Former Big East rivals meet on Saturday night when the Connecticut Huskies take on the Villanova Wildcats for an East Region game. UConn enters as a seven-seed and Villanova enters as a two-seed. Despite the difference in seeding, this will be a very close contest from start to finish. If Villanova starts slow like it did against Milwaukee, UConn will be ready to deliver the nail in the coffin. We like UConn to grab another tourney win tonight.
With an upset win over Syracuse already on their resume this season, Kevin Ollie and his Huskies will look to add another upset to their docket when they face Villanova Saturday night. The Huskies have the players to compete with the Wildcats, and even make a deep run in the tournament. This is the first time that the two teams meet in the tournament, even though the rivalry dates back to 1941. UConn has won four of the last five against Villanova and 18 of 26.
Villanova cannot afford another slow start on Saturday night. They struggled out of the gate against Milwaukee on Thursday, only to rebound and pull away with a large victory. They dropped Milwaukee by 20 points to advance to take on the Huskies. Villanova holds a 33-30 advantage in the all-time series record with UConn, but none of that matters when you hit the NCAA Championship Tournament. When the calendar turns to March, everything is thrown out the window.
We head over to the popular sportsbook found at BetOnline.ag Saturday to take a look at the betting odds for UConn and Villanova from Buffalo. Connecticut is the underdog in this contest by just 3.5, which is why we like them for the upset win over the Wildcats. We will drop 10 percent of our bankroll on UConn and the +155 money line in this battle of former Big East rivals.
