NCAA Tournament Betting - Can Texas Tech Send Coach K Into Retirement?
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- Category: NCAA Basketball
- Created: Thursday, 24 March 2022 22:07
Those who thought the Texas Tech Red Raiders were going to take a big dip this season after the departure of coach Chris Beard have been surprised. The Red Raiders, who advanced to the championship game against Virginia three years ago, are on the precipice of moving into the Elite Eight. And on Thursday night they can do that as they take on the Duke Blue Devils at the Chase Center in San Francisco. BetAnySports customers can see this game at 9:39 PM ET on CBS.
And they can place wagers in real-time through the facilities of Premier Lines, Ultimate Lines and Super Lines.
Mark Adams was Beard's assistant and was elevated to the top job when Beard too off for the University of Texas. He was one of the people responsible for developing the defensive scheme that handcuffs opponents. But he had to bring together a number of players who came in by transfer and meld them into a defensive unit.And Adams has been successful at it, to say the least. The Red Raiders are currently ranked #1 in the nation in the metric of Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, as per the respected KenPom site.
It looked like things were a bit bumpy for Texas Tech at the outset of the season, but they wound up posting a number of significant wins, beating the likes of Tennessee, Kansas, Baylor, Texas, TCU and Iowa State, among others. In the Big 12 tournament, they lost to Kansas, but they have beaten Montana State, and then Notre Dame, in this NCAA Tournament.
According to SportsBettingSolutionAsia.com, they held the Irish to 32.7% shooting in the 59-53 victory. They are perfectly willing to grind these things out; that's for sure.
In the NCAA Tournament betting odds that have been posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, it's a pick'em game:
March Madness Betting Odds
Texas Tech Red Raiders pick
Duke Blue Devils pick
Over 136.5 Points -110
Under 136.5 Points -110
Remember also that you can get reduced juice on this game!
Duke has knocked off some mighty teams themselves, among them Gonzaga, and of course there is the theme of coach Mike Krzyzewski's farewell tour. They allowed eleven triples against Michigan State in the Round of 32, with five double-digit scorers, including fabulous freshman Paolo Banchero, who had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Banchero was a plum recruit this season, and he's going to go into the NBA Draft as one of the top picks.
Duke is very strong when working the inside - they are 56.1% shooting two-pointers, which is ninth best in the nation - but they also shoot 37% from beyond the arc. But that's not their bread and butter. And Texas Tech's defense is designed to take action away from the middle.They allow just 44% from two-point range.
Clearly Duke has enough talent to get the job done here. But at the same time, the Red Raiders have demonstrated this season, between the returnees and the transfer standouts such as former Oral Roberts star Kevin Obanor and ex-UTEP big man Bryson Williams (15.1 ppg), that their system works.
And you can't ignore the proposition that experience is a factor. Duke ranks 346th in the nation in average service time on the roster, and there three freshman in the rotation. By contrast, Texas Tech has a lot of veteran leadership on its side, with an average of almost 2-1/2 years of experience per man.
According to preferred sportsbooks, they've got enough to get this done, and send Coach K away without ceremony.
And you can get it done at BetAnySports during March Madness, and when you can get reduced juice, as well as real-time wagering through a number of different outlets, there's a lot to work with......... Make your deposits with a credit card, or the digital currency of Bitcoin, for which you will never incur a transaction fee!
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