NIT Championship Betting Preview
Lipscomb vs. Texas (ESPN, 7:00 p.m. ET)
Two programs who found themselves on the wrong end of the NCAA Tournament bubble have managed to put that disappointment aside to reach the title game of the NIT Tournament on Thursday night and it should be an intriguing matchup.
Lipscomb was probably never going to get an at-large bid coming out of the Atlantic Sun after losing that tournament's title game to Liberty. However, if you were to ask the guys on Lipscomb now would they prefer a chance at some NIT hardware over what would have likely been a one or two-game run in the NCAA Tournament, a few of them would be hard-pressed not to take the opportunity they've got in front of them on Thursday night.
Texas stumbled in the latter half of their Big 12 slate to essentially play themselves out of NCAA Tournament consideration, but getting someone like Kerwin Roach reinstated for post-season basketball has helped this team forget about that rough stretch. The Longhorns were able to knock off hated rival TCU for the first time in three tries to get to this NIT championship, and they come into this meeting with mid-major Lipscomb as a slight favorite.
With the sights, sounds, and nerves of playing at MSG gone out the window for both teams after their semi-final wins, which program gets to add some hardware to their trophy case on campus this year?
Odds: Texas (-1.5); Total set at 143
Right off the bat, bettors following the market will see that the 'under' in this game got hit pretty hard upon opening in the high 140's here at BetOnline.ag, but it's settled around in at 143 since then. Title games in any sport tend to get 'under' love regardless, so I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in such a significant move, but it's one to make note of for sure if you are considering a play on either side of this total. That's not something I'm interested in here though, as it's the side (and outright winner) I'm looking to back.
Texas is going to get some love here given they are the more known program in this spot and have dealt with better competition all year long, but I don't believe they should be the ones laying points here. Yes, it's been on the strength of the Longhorns defensive play that has gotten them here ? holding Colorado to 55 points and TCU to 44 points the last two rounds was impressive ? but for as solid as those results were, the Buffaloes and Horned Frogs were 124th and 128th in the country in offensive efficiency.
Enter Lipscomb, who ranks 32nd in the nation in that regard, scoring 83.6 points per game on the year, and have reached this point having played all of their NIT games either on the road or at a neutral site. And even still, Lipscomb has averaged 14.25 points more per game in the NIT than Texas has (85 vs 70.75) and the Longhorns have actually played a full five more minutes as well. Sometimes it's as simple as you need more points than the other team to win games, and in that respect, it's hard not to like Lipscomb's chances here.
Half of the Longhorns losses this year (8 of 16) have come when they closed as a favorite of any number this year, and there are some contests with them laying significant chalk as well. A 2-5 ATS run coming into this game isn't confidence building either, and with the overall youth this Longhorns team has in general, a championship game of any kind may still be too big of a moment for these guys.
Lipscomb has made a point during this NIT run that the level of play in these smaller mid-major conferences is improving every year, and having already taken out on Power 5 conference bubble team in NC State on this NIT run, the Bison get their first Division I basketball championship in school history on Thursday night.
Lipscomb vs. Texas (ESPN, 7:00 p.m. ET)
Two programs who found themselves on the wrong end of the NCAA Tournament bubble have managed to put that disappointment aside to reach the title game of the NIT Tournament on Thursday night and it should be an intriguing matchup.
Lipscomb was probably never going to get an at-large bid coming out of the Atlantic Sun after losing that tournament's title game to Liberty. However, if you were to ask the guys on Lipscomb now would they prefer a chance at some NIT hardware over what would have likely been a one or two-game run in the NCAA Tournament, a few of them would be hard-pressed not to take the opportunity they've got in front of them on Thursday night.
Texas stumbled in the latter half of their Big 12 slate to essentially play themselves out of NCAA Tournament consideration, but getting someone like Kerwin Roach reinstated for post-season basketball has helped this team forget about that rough stretch. The Longhorns were able to knock off hated rival TCU for the first time in three tries to get to this NIT championship, and they come into this meeting with mid-major Lipscomb as a slight favorite.
With the sights, sounds, and nerves of playing at MSG gone out the window for both teams after their semi-final wins, which program gets to add some hardware to their trophy case on campus this year?
Odds: Texas (-1.5); Total set at 143
Right off the bat, bettors following the market will see that the 'under' in this game got hit pretty hard upon opening in the high 140's here at BetOnline.ag, but it's settled around in at 143 since then. Title games in any sport tend to get 'under' love regardless, so I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in such a significant move, but it's one to make note of for sure if you are considering a play on either side of this total. That's not something I'm interested in here though, as it's the side (and outright winner) I'm looking to back.
Texas is going to get some love here given they are the more known program in this spot and have dealt with better competition all year long, but I don't believe they should be the ones laying points here. Yes, it's been on the strength of the Longhorns defensive play that has gotten them here ? holding Colorado to 55 points and TCU to 44 points the last two rounds was impressive ? but for as solid as those results were, the Buffaloes and Horned Frogs were 124th and 128th in the country in offensive efficiency.
Enter Lipscomb, who ranks 32nd in the nation in that regard, scoring 83.6 points per game on the year, and have reached this point having played all of their NIT games either on the road or at a neutral site. And even still, Lipscomb has averaged 14.25 points more per game in the NIT than Texas has (85 vs 70.75) and the Longhorns have actually played a full five more minutes as well. Sometimes it's as simple as you need more points than the other team to win games, and in that respect, it's hard not to like Lipscomb's chances here.
Half of the Longhorns losses this year (8 of 16) have come when they closed as a favorite of any number this year, and there are some contests with them laying significant chalk as well. A 2-5 ATS run coming into this game isn't confidence building either, and with the overall youth this Longhorns team has in general, a championship game of any kind may still be too big of a moment for these guys.
Lipscomb has made a point during this NIT run that the level of play in these smaller mid-major conferences is improving every year, and having already taken out on Power 5 conference bubble team in NC State on this NIT run, the Bison get their first Division I basketball championship in school history on Thursday night.
