Kansas vs Miami Prediction, Game Preview: NCAA Tournament Elite 8
Kansas vs Miami prediction: NCAA Tournament Elite 8 pick and college basketball game preview.
Kansas vs Miami Game Preview, How To Watch
Date: Sunday, March 27
Game Time: 2:20 pm
Venue: United Center, Chicago, IL
How To Watch: CBS
Records: Kansas (1 seed, 31-6)
Miami (10 seed, 28-10)
Region: Midwest
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Why Miami Will Win
Miami keeps on chugging right along.
Its defense destroyed Auburn, held up late against USC, and pretty much stopped Iowa State before it could all get going in a nice run to get here.
Now it has to keep on having fun.
In this pressure-packed tournament with team after team – let’s be honest here – gagging in the moment, Miami just goes out there, flies up and down the court with brilliant ball movement and a whole lot of good shots and strong opportunities built off lots and lots and lots of takeaways.
This was one of the better defensive teams in the country – it led the ACC in turnover margin and steals – and it’s just that kind of defensive pressure that matches up perfectly well with the tightness of the moment.
In the three wins over USC, Auburn, and Iowa State, the Hurricanes forced 47 turnovers and gave it up just seven times before turning it over 13 times against the nasty Cyclone D.
Kansas isn’t having turnover problems, but it’s not going to force enough Miami mistakes to matter. However …
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Why Kansas Will Win
If it seems like Miami isn’t getting any rebounds, it’s because it’s probably not.
To be totally fair, this is more about the Hurricane style of play than any sort of gigantic issues cleaning up the glass – it comes up with a whole lot of layups and doesn’t miss enough to generate loads of offensive rebounds – but it’s not good enough at getting the defensive boards.
Miami has been able to get away with it so far – it’s 311th in the nation in defensive rebounds – and not getting a ton of boards is baked into the team’s cake, but Kansas was able to overcome Creighton by being +18 in rebounding margin and is +32 for the tournament.
It’s not shooting particularly well, but it’s hitting its free throws – 39-of-48 in the last two games – and it should be able to connect from three against this Miami D.
The biggest keys, though, should be …
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Kansas vs Miami: What’s Going To Happen
Kansas blocks shots, and you can’t beat this team if you don’t rebound.
Again, this isn’t a good shooting Miami team, especially from the outside. It’s just 13-of-40 from three in the tournament and has to get its points in transition or by getting to the rim.
Kansas came up with a season-high 11 blocks in the win over Providence, and it should have enough of a presence inside to matter against the Miami offense.
The biggest issue should be on the boards. Again, Miami has done just fine without being a big rebounding team, but Kansas is 1-3 when teams come up with 37 or more rebounds and 20-0 when teams don’t get past 30 boards.
Miami averages barely over 30 rebounds per game, and even when they did get 34 against Auburn, they gave up 43 … and won.
Kansas will have the combination of inside presence and free throw shooting to slip by, but this will be a back-and-forth battle that comes down to the final minute.
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Kansas vs Miami Prediction: NCAA Tournament Elite 8, Lines
Prediction: Kansas 73, Miami 69
Line: Kansas -6, o/u: 147.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
Kansas vs Miami Must See Rating: 4.5
5: Taylor Hawkins
1: The Lollapalooza lineup
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