College Basketball Weekend Preview: Ranked Teams Take to the Court

The college basketball betting is just starting to get underway as the teams continue to jockey for position in the upcoming March Madness NCAA tournament. The top spots in the rankings have been changing so frequently that none of the top 25 teams can take anything for granted. Heading into this coming weekend, the price per head sports experts do not see the very top rated teams having a lot of trouble with their games. But the action among the rest of the top 25 should be pretty intense as some teams are trying to avoid being considered “bubble teams” for the upcoming NCAA championship.

Saturday – (1) Kentucky @ LSU
The only loss that LSU has this season which was not a close game was its early season loss to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. But LSU’s schedule is not all that impressive and it has sustained some disappointing losses to some teams that it should have beaten.

Kentucky is the new number one, which kind of bothers the Indiana Hoosiers. The only loss that Kentucky has suffered this season was at the hands of the Hoosiers. If Indiana had not taken a loss of its own and maintained a perfect record to this point, then Indiana could be ranked much higher and possibly be a top five team. But the top 25 can sometimes be about as predictable as the Super Bowl odds
from week to week. Kentucky should be able to dispatch with LSU and maintain its number one ranking through the weekend. Pick: Kentucky

Saturday – Mississippi State (16) @ Florida (13)
This is the only Saturday game between two ranked teams, and it should be a great game to watch. Florida fans cannot help but wonder how much higher the Gators would be ranked if it could have pulled off a win over Ohio State or Syracuse. One of the reasons Florida is 13th is the tough time that it gave Syracuse back in December. But a sportsbook review of the season for Florida to this point shows inconsistent play against ranked teams and that does not bode well for this game.

Many of the issues that follow Mississippi State can be traced back to that tough loss in late December to Baylor. The one thing that the Bulldogs have going for it is that the team can play some great defense. The problem is that Mississippi State has a problem turning on the offense when it really needs it. But it would be a betonline scam to suggest that this Mississippi State team would be unable to put up points against a Florida team that has not shown the consistent ability to play good defense.

This could be a defensive battle for a while, but the Gators will start showing signs of cracking under the intense defensive pressure that the Bulldogs will be applying. This one will come down to the wire and it could even go into overtime, but look for the Bulldogs to move up a spot or two after betting the Gators in this contest.
Pick: Mississippi State