Syracuse (23-11)
PK, o/u 128
vs. Texas A&M (21-8), 9:30 p.m. Eastern
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
The Syracuse Orangemen look to continue their late-season run of good fortune when they take on the Texas A&M Aggies Thursday in an NCAA tournament first-round game in Jacksonville.
Syracuse, a #5 seed, stumbled its way through the Big East regular season, going 7-9 and tying for ninth place. But then the Orange made a surprising run through the conference tournament, beating Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown and Pittsburgh on consecutive nights to earn a spot in the Big Dance.
Texas A&M, the 12 seed, went 10-6 in the Big 12, good for fourth place. The Aggies 74-70 loss to Texas in the conference tournament semis broke an eight-game winning streak.
Syracuse fell in the first round of last season’s NCAA tournament to Vermont.
Texas A&M hasn’t played in the NCAA tourney since 1987.
The Orange are 14-17 against the spread this season, while the Aggies are 12-10 ats and have covered six games in a row.
Syracuse played one Big 12 opponent this season, beating Texas Tech by 35 points in November. Texas A&M swept two games from the Red Raiders this season by eight and 16 points.
Six of the Orange’s 11 losses this year came to Top 10 teams. But half of those losses were of the blow-out variety. On the other end, A&M won 10 games this season by five points or less.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well this season, even from the free-throw line (Texas A&M 68%, Syracuse 64%). But both teams held their opponents to less that 41% shooting from the field. And while Syracuse owns a +2.6 rebounds per game margin, A&M was outrebounded by 1.9 per game.
In the latest RPI at NCAAsports.com, Syracuse is ranked 17th, Texas A&M 44th. In the Sagarin PREDICTOR rankings at usatoday.com, the Orange is 45th at 83.0, the Aggies 47th at 82.8. The Sagarin conference rankings have the Big East #1 out of 31 Division 1 conferences, the Big 12 #5.
The over is a collective 27-27 in Syracuse and Texas A&M games this season.
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The Ultimatecapper Pick: This is a tough game. We'd say take Texas A&M normally, but Syracuse has been red hot pummeling some very good teams. It's a coin flip, no recommendation from us other than grab some frosties and a bowl of doritos and enjoy the game!
