Kentucky Meets Kansas in Early Season NCAA Basketball Showdown
The NCAA 2014-15 basketball season is just getting under way. Tonight from Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana the No. 1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats will take on the No. 5 ranked Kansas Jayhawks in an early season showdown between two heavyweights.
Kansas is 1-0 in the early going, while Kentucky is off to a 2-0 start.
The current line has Kentucky favored by 5.5 points. No point total has been released yet.
The two teams have storied histories with the most combined wins of 4,269 and 30 visits to the final four. The two played for the national championship in 2012 with Kentucky winning.
Both teams have legitimate shots at winning the national title this season. The two teams have 13 All Americans between them on their current rosters.
On Saturday, Kentucky’s 9 All Americans defeated Buffalo by 19 points but were trailing at halftime by 5 points. Kentucky coach John Calipari said his team would be crushed against Kansas if they played as they did during the first half against Buffalo.
Bill Self the head coach for Kansas was also not too happy with his team’s performance in their opening game 10-point win versus UC Santa Barbara.
He said his Jayhawks had to be tough in their rotation rebounding or Kentucky will dominate them.
Devonte Graham the freshman guard for Kansas led the team in scoring off the bench with 14 points in their opening game.
Perry Ellis who is a stabilizing factor for the team in the middle had 13 points and 10 boards.
Kentucky has had great scoring balance in its two games. Nine players are averaging between 5 and 13 points. Trey Lyles is averaging a team high 13 points. Dakari Johnson and Willie Cauley-Stein Kentucky’s two centers have combined to average 18.5 points, 20 boards and 5 blocks in two games.
The Wildcats were the preseason No. 1 and on Monday were voted No. 1 again following the first weekend of regular season play.
Kentucky has 9 All-Americans and 12 players who could start for any other school in the country. Calipari is experimenting with a platoon system so each of his first 10 to 12 players can contribute to the success of the team.
Kentucky is 40-0 under the tutelage of Calipari when holding their opponent to under 55 points.
Kentucky is 21-6 in the all time series versus Kansas although the Jayhawks are 3-2 over the past 5.
The favorite has cashed in each of the past 4 games between the two.
The UNDER has cashed in 4 of the past 5 games between the two.
Pick: Often times teams that are talented like Kentucky play poorly against less talented teams, but well against teams that are closely matched with them. That will be the case tonight. Kentucky will show the NCAA basketball world why they are No. 1. Kentucky 75-53.
