NCAA Tournament: Arizona State Vs. Texas Preview

Arizona State versus Texas is the marque game out of all the other 32 games in the first round of the NCAA national tournament.  Not only does it promise to be the most entertaining game of the day, but the betting lines are close and the predictions about who is going to win are all over the board.

Texas is ranked No. 7 in the nation, while Arizona State is N0. 10.  Under any other circumstances both these teams would be headed for a deep tournament run, but one of them will be forced to bow out of the tourney simply by how the chips fell when the brackets were set up.

With that said, those ranking are a bit deceiving, as both these teams do not have a lot of momentum coming into the national scene.  The Longhorns have lost in five of their last eight outing.  The Sun Devils have not fared any better.  They have lost three consecutive games.

The name that is on the tips of a lot of tongues is Arizona State’s point guard Jahii Carson.  Carson averages over 18 points a game.  Carson is a dynamic point guard and is one of the big reasons this game is going to be the most entertaining game of the first round.  Texas center Cameron Ridley is going to have his hands full with Carson.

Ridley is not pushover though.  He averages around 11 points per game and combined with Texas front court, Carson could have met his match, especially when one of the big question that Texas has been practicing to answer leading into this game is how to stop Carson.  Carson has the speed, but Texas will be trying to throw up a wall of defense for him to run into using Ridley and Johnathan Holmes.

Texas finished the season 23-10.  Good enough for fourth overall in the Big 12. Holmes averages 13.0 points per game, and freshman Isaiah Taylor’s 12.5 points per game.

It is going to be a battle between speed and size this afternoon at 7:30 p.m. ET.  The Longhorns are the slight favorites to win with a -2 point spread over at Bovada.  You can watch the game on CBS.