Cincinnati Syracuse Betting – Bearcats Try To Climb The Ladder In Big East Play
The Cincinnati Bearcats have just one loss at this point of the season, yet they’re being doubted left and right. They can change all that with a win at Syracuse this weekend.
NCAA basketball betting: Cincinnati Bearcats @ Syracuse Orange
Online Betting Odds: No line
Why To Bet On Cincinnati
It’s possible that Cincinnati could win only because Syracuse is not playing particularly well at the moment. Syracuse hit just one of seven shots from three-point range in the first half of last Saturday’s game at Seton Hall and nailed just seven of 23 shots overall. Improbably yet undeniably, the Orange found themselves in a virtually even game at the intermission, holding a 20-19 lead at halftime. Yes, that’s how horrible that game was in the first half. Seton Hall really stunk up the joint against Syracuse. In the first 20 minutes, the Pirates – perhaps trying too hard to knock off the unbeaten Orange – fired one blank after another. Seton Hall hit just eight of 35 shots in the first 20 minutes of that tilt, and coach Kevin Willard’s SHU crew managed a bagel, an 0-for-17 embarrassment, from three-point range. The unranked and unremarkable Pirates, playing in their home building and blessed with a familiar shooting environment, should have benefited from the favorable depth perception provided by their own house. Instead, Seton Hall couldn’t hit the side of a barn. Naturally, Syracuse should have been able to turn that miserable Pirate performance into a huge advantage; a (then-) 15-0 team with a No. 4 ranking should have crushed an adversary that hit only eight shots in 20 minutes. Nope. Syracuse led by just one point.
If Syracuse can play that poorly against Seton Hall – a team Cincinnati drilled earlier this season – the Bearcats can certainly walk into upstate New York and pull off the upset.
Why To Bet On Syracuse
The best reason to pick Syracuse is that Cincinnati really isn’t a tested team. The Bearcats didn’t lose their first game of the season until this past Sunday at Villanova, but coach Mick Cronin’s UC squad didn’t build an unbeaten mark through the months of November and December by playing challenging teams. In past years, Dayton would have been a really tough team, but the Dayton team Cincinnati beat this season is not doing very well at all. Cincinnati’s best win comes over a Xavier squad that is also playing far below the level it has normally established over the past decade in the world of college basketball. Villanova had little trouble dismissing Cincinnati this past Sunday in Philadelphia. For a Cincinnati team that has not made the NCAA Tournament since it moved from Conference USA to the Big East in the 2005-2006 season, the facts of life are simple: The Bearcats need to prove their worth in the Big East before deserving the benefit of the doubt.
How The Game Will Play Out
Syracuse might be struggling, but Cincinnati isn’t very good. Unless or until the Bearcats show that they really are made of sterner stuff and have the chops to be an NCAA Tournament team, they don’t deserve to be picked on the road against coach Jim Boeheim and the Orange. Syracuse should win.
Cincinnati Syracuse Betting Pick: Syracuse
