The No. 5 seed Wisconsin Badgers opened as a significant 12.5-point favorite over the No. 12 seed High Point Panthers when betting lines were initially revealed for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The margin was the highest of all the four No. 5 seeds, speaking to Wisconsin’s standing after a hot finish to the season.
However, that spread quickly dipped to 9.5 points shortly after the betting lines were revealed, with money quickly coming in on High Point to cover the spread. The Panthers
are one of the higher-scoring offenses in the country, averaging 90.0 points a contest, so it wasn’t a surprise that the over/under opened up at 166.5, despite that generally being quite a high number,
Now, with gameday finally here, we’ve seen sharp money start to trickle more on Wisconsin, with the spread jumping up to 10.5 points and the over/under now sitting at 162.5 points. According to betting analyst Kyle Eve, the Panthers have received 65 percent of the money on the spread so far, even though the total number of bets on the spread are fairly even both ways.
Wisconsin and High Point’s matchup was one of the biggest movers of the weekend, with the other movement primarily coming from top two and top three seeds seeing the spreads continue to increase.
At 10.5 points, the Badgers still have the second-highest spread of the group, as St. John’s is a 9.5-point favorite against Northern Illinois. Additionally, Texas Tech is only a 7.5-point favorite against Akron. Only Vanderbilt trumps the Badgers as a favorite, as they are seen as 12.5-point favorites over McNeese.
Of course, everything will be settled on the hardwood, with the Badgers taking on High Point in the first round on Thursday, with tip-off set for 12:50 p.m. CT. Can Wisconsin get it done AND in a comfortably manner? Join us and share your thoughts in the comments below!
