NCAA Tournament Odds: Florida vs. BYU

You might be hearing a lot about BYU's Jimmer Fredette soon. (AP Images)

The University of Florida is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since finishing off back-to-back titles in 2007, so the Gators actually enter the Big Dance with a better winning streak in the NCAAs than anyone: 12 straight. However, UF’s stay might be one-and-done as it is a 5-point underdog to BYU on Bodog’s college basketball odds for Thursday’s West Region game in Oklahoma City.

No. 7 seed BYU (29-5, 18-13 ATS) was one of the undervalued teams in the country all year, and its conference (the Mountain West) got more bids to the NCAA Tournament than power leagues like the SEC and Pac-10. The Cougars have one of the best players in the country that you may not have heard of in junior guard Jimmer Fredette, who dropped 49 on Arizona earlier this year to set a BYU school record and a record for any player in the Wildcats’ McKale Center. He added 45 points in a first-round MWC Tournament game win over TCU before being held to “only” 30 in the Cougars’ semifinal loss to UNLV. That was his seventh 30-plus game of the year; there is always one breakout star in every NCAA Tournament and Fredette – who is 12th in the nation in scoring at 21.7 ppg -- is a candidate to be the guy in 2010. Meanwhile, Cougars freshman guard Tyler Haws, third on the team in scoring, will play Thursday despite fracturing an orbital bone in last Friday's MWC semifinal game against TCU.

Tenth-seeded Florida (21-12, 15-13 ATS), which barely snuck in with one of   the final at-large bids, doesn’t have one dominant scoring guy but five averaging in double figures, led by freshman guard Kenny Boynton’s 13.6 ppg. One problem for UF is that it is not good at defending the three-pointer (allowing opponents to hit 35-for-71 in its past four losses), while BYU is an excellent three-point shooting team at better than 41 percent.

When making your college basketball bet on this one, know that BYU has lost eight consecutive NCAA Tournament games, which dates to 1993. The Cougars haven’t advanced past the Round of 32 since way back in 1981. The winner of this game faces the Kansas State/North Texas winner on Saturday.

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