David Banks
Kentucky Wildcats vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Super Tuesday closes out with a SEC battle as the newly crowned #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats (19-1, 4-14-1 ATS) head to Athens to take on a Georgia Bulldogs (10-9, 7-8 ATS) outfit badly in need of pulling an upset like this to improve its March Madness resume; ESPN’s live coverage from Stegeman Coliseum is slated for 9:00 ET.
One of the most overvalued teams in college basketball history is set to hit the road for two games this week starting in Atlanta before making the trek to Baton Rouge to battle LSU. Even though Head Coach John Calipari’s kids have fallen just once in the 20 times they’ve taken to the hardwood this season, the Wildcats have been extreme moneyburners for their betting backers managing just a 4-14-1 ATS mark in their 19 lined games. Regardless of the fact that it currently can’t cover a closing number to save its life, Kentucky just continues to win and did so once again last Saturday when it pulled out the 77-71 home win and non-cover over the Alabama Crimson Tide. The win improved them to a perfect 14-0 as hosts, but now they have to hit the road where they dropped their only game of the season in heartbreaking fashion to the Indiana Hoosiers. As it is, the Wildcats stand 5-1 SU & 2-4 ATS in their six road/neutral court battles.
Save for pulling out a 57-53 overtime win at home against the schizophrenic Tennessee Volunteers, the Bulldogs have come up short in each of their other four SEC confrontations against Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt, and most recently Mississippi at home as 2.5-point favorites. The defeat dropped Head Coach Mark Fox’s squad to 1-4 SU in the SEC as well as 8-4 SU & 3-5 ATS as a host. The main problem the Dawgs possess comes at the offensive end of the court where they rank amongst the worst college basketball has to offer in a number of offensive categories. Thankfully, the team can clamp it down defensively (#84 at 63.2 PPG) which has allowed this scrappy team to churn out a 4-5 mark against the closing pointspread when dogged.
These teams split their two meetings a year ago with Georgia upsetting the Wildcats 77-70 as five-point Athens underdogs in the first round, but Kentucky countered with a 66-60 win and non-cover in the second go round (-10). KY has gone 5-2 ATS the L/7 times it paid a visit to the Peach State, and the road team has gone a moneymaking 8-1 ATS in these teams L/9 overall clashes; the ‘over’ has cashed in four of the L/5 meetings. Kentucky has failed to cover each of its L/4 away from Rupp Arena, while the Bulldogs check in a rock solid 24-8 ATS the L/32 times they played off an outright defeat.
PICK: OVER
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