NCAA Tournament: Upset Special Kentucky Vs Princeton?

The Kentucky Wildcats are one of the teams garnering attention as a 35-1 shot to win the NCAA Tournament but their game against the Princeton Tigers in the opening round may be stumbling block. Will Kentucky lose the game? The answer is no but Kentucky is a 14 point favorite, according to the Las Vegas Hilton Superbook, against Princeton.

What many people are not aware of is the better shooting team in this matchup is Princeton. They are ranked 41st in the country and shooting 46.5 percent from the floor.

Kentucky is ranked 62nd in the nation and they are shooting 46 percent. Not much of a difference in the shooting but enough of a difference to close out a 14 point gap late in a game.

First round games are always a tough bet when teams are heavy favorites. There is always an opportunity for the better team to pull players and rest them and give up points late in the game.

Princeton is a solid three point shooting team and as is the case with any team in the NCAA Tournament if they can get hot against the Kentucky Wildcats they will be able to stay in the game.

Both teams are evenly matched in many categories. Rebounds and shooting percentage are virtually even between these two teams and both teams are above 70 percent at the free throw line. Free throw shooting is critical come tournament time and the Princeton Tigers are shooting them at a 73 percent clip.

Will Princeton beat Kentucky straight up? It will not happen but they will cover the 14 point spread and this game can be as close as four to six points as the final minutes tick off. Princeton will give Kentucky all they can handle in this game but will fall short in the end by eight to nine points.

Sources:

www.lasvegasinsideinfo.com

www.espn.go.com

www.yahoosports.com