Tonight the Hampton Pirates will do battle with the Kentucky Wildcats at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. The game has a start time of 9:40 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Current Vegas betting odds have the Wildcats listed as 34 point favorites, while the total is set at 134. 

Analysis: The Kentucky Wildcats come in as the top seeded team in the Big Dance and the last team left without a blemish on their record. Kentucky is 34-0 on the year and were the regular season and tournament winners in the SEC this year. This will be Kentucky's 55th trip to the NCAA Tournament and they will be going for their 9th National Title. Kentucky has gone 12-2-3 ATS in their last 17 neutral site games and 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 NCAA Tournament games. The Cats have been a very good offensive team this year, ranking 29th in scoring (74.9 ppg), 40th in shooting (46.9%), 146th in 3 point shooting (35.0%) and 71st in FT shooting (72.2%). The defense for this team has been very good as they come in ranked, 3rd in points allowed (54.0 ppg), 1st in defensive FG% (35.4%) and 3rd in 3 point defense (27.4%).

The Hampton Pirates made it into the NCAA Tournament with a 16-17 record, thanks to winning the MEAC Tournament. So far they have made it count as they pulled a shocker in their first game by beating Manhattan 74-64. This is not a team that point spreads get posted on a whole lot, but it is interesting to note that they have now gone 8-0 ATS this year. The Pirates are also 6-0 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record and 13-5 ATS in their last 17 non-conference games. The Pirates have been an average offensive team this year, ranking 177th in scoring (67.4 ppg), 292nd in shooting (41.0%), 314th in 3 point shooting (30.5%) and 316th in FT shooting (64.8%). The defense for this team has not been so good this year, ranking 218th in points allowed (67.9 ppg), 92nd in defensive FG% (41.2%) and 170th in 3 point defense (34.0%).    

Pick:  I will be going with the Under in this one. The Cants can name their score here on offense, but I feel that once they get up big they will back off some and let their awesome defense take over. That defense has allowed just 54 ppg on the year and I don't see the Pirates hitting that number, especially with their leading scorer still out. The will not waste energy if they don't have to and once they are up big hey won't have to. I see an 80-46 final here.  

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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.