Will Wisconsin cover as underdog vs. Villanova? NCAA Predictions 3/18/17

Not one of them is in the least embarrassed about being a senior, despite the common perception that the elite players stay in college only a year or two.

The No. 8 seed in the East Region, Wisconsin will face ninth-seeded Virginia Tech late Thursday night in an East Region first-round game at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. The victor will advance to likely face reigning national champion and No. 1 overall seed Villanova. While the Wildcats simply followed script as a No. 1 seed dispatching a No. 16, the win mirrored a January victory over Virginia – a game that stands as proof-positive that Villanova keeps coming for an entire game, no matter how slow the start. The first-half hiccup against Mount St. Mary’s aside, Villanova is clicking on both sides of the ball.

“He came in as a high school scoring phenom like they all do, so I’m really proud of how he has opened up his game defensively”, Jay Wright said. And sometimes I think that a poor first-round performance can serve as a bit of a wake-up call for teams in the tourney. We take pride in it. We’ve got to focus on Wisconsin, so whatever happened, happened. If the Badgers lead down the stretch, don’t expect the pressure of pulling off the upset will be too much. We change up defenses more. “Just watching them, how physical they are, how they do a great job of playing a team-oriented defense”. “It’s different styles, it really is”. In the previous eight games, UW shot 75 percent, 66.7 percent, 54.5 percent, 37.5 percent, 35.7 percent, 52.0, percent, 66.7 percent and 56.8 percent. The Badgers took a lead midway through the first half and never trailed from there, responding each time the Hokies pulled close. The Wisconsin Badgers are averaging 72.3 points on 45.2 percent shooting and allowing 61.8 points on 41.1 percent shooting.

ONE AND DONE: This will only be the second meeting between Villanova and Wisconsin, who squared off in the 1996 Maui Invitational. Bronson Koenig put the Badgers on his back and carried them to a 84-74 victory. “Defensively they’re very impressive”. Numerous key contributors from that Wisconsin team, like Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig, lead a similarly upset-minded 2017 Badger group into Saturday’s East Region showdown. They also were ferocious on the offensive boards, grabbing 17 rebounds there.

“Very risky”, Villanova guard Josh Hart said in describing the big boys from the Big Ten. I actually think Wisconsin’s bigger, even bigger, than Butler, so probably even tougher. When you’re a great shooter, you don’t worry about slumps. “You see how well-balanced they are”. “It’s going to be a challenge”. The Wisconsin Badgers have won four of their last five games on neutral sites. He just made some great athletic plays.

“My theory, you have to beat everybody anyway to win the whole thing”. Despite the injury visibly hindering him, Allen adjusted his game, dishing 6 assists to go with 10 points. They are 5-3 in the eight contests in which they’ve shot less than 44 percent.

Wright looks for a low-scoring game, although he admits, “I wish it wouldn’t be that way”. “You still have game left to play and even if another team goes on a run or you get down on that again, there’s more time left”. “Because they have multiple guys who can do multiple things, so we just gotta go out there and play team defense”.