College basketball's regular season wraps up this weekend and one of the most exciting matchups is Arizona vs. Kansas. The Wildcats are ranked 24th in the country and are coming off a nice 13-point win over their in-state rival Arizona State. The Jayhawks are reeling after back-to-back losses to Texas Tech and Houston.
Get our best bet for this Big 12 battle on March 8th below! Enjoy your weekend, fellow sports investors. Let's put our Saturday plays in the win column. We'll see you back on Monday!
Most online sportsbooks opened this point spread at Kansas -2.5 on the lookahead line yesterday. That was a little bit shocking to most people, especially since Kansas has been struggling lately and they're not even ranked. Are the books overestimating the Jayhawks home court edge?
The total has been pretty nuts, to say the least. The line opened at 151.5 at FanDuel and 150.5 at DraftKings. It's not very often that we see two of the largest US sportsbooks disagree by a full point.
The Wildcats have had one of the top offenses in the nation the entire season, as they rank 15th in points scored and 8th in total rebounding. Caleb Love leads Arizona in points and is 2nd in assists. Kansas's defense will need to focus on stopping Love to pull out the W.
Arizona's defense has been far from stellar this season. The Wildcats rank just 153rd in points allowed and 126th at defending 3-pointers. Luckily for Arizona, Kansas has struggled to hit shots from downtown all year.
Arizona is known for starting out games with hot shooting. They rank 8th in the nation in first half scoring, so Kansas's defense will have to be ready to roll from the jump. The Wildcats also do well on the offensive glass, so the Jayhawks better be ready to box some guys out.
Kansas has lost three of their last five outings and they continue to struggle on the offensive end at times. The Jayhawks lost by 6 at Houston and by 5 at home against Texas Tech. However, both of those are Top 10 teams, so don't go thinking that the sky is falling in Lawrence.
As expected, Kansas's offense lives and dies with veteran center Hunter Dickinson. The former Michigan standout leads the team in both points (16.9) and rebounds (9.9). It'll be interesting to see how Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar hold up against Dickinson in this contest.
I think this is a great time to buy the Jayhawks at a low point. No, they've not lived up to expectations this season, but this is still a very talented basketball team. Lawrence is also still a very tough place to play, as KenPom rates Kansas's home court edge 12th in the country.
This is also Senior Day for Kansas, so I expect some extra effort out of guys like Zeke Mayo, KJ Adams, Dajuan Harris, and the aforementioned Dickinson. This veteran group of players will want to end on a high note at home.
Lastly, we have to ask ourselves why an unranked Kansas is favored over No. 24 Arizona. This is the kind of spot that favors the unranked team, especially when they're at home. I'll call for the Jayhawks to get the win and the cover on Saturday afternoon. Best of luck this weekend!
Kansas is 13-3 straight up at home this season.
Arizona is just 3-3 straight as an underdog this season.
Kansas is 4-2 ATS with a rest advantage.
Final Score Prediction: Kansas 76 - Arizona 70