BYU Cougars vs. Kansas State Wildcats Betting Odds

Opening Line: Kansas State -4.5 / BYU +4.5 O/U 154.5

Time: 8:10 PM EST Saturday March 20, 2010 on CBS

Tonight in a West Region 2nd round match up the 7th seed BYU Cougars take on the 2nd seed Kansas State Wildcats. Thursday was a day of upsets and Friday the favorites restored order so what will Saturday hold? The Cougars are hoping for an upset against a Kansas State squad that many are picking as a Final 4 team.

This season Kansas State is 19-9-1 ATS and BYU is 19-13 ATS.

BYU played a thriller in the 1st round beating Florida 99-92 in OT while Kansas State had an easier time in their 1st round beating North Texas 82-62.

Both teams are decent at defense, but each is stellar on offense, as BYU is one of the highest scoring teams in the nation averaging 83 ppg and Kansas State is averaging 79.6 ppg.

BYU is led by their backcourt with 3 guards averaging in double figures led by scoring machine Jimmer Fredette (22.1 ppg), who had 37 points in the opening round win over Florida. Kansas State must play good perimeter defense and not allow the Cougars' guards, especially Fredette, to get open looks from deep.

BYU forced Florida into 21 turnovers so Kansas State has to handle the rock in this game.

While BYU is all about their backcourt Kansas State has a more well-balanced offense with 2 guards and 2 forwards averaging in double figures led by G Jacob Pullen (18.8 ppg). The Wildcats have the advantage in the frontcourt so of they slow down the tempo of the game and feed it inside to Jamar Samuels (11.6 ppg) and Curtis Kelly (11.2 ppg) they will be in good shape.

If Kansas State can duplicate their performance against BYU that they had in the 1st round they will be sitting pretty. In their opening game against North Texas Kansas State shot over 50% from the floor and they held North Texas to a FG% of only 26.9%.

BYU has to rebound well as a team, as they only have one player that is averaging 5 rpg while Kansas State has 3 frontcourt players that are averaging at least 5 rpg.

Kansas State is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games, 10-1-1 ATS in their last 12 games as a favorite of 0.5-6.5, and has an Under record of 6-2 in Wildcats last 8 games against team with a winning percentage above 60%.

BYU is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 non-conference games, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games, and has an Over record of 5-0 in their last 5 non-conference games.