Stanford vs. Arizona State Pac-12 Tournament First Round Betting Analysis and Free Pick (Archive)
What promises to be a wild Pac-12 Tournament gets underway on Wednesday’s sports betting calendar in Las Vegas where the Arizona State Sun Devils meet the Stanford Cardinal to begin the 4-day, 11-game event.
Stanford Cardinal vs. Arizona State Sun Devils
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 – 03:00 PM EST at T-Mobile Arena
It was expected to be a solid year for the Pac-12 overall, and helping the conference exceed those expectations was an Arizona team that rose above all others in the league to snare some of the national spotlight and No. 1 seed in this tournament. The reward for the winner between No. 8 seed Arizona State and No. 9 Stanford will be to draw the Wildcats in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
While Arizona fared better than what the NCAA basketball futures projected prior to the start of the campaign, the Cardinal disappointed. Stanford was picked fifth by the pundits but stumbled to the finish line with losses in its last five games. The Sun Devils did a little better than expected thanks to winning seven of their last eight.
ASU, Stanford Playing for 2nd Time in 4 Days
A mid-afternoon tip on the East Coast and a lunchtime start in Sin City, the Pac-12 Network has the broadcast rights and top-rated sportsbooks have Arizona State favored by 2½-3. Both sides closed the season with strong ‘under’ tendencies, and Wednesday’s total is 127½ at most shops.
Their two regular-season matchups found the Cardinal and Sun Devils splitting home wins, with Arizona State covering both games. The Sun Devils were having a tough go at things when they traveled to Stanford in January, and the Cardinal needed free throws at the end to eke out a 79-76 decision. Stanford was favored by 5½ and blew a 15-point lead in the second half before avoiding the outright upset.
Join Now: $1,000 BMR 12-Week All Sports Challenge
It was the Cardinal’s turn to be experiencing struggles when they traveled down to Tempe this past weekend as the two sides closed out the regular season, and Arizona State proved to be a rude host with a 65-56 decision. The Sun Devils were favored by 6 and broke a 52-all tie with under six minutes remaining to close on a 13-4 run for the dubya.
Totals split in the two games with Saturday’s final at Arizona State falling short. The Sun Devils have won three of the last four meetings and covered the college basketball odds in each of the last five. The last time Stanford and Arizona State met in the Pac-12 tourney was March 2017, a 98-88 Sun Devils win in overtime, also an 8/9 seed league matchup.
Cardinal Struggle to Protect the Rock
Things started well enough for Jerod Haase and the Cardinal, at least on the Pac-12 schedule where Stanford pulled off a pair of online sports betting upsets early on against the USC Trojans. But after winning five of the first eight league tilts, Stanford withered away with only three dubyas in the final 12 conference games.
Join Now: Free March Madness Bracket Contest: $1,000 in BTC
During their current 5-game skid, the Cardinal covered just one time, and they were getting 18 in that 81-69 loss at Arizona earlier last week before closing out the regular season fixture at Arizona State. Turnovers were certainly an issue all season with the Cardinal ranking near the very bottom of the country at 339th averaging 15.6 per contest.
Sun Devils Near Bottom in 3-Point Shooting
Bobby Hurley’s bunch suffered some of the worst luck as far as the flu bug went this season. The Sun Devils managed just one game during a 26-day stretch from before Christmas into the new year and twice had trips to play UCLA canceled. That led to a 2-7 stretch before they seemed to find their footing in mid-February.
California came to Tempe last week just ahead of Stanford, and Arizona State enjoyed one of its better all-around efforts in a 71-44 romp. Favored by 7½ at Bookmaker (visit our Bookmaker Review), the Sun Devils enjoyed a wire-to-wire win as five players scored in double digits while the team shot close to 54%. Arizona State used a 22-4 run in the second half to put the game away.
The two stats that really jump out are how poorly Arizona State shoots the 3 and how sloppy Stanford can be giving the ball away. The Sun Devils managed to make just 2-of-17 from beyond the arc when they beat Stanford last weekend, thus the irony in a free college basketball pick on them covering by the margin of a 3-pointer.
NCAAB Pick: Arizona State -2½ (-110) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.