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Posted March 20 at 8:00 PM EST

NCAA Tournament - West Regional - Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena - Jacksonville, FL

12:40 PM EST. Lots of folks are giving Yale a shot at an upset or a great chance to cover and we get that. Ivy League teams have been well represented at this event for years. Princeton, for example, has pulled its fair share of upsets over the years and now Yale is not only taking back a pile of points, but they’re good and they have just as much market credibility. There are things to like about Yale. For instance, according to Kenpom, Yale is 11th in Effective Field Goal Percentage on offense and 30th in limiting the same shooting percentage on defense. Yale is also top-25 team in the country in limiting offensive rebounds. That’s nice, it really is but how much weight can one put on teams that played weak opposition? Yale’s toughest three opponents this year were Memphis, Vermont and Duke. They lost by seven to Memphis, by nine to Vermont and by 33 (91-58) to Duke. Yale won the Ivy League Tournament but as a 10½-point favorite over a depleted Princeton squad in the Conference semi-final, the Bulldogs were down six with three minutes to go before surviving that scare.

You may hear or read about the swirling winds of a federal investigation revolving around LSU’s suspended coach, Will Wade. The media is using this information as a negative against LSU, citing the distraction it may cause. After all, LSU was knocked out of the SEC Tournament in its first round matchup against Florida. When the media is selling one thing, we’re usually buying the opposite because the media has a huge influence on public perception. We trust that the Tigers will come in with a big chip on its shoulder.

LSU plays a little old school basketball in that they don’t take a lot of threes and it relies quite a bit on interior scoring and second-chance points to do damage on offense. Still, this LSU squad is an offensive-minded one (top 90% in offence) that can really cause problems if things click. LSU can (and probably will) drive you nuts because `they make some bad decisions from time to time and also get careless but we cannot overstate enough how talented this team is. When dialed in, they can beat any team in the country. LSU finished 16-2 in the SEC. In fact, LSU nearly went 18-0 in the SEC, as their two conferences losses were by one point in one game and in OT in another. They also played a non-con schedule that featured games against Memphis, Houston, Saint Mary’s, Florida State, Furman and UNC Greensboro. The media is trying to sell us that LSU is overseeded. Maybe they are but they’re as dangerous as any team in this event if they get it going and we trust we’re getting them at a bargain here.

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