Today the SMU Mustangs will take on the Connecticut Huskies in the finals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament which will take place at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The game has a start time of 3:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have the Mustangs listed as 3 point favorites, while the total is set at 122.5. 

Analysis: The SMU Mustangs were snubbed by the NCAA committee last year and should they win this game their will be no snubbing as they will get the automatic bid to the Big Dance. SMU is 26-6 on the year and have reached the finals with wins over East Carolina and Temple. The Mustangs have been a decent offensive team this year, ranking 111th in scoring (69.7 ppg), 17th in shooting (48.3%), 81st in 3 point shooting (36.5%) and 135th in FT shooting (70.1%). The defense for this team has been very good this year, ranking 29th in points allowed (59.9 ppg), 8th in defensive FG% (38.1%) and 78th in 3 point defense (32.4%).  

The Connecticut Huskies are the defending National Champs, but they will need to win this game in order to have a chance at defending their title. They do have an advantage of having this tournament in their home arena and they do have an 81-73 win over SMU on this floor this year. UConn got to this game with wins over USF, Cincinnati and Tulsa. The Huskies have not been a good offensive team this year, ranking 248th in scoring (64.5 ppg), 131st in shooting (44.1%), 98th in 3 point shooting (36.0%) and 126th in FT shooting (70.3%). The defense for this team has been very good this year, ranking 25th in points allowed (59.7 ppg), 30th in defensive FG% (39.3%) and 129th in 3 point defense (33.3%).  

Pick:   Yes I will be going with the Under here. UConn has been a slow paced team all year and that has been even more so in this tournament as their 3 games have averaged just 104 ppg, with no more that 112 points scored on those games. UConn has played outstanding defense of late as they have allowed just 53.6 ppg in their last 5 games, including just 46.3 ppg in their 3 AAC Tournament games. SMU is also a very good defensive team and have allowed just 62.4 ppg in their last 7 games, and they will be facing a UConn offense that has really struggled to score of late. We also note tat UConn put 91 on SMU the last time the teams met here and SMU will really look to lock it down on defense in this one. This is a HUGE game for the Huskies and on their home floor I expect them to play very conservative and slow the game down, while relying on their defense to win it. 115 or less in this one.  

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Handicapping Tips: Betting Conference Tournaments
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