Elite 8 betting hogs the betting spotlight on Saturday night when the Big East representative West Virginia Mountaineers (30-6, 16-19 ATS) and SEC representative Kentucky Wildcats (35-2, 20-15 ATS) duke it out for entrance into the Final 4; tip for this battle is scheduled for 7:00 ET on CBS from the Carrier Dome.
The March Madness odds list the Wildcats as 4-point favorites and the over/under is 133.5.
These two squads form the only #1 and #2 match-up in the Elite 8 after Kansas, Syracuse, and Villanova failed to advance.
It was by no means pretty, but head coach Bob Huggins’ kids scraped and clawed their way to a 69-56 Sweet 16 win and cover against the Washington Huskies on Thursday night.
Nobody on the West Virginia Mountaineers roster tallied 20 or more points and the team shot just 40 percent from the field, but they killed Washington on the glass (41-25) and forced 21 turnovers.
F Kevin Jones led all WVU scorers with 18 points and also pulled down a team high eight rebounds. SR Da’Sean Butler had a miserable night from the floor converting just 5 of 16 overall shots (14 points), but he pulled down seven rebounds, had a pair of assists, and blocked one shot.
The victory was the Mountaineers ninth in row, and they’ve covered the closing pointspread in all three of their NCAA Tournament games.
West Virginia has proven to be a gritty road club this season going 17-4 SU & 10-11 ATS. They’ve won all 10 of their neutral court battles while going 5-5 ATS.
The Kentucky Wildcats went into Sweet 16 betting action the favorite to win the 2010 NCAA Tournament, and they made those that took a flier on them at +200 very happy by getting past a feisty Cornell squad on Thursday.
Though they fell behind 10-2 in the opening moments of the first half against the Big Red, they battled back to take a 32-16 lead with them into the break.
They coasted for a majority of the second half, but once Cornell cut the deficit to six-points, head coach John Calipari’s kids flipped the switch and administered the deathblow.
When it was all said and done, the Wildcats won by a 62-45 final tally and covered the eight-point closing betting odds.
Though Patrick Patterson and John Wall struggled considerably, G Eric Bledsoe and F DeMarcus Cousins picked up the slack to combine for 28 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists.
The SU victory was the #1 seeds eighth in a row, and like tonight’s opponent, they too have covered each of their first three March Madness betting battles.
Kentucky has been almost nothing but green away from their own court this season compiling impressive 16-2 SU & 12-6 ATS marks. They’ve won all nine of their neutral court contests and gone 6-3 ATS.
These programs have only met twice in the last decade with Kentucky winning and covering both meetings.
Both have some exceptional trends backing them heading into this colossal heavyweight match-up.
West Virginia is 11-2-1 ATS its L/14 NCAA Tournament games and 6-1 ATS the L/7 times it was installed neutral site underdogs. However, Kentucky boasts an impressive 13-3-1 ATS mark the L/17 times it faced a Big East opponent, and is a perfect 6-0 ATS the L/6 times it was tagged a March Madness favorite.
Mike Rose has been in the sports handicapping business for over a decade, and is a leading sports writer for some of the top sports betting news websites on the internet. To keep up with him on a daily basis, you can