Two teams from Pennsylvania are making plans for March Madness as the Pittsburgh Panthers and Penn State Nittany Lions men’s basketball team enter play this weekend in the annual NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament.
Both teams are playing in the Midwest division, with Pittsburgh playing on Thursday and Penn State on Friday. Fans of online gambling will find the two Pennsylvania teams are underdogs for their opening round game and long shots to win the tournament.
Penn State plays Friday against a tough Texas A&M team that made the final of the SEC Championship. But for Nittany Lions fans, the club is playing their best basketball of the season.
While the Aggies are 2.5-point favorites on FanDuel, Penn State won eight of their final 10 games, including making the Big 10 tournament final where they lost by two points to Purdue.
The Aggies are known as a physical team and like to get points from the free throw line. In comparison, the Nittany Lions are one of the best three-point shooting teams in country. So, while the Aggies like to attack the rim, Penn State prefers to spread the floor and hit open shots from downtown.
For PA online sports betting fans, Penn State’s odds to make the Sweet Sixteen stand at +490, although bettors can get -750 at FanDuel if they believe the Nittany Lions won’t make it to that level. The team holds +3500 odds to win the Midwest and +15000 odds to win the entire tournament.
Friday afternoon, the Panthers will take on the 6-seed in the Midwest division, the Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones are 4.5-point favorites over Pittsburgh, with the winner getting the victor between Xavier and Kennesaw State.
For the Panthers, the key to the game is holding Iowa State’s offense in check. The Cyclones are known as a defense-first team, so the game should be low scoring. In contrast, Pittsburgh will have to find a way to score points against a stifling, swarming defense front.
PA sports betting experts have given Pittsburgh +470 odds to make the Sweet Sixteen and -700 to lose in the first two rounds of the tournament. The Panthers are +3100, slightly better than Penn State, to win the Midwest division.
However, FanDuel has given the Panthers +27000 odds to take the NCAA crown.
Derek Blake is a freelance writer that has covered the expansion of legal sports betting in America and the regional casino business for several well-known industry websites. During his writing career, he has written profiles on dozens of athletes and focused on the collision of sports and politics.
