NCAA Tournament: LSU vs. Yale fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Thursday, March 21
Game Time: 12:40 ET
Venue: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, FL
Network: truTV
All You Really Need To Know About LSU (26-6)
(SEC), NCAA NET Rank: 14. East 3-seed
The SEC regular season champs have been a wee bit distracted by the allegations against head coach Will Wade, but that wasn’t the problem getting knocked out of the SEC Championship by Florida on a late three. Even with the issues, the Tigers won nine of their last ten before the loss to the Gators.
No one in the SEC does more from three, but it’s a mediocre team on the free throw line and the defense on the perimeter is lacking. There’s enough energy and size to be great on the boards, and there aren’t a whole lot of mistakes and turnovers. As long as the three is falling – and as long as the Tigers don’t get beaten badly on the free throw line – like they did against Florida – they’ll be dangerous.
All You Really Need To Know About Yale (22-7)
(Ivy), NCAA NET Rank: 86. East 14-seed
Yale tied Harvard for the regular season Ivy title, and then broke through with a win in the conference tournament championship to get in. It was a rocky run late in the season, but it’s a dangerous team that can crank up the offense and will get on the move all game long.
They don’t do anything from three, and they can’t hit free throws, but they’re great on the boards and they come up with a whole lot of layups and plays in transition. There’s a lot they don’t do right, but they’ll score, and they’ll keep scoring.
What’s Going To Happen
It’s a great matchup for the Tigers. Yale is dangerous on the boards, and it moves the ball around well, but LSU is the stronger rebounding team and forces plenty of takeaways. The Bulldogs will have to win on the inside, and they won’t be able to in what should be a fun shootout.
Fearless Prediction & Line
LSU 81, Yale 67
Line: LSU -8, o/u: 160.5
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ATS Confidence: 3.5
5: Watching games by Vegas pool working on fruity drink No. 3
1: Watching game online while doing TPS reports in your cubicle
