Today the Georgia State Panthers will take on the Baylor Bears at Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament . The game has a start time of 1:40 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TBS. Current Vegas betting odds have the Bears listed as 9 point favorites, while the total is set at 127. 

Analysis: The Georgia State Panthers were the best team in the Sun Belt Conference all year and proved it by winning both the regular season title and the Conference Tournament Title.  The Panthers have gone 24-9 overall for the year and will be making just their 3rd ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. Georgia State has gone 9-3 ATS in their last 12 Thursday games, but just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games. The Panthers have been a very good offensive squad this year, ranking 64th in scoring (72.0 ppg), 17th in shooting (48.1%), 220th in 3 point shooting (33.3%) and 49th in FT shooting (72.8%). The defense for this team has been very good as well, ranking 63rd in points allowed (62.2 ppg), 9th in defensive FG% (38.1%) and 73rd in 3 point defense (32.2%).  

The Baylor Bears come in having won 6 of their last 8 games, but one of their losses was by 10 points to Kansas in the Semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Still, at 24-9 overall for the year, the Bears did enough to put themselves in the NCAA Tournament. This will be the Bears 9th trip to the Big Dance and they have been to 2 Final Fours in their history, but have yet to win it all. Baylor has gone 9-3-1 ATS in their last 13 games following a ATS loss and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 non-conference games. The Bears have been a decent offensive team this year, ranking 113th in scoring (69.5 ppg), 188th in shooting (43.4%), 53rd in 3 point shooting (37.7%) and 253rd in FT shooting (67.0%). Defensively the Bears have been very good as they come in ranked 37th in points allowed (60.3 ppg), 61st in defensive FG% (40.2%) and 16th in 3 point defense (30.0%).      

Pick:  The Panthers had a very good year in the Sun Belt, but they are stepping up big time in class and will take on a Baylor squad that was very hot down the stretch and is just too big a team for this Panthers squad to handle inside and once the Bears get tat inside game going then te threes will start dropping. Georgia State has played good defense this year, but this is much better offense than they have faced in Sun Belt competition. I look for at least a 10 point win by the Bears. 

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Handicapping Tips: NCAA Tournament Round 1
Steve Fezzik and Teddy Covers from Pregame.com give some insight and tips on handicapping the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.