Sweet 16 Power Poll - West Region Breakdown

Much like the East and South Regions, the chalk survived the first weekend in the West and this is how it matches-up against one another in terms of the sports betting pointspread heading into the Sweet 16.

1) Memphis Tigers (33-3 SU, 23-12 ATS, 2-0 ATS in NCAA Tournament) With six minutes to go in their opening round game with Cal-State Northridge, the Tigers were trailing by six points. That was when Head Coach John Calipari finally got through to his boys. It’s time to wake up or go home. From that point on, Memphis outscored the Matadors by 17 points to advance to Round 2. Oh, and memo to Greivis Vasquez: Don’t tug on Superman’s cape. Vasquez said that the Tigers wouldn’t be a .500 team in the ACC. Not only did the Tigers beat his Terps… they pummeled them into submission. An 89-70 win over Maryland could’ve been significantly worse. Without a doubt, Memphis has the talent of a #1 seed and has shown it in spurts in this tournament. The problem is that the Tigers just mentally check out for long stretches during games. One lousy five-minute lapse against Mizzou could spell the end of their season.

Up Next: Missouri (-4.5)

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2) Missouri Tigers (30-6 SU, 19-10 ATS, 2-0 ATS in NCAA Tournament) The Tigers have now rolled off five straight covers after a pair of victories against the CBB betting line last week at BetUS. They looked shaky in the first half against Cornell and in the second half against Marquette, but for the forty minutes in between, they outscored their opponents by a whopping margin of 95-69. The “forty minutes of hell” defense may be just what the doctor ordered to take out a Memphis team that is known to have mental lapses. At this point, the battle of the Tigers may be the toughest game to handicap in the entire tournament. Five different Tigers have averaged scoring in double-digits in this tournament.

Up Next: Memphis (+4.5)

3) Connecticut Huskies (29-4 SU, 13-14 ATS, 2-0 ATS in NCAA Tournament) Many sports betting fans questioned whether the Huskies were deserving of a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament to the point where they weren’t even the decisive favorites to win their own bracket like all the other #1’s were. Head Coach Jim Calhoun’s squad has done absolutely nothing wrong so far, demolishing both Tennessee-Chattanooga and Texas A&M by a combined score of 195-113. The scariest thing about the 92-66 win over the Aggies is that superstar C Hasheem Thabeet only scored six points and hauled down just four rebounds. Everyone knows that the best from Thabeet has yet to be seen, which could be frightening for the rest of the teams in this bracket. AJ Price has been fantastic in this tournament, converting 15-of-31 shots from the field for 47 points to go along with 11 boards and 11 assists. The Huskies are shooting a blistering 55.1% from the field as a team, which is almost eight percentage points higher than they averaged for the season.

Up Next: Purdue (-6.5)