The Wisconsin Badgers will face the Montana Grizzlies in the East Region on Thursday in the first round of March Madness. The tip-off for this game will be at 12:30 p.m. CT in Denver, Colorado and the game will be televised on TNT.
The winner of this game will either face the #6 BYU Cougars or the #11 VCU Rams in the next round. The Badgers are looking to avoid a major upset in this game against the Grizzlies. Wisconsin can’t afford to have a letdown game against Montana.
CBS Sports Thinks that the Wisconsin Badgers and the Montana Grizzlies Game Will Hit the Over On the Points Total
With the madness beginning on Thursday, there are many people who will want to bet on all 16 games being played on Thursday. The over/under for the Wisconsin and Montana game is 151.5 total points. The Badgers scored to struggle in the BIG10 Championship game against the Michigan Wolverines, but there is a chance that Wisconsin can get going offensively against the Grizzlies.
CBS Sports writer Chip Patterson thinks that it would be a good bet in this game for the over 151.5 total points to reach. Patterson said,
“One line of thinking might be to expect a slow start and lower scoring in the early tip out of Denver, but that would ignore the type of teams involved and how they match up against each other. Wisconsin should be able pick its number against a Montana team that was already middling defensively in Big Sky play and faces a big jump up in competition against this new edition of the Badgers. Since Montana’s best chance to spring an upset is to try and get its offense going — something that’s very possible as the Grizzlies have a couple of strong shooters that can space the floor — I think we see a higher scoring affair. The over cashed at a 61% rate in road or neutral situations for both teams this year, and I think we get another here on Thursday.”
If Wisconsin is going to tally a bunch of points on the scoreboard on Thursday, they are going to have to hit their three-point shots and they are going to have to get John Tonje going early. Wisconsin will need at least four players to score double figures to get the job done. Watch for John Blackwell, Max Klesmit, and Nolan Winter to also have big games against Montana for Greg Gard’s team.
