Gonzaga vs. Southern
Time: 4:10 PM ET, Mar 21, 2013
Spread: GON -22.5
Total: 128
Betting Odds from Bookmaker
Gonzaga is 31-2 on the season and went a perfect 16-0 in their soft WCC schedule. Their two losses came on Dec 8, 2012 against then-No. 13 Illinois and on January 19 against then-No. 13 Butler. Both the Fighting Illini and Butler Bulldogs are in the tournament of course, but both opponents are in the East conference.
The Bulldogs closed the season on a 14-game win streak that featured no victories over tough opponents. It’s not that their opponent No. 16 seeded Southern will give them much of a problem, but a potential matchup against either Pitt or Wichita State will test the Zags a lot more than this rounds quasi-bye game.
The Zags converted a high percentage of their field goal attempts, shooting better than 50 percent and ranking No. 3 in the nation. The hot shooting enabled them to rank No. 7 in the country in scoring, averaging 77.6 points per game.
They’re led by Kelly Olynyk’s 17.5 points per game, and Olynyk also ranks second on the team in rebounding with 7.2 rebounds per game. The seven-foot junior had just four double-doubles on the season, but Gonzaga won all four games. Olynyk was a near non-factor last year as a sophomore, when he saw just 13.5 minutes per night and averaged just over five points per game.
Southern finished the season 23-9 with a 15-3 record in the SWAC, which they won to get into the tournament. They closed the season with three straight wins as they won the SWAC, and the closing 45-44 victory over 15-19 Prairie View illustrates the ultimate weakness of the team. In a game they won, they shot just 33 percent from the floor, and outside of Derick Beltran, the starters shot 7-of-23 from the floor.
If the Zags can control Beltran and Malcolm Miller, who combine to average 31.7 points per game, they’ll be eliminating over half of the Jaguars’ offense, which should make this the easy victory predicted by college basketball oddsmakers, who set the line 22.5 points in favor of the West’s top seed.
