonzaga slows down Thornwell early appeared first on IdealCapper.

“It’s crazy. I still can’t believe we’re here,” Early said. “You try to expect it, but you expect a lot of things that don’t happen. This really happened.”

Believe it. Wichita State is going to Atlanta, and these Shockers are no longer a surprise after the way the tenacious ninth seeds held off mighty Ohio State in the West Regional final.

Malcolm Armstead scored 14 points, Fred Van Vleet bounced in a big basket with 1 minute left, and Wichita State earned its first trip to the Final Four since 1965 with a 70-66 victory over the Buckeyes on Saturday.

Van Vleet scored 12 points as the Shockers (30-8) followed up last week’s win over top-ranked Gonzaga with a nail-biting victory over the second-seeded Buckeyes (29-8), whose 11-game winning streak ended one short of their second straight Final Four. Wichita State’s 20-point lead in the second half dwindled to three in the final minutes, but several Shockers stepped up with big plays to stop the surge, heeding coach Gregg Marshall’s halftime command to “play angry.”

All that anger turned into a joyous postgame party at midcourt, even though the Shockers realize they’ve got more work to do.

Wichita State is just the fifth team seeded ninth or higher to reach the Final Four since seeding began in 1979, but the second in three years following 11th-seeded VCU’s improbable run in 2011. The Shockers’ celebration was wild, if a bit disbelieving, in front of several thousand roaring fans.

“Last year we were watching all this on television,” said Early, who scored 12 points despite spraining his ankle in the second half. “Now I’m looking at a hat that says ‘Final Four Atlanta’ with my team on it. … It feels good, and it feels even better that I could experience it with these guys who had to struggle so hard to get here.”

Wichita State roared to a 20-point lead with 11 minutes to play after Ohio State played an awful first half, but LaQuinton Ross scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime, leading a ferocious rally that got the Buckeyes within three points in the final minutes.

Tekele Cotton hit a clutch 3-pointer for Wichita State with 2:20 left and grabbed a key offensive rebound moments later, allowing Van Vleet to score on a shot that bounced all over the rim before dropping. Ron Baker and Cotton hit last-minute free throws to secure the second Final Four trip in Wichita State’s history and a school-record 30th win.

“We’re happy, but I’m still shocked,” said Carl Hall, the glasses-wearing big man who scored eight points and led the Shockers’ strong defensive effort. “We’ve got a team full of fighters. I brought them all together near the end and said, `No matter what happens, I love y’all.’ We had to fight so hard. We’ve got each other’s backs, and it’s hard to beat a team that’s got five guys who work together like us.”

Deshaun Thomas scored 21 points after missing nine of his first 12 shots for Ohio State, which made just 24 percent of its first-half shots. Aaron Craft scored nine points on 2-for-12 shooting against Armstead and a host of defenders for the Buckeyes, who dug a hole too deep to escape with their second-half rally.

“The way we shot coming into the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, everything was falling,” Thomas said. “Today, it just wasn’t our night. Nothing was falling. We had great looks, some of them, but they just weren’t falling.”

Yet after two weeks of upsets in the wild West bracket, underdog Wichita State seemed an appropriate pick to cut down Staples Center’s nets. The Shockers’ well-balanced roster managed built that enormous lead with the same consummate team play that they’ve shown throughout the tournament.

The Shockers are also the kings of Kansas, reaching the national semifinals after the powerful Jayhawks and Kansas State both went down.

Two sections packed with cheering Shockers fans provided all the encouragement necessary for a team that didn’t win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and was thought to be a bubble team for an NCAA berth. Now, Wichita State is the MVC’s first Final Four team since Larry Bird led Indiana State to the title game in 1979.

Another giant awaits the Shockers in Atlanta next weekend: They’ll face the winner of Sunday’s Midwest Regional final between Duke and Louisville.

“We’re all new to this, but I think we’re ready for this,” Early said. “We’re going to prepare ourselves, and this game was pretty good preparation. We started at the bottom, and we’ve been working our way up.”

Seven seasons after underdog George Mason crashed the Final Four and underlined college basketball’s growing parity, the Shockers are the latest smallish school to get on a big roll in the tournament. Butler made the national championship game in 2010 and 2011, and the Bulldogs were joined by that VCU team in the Final Four two years ago.

This year’s tournament included stunning wins by Florida Gulf Coast, La Salle and Harvard, but nobody kept it going longer than Wichita State.

Although the Shockers have a beautiful home arena and robust support from fans and donors in Kansas’ largest city, Marshall acknowledged that Wichita State’s athletic budget is a fraction of what a BCS school can spend. He hasn’t let it slow the Shockers, who made the NCAA tournament last year only to lose to 12th-seeded VCU in the first round.

After the Shockers easily beat La Salle two days ago to reach their first regional final since 1981, Marshall’s pregame speech to the Shockers on Saturday finished with talk of cutting down the nets at Staples Center before getting on that plane back to Kansas, saying Wichita State didn’t have to play “a perfect game” to beat mighty Ohio State.

“The Mecca awaits in Atlanta,” he said.

Marshall was right, but he couldn’t have anticipated just how imperfect Ohio State would be.

The postseason-tested Buckeyes appeared calm and confident during warmups in front of their healthy fan contingent, yet they proceeded to play the first half just like NCAA newbies.

They missed their first seven shots after the opening tip in a string capped by an airballed 3-pointer from Thomas, who missed his first five overall. The junior star was labeled “a bad-shot taker and a bad-shot maker” by Marshall on Friday, but he only lived up to the first part of that billing while going 4 for 13 in the first half.

Early hit two 3-pointers in the opening minutes, and the Shockers stretched their lead to 13 points shortly before halftime.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Craft said. “They really came out firing and we really didn’t regain our footing until it was too late.”

Hall went to the locker room after drawing a charge from Thomas early in the second half, holding the back of his head after Thomas’ elbow clipped him on the jaw. Hall found his glasses and got back in the game 66 seconds later.

Wichita State gradually stretched its lead early in the second half, with Early’s layup putting the Shockers up 53-33 with 12:09 to play.

Ross desperately tried to rally the Buckeyes, scoring eight consecutive points and leading a 23-6 run midway through the second half. Ohio State went into a full-court inbounds defense, and Shannon Scott’s free throws with 2:49 left cut the lead to 62-59 — but Ohio State couldn’t get any closer.

The post Wichita State upsets Buckeyes to reach Final Four appeared first on IdealCapper.

Wichita St. vs Ohio St.
When: 7:05 PM ET, Saturday, March 30, 2013
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, CBS.
PREDICTION: Wichita State 69, Ohio State 66

Oddsmakers currently have the Buckeyes listed as 6½-point favorites versus the Shockers, while the game’s total is sitting at 133.

Carl Hall dominated the undersized Explorers inside, hitting his first five shots and scoring 14 of his 16 points inside the paint. The Shockers recorded 40 points in the paint against La Salle and took 43 shots inside, the most such attempts for a team in this tournament. Wichita State’s tournament opponents – Pittsburgh, Gonzaga and La Salle – each entered their games with the Shockers shooting at least 45 percent, but the teams combined to shoot 35.5 percent against the Missouri Valley Conference’s top-ranked field-goal percentage defense.

Wichita State was a 72-58 winner in its last match at home against La Salle. They covered the 4.5-point spread as favorites.

Team record: 29-8 SU, 19-14-1 ATS

Unlike the play that left Craft open for a 3-pointer against the Cyclones, the pivotal moment in the win Thursday came when Arizona overcommitted to the Buckeyes’ point guard. “It was similar to the play we ran last game,” Ross said. “We like to get the (big men) on a pick-and-roll. It so happened they messed up the switch there and I was able to knock down the shot.” Perhaps one of the biggest turnarounds the team has made lately is beyond the arc. In three NCAA Tournament games, Ohio State is a combined 23-for-46 (50 percent) from the 3-point line after shooting 35.9 percent over its first 33 contests.

Ohio State was a 73-70 winner in their most recent outing at home against Arizona. They failed to cover the 3.5-point spread as favorites.

Team record: 29-7 SU, 20-14 ATS

The post Wichita State vs. Ohio State Free Betting Tips & Matchup appeared first on IdealCapper.

The 15-1 Cardinals took advantage of losses by Duke and Michigan to move up two spots to No. 1 on Monday in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll. This is just the second time in school history they’re on top. The other time was the final poll of 2008-09, a season in which they reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament.

Hours later, Louisville used a strong second half to beat Connecticut 73-60 on Monday night to move to 16-1.

Louisville was one of five teams to receive a first-place vote this week, and that backs Pitino’s point.

“I think the top teams will play musical chairs for No. 1 for the next two months and it will be really significant at the end of the year,” Pitino said before the Monday’s game. “We played a tough nonconference schedule and I’m really happy the way our guys have battled through injuries. We’ll try to hold the musical top as long as we can.”

The Cardinals, who have won 11 straight since losing to Duke in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, received 36 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. That’s 23 more than Indiana, which moved up from fifth.

Indiana was No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first five weeks of the regular season. Duke, which was No. 1 for the past four weeks, was third with 14 No. 1 votes. The Blue Devils were followed by Kansas and Michigan, which drew one first-place vote each.

SportsNation: College Basketball Rankings

SportsNation Is Louisville the best team in men’s college basketball, or do you have another squad in your top spot?
Submit your rankings!

Four teams entered the week unbeaten — Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Wyoming — and each suffered its first loss.

It was the first time three of the top four teams lost in the same week since November 2003, when the top four teams — Connecticut, Duke, Michigan State and Arizona — all were defeated.

Syracuse, Arizona, Gonzaga, Minnesota and Florida rounded out this week’s top 10.

There were four newcomers to the poll this week: No. 21 Oregon, No. 22 Virginia Commonwealth, No. 24 UCLA and No. 25 Marquette.

It is VCU’s first ranking since the 1984-85 season. Oregon is back in for the first time since 2007-08. Marquette was ranked last season, and UCLA, which was No. 13 in the preseason poll, is back after being out for the past seven weeks.

They replaced Georgetown, Cincinnati, Wichita State and UNLV, who all lost once last week.

The post Louisville Cardinals take over at No. 1 in AP poll appeared first on IdealCapper.