{"id":11629,"date":"2010-12-17T23:56:01","date_gmt":"2010-12-18T04:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=11629"},"modified":"2010-12-17T23:56:01","modified_gmt":"2010-12-18T04:56:01","slug":"ncaa-basketball-betting-kansas-state-wildcats-vs-florida-gators-expert-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/ncaa-basketball-betting-kansas-state-wildcats-vs-florida-gators-expert-picks-11629\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Basketball Betting: Kansas State Wildcats vs Florida Gators Expert Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas State Wildcats vs Florida Gators
\nSaturday, 12\/18\/10, 3:30 PM EDT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Kansas State -1.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Kansas State -1<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Florida Gators are slight neutral court underdogs in facing the Kansas State Wildcats in Sunrise, Florida<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kansas State returns from its week-long exam break to begin a stretch of three games in a six-day period and will be taking on SEC foe Florida in the second game of a doubleheader at the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Florida.\u00a0 The Wildcats are 9-1 on the year and own a top 10 ranking, but head coach Frank Martin knows his team is capable of more.\u00a0 \u201cWe haven\u2019t played as great as we need to,\u201d said Martin.\u00a0 \u201cBut the bottom line is we continue to step up to challenges and I\u2019m proud of our guys.\u201d\u00a0 This game will also serve as a homecoming game for Martin, as he spent over 15 years coaching in the high school ranks in the area.\u00a0 The program is 19-20 all-time against Southeastern Conference foes, including a split against Alabama and Ole Miss last year.\u00a0 Kansas State is 3-3 ATS on the year and currently a slight neutral court favorite on the college basketball lines page.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats have won 14 consecutive games in the month of December, including a 7-0 mark a year ago.\u00a0 It serves as the team\u2019s longest winning streak in the month since 1948.\u00a0 Overall, the club is 33-7 in the month since 2004-05, including an impressive 18-3 mark under Martin.\u00a0 Kansas State fans are hoping that star guard Jacob Pullen can regain his shooting touch heading into the meat of the season, as he has shot below 30 percent four times this season.\u00a0 He is the undeniable leader on the team, but is in jeopardy of losing minutes on the floor on a deep and talented roster.<\/p>\n

Florida enters with a 7-2 overall record and Saturday\u2019s contest will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools.\u00a0 The Gators will be making their 10th appearance in 11 years in the Classic, posting a 7-2 record in those contest.\u00a0 The team also possesses a winning 12-9 all-time mark against current members of the Big 12 Conference.\u00a0 Many experts believe the squad is a top 25 squad, but fell out of the rankings after a 57-54 loss to Central Florida on December 1.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a big chance,\u201d said senior Chandler Parsons about playing Kansas State.\u00a0 \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t we want to play them and prove to everyone we can play with anybody?\u201d\u00a0 Florida is 1-6 ATS on the season and 0-1 ATS on a neutral floor.<\/p>\n

The Gators have enjoyed great success in causing turnovers in their wins this season, forcing 15.9 per game in their seven victories compared to just 8.5 in defeat.\u00a0 Florida\u2019s offense also needs to pick it up due to being held under 70 points in five of nine games this season and managing to go over the 80-point mark just once this season.\u00a0 \u201cI think we\u2019re capable of doing a little bit more offensively,\u201d said coach Billy Donovan.\u00a0 Center Vernon Macklin has been doing his part by averaging 17.0 points on 75 percent shooting over the past three games.<\/p>\n

Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Wildcats are 20-9-2 ATS in their last 31 games versus winning teams, while the Gators are 1-8 ATS overall.<\/p>\n

The college basketball handicappers at Maddux Sports are ready to deliver a monster weekend.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you dare miss out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kansas State Wildcats vs Florida Gators Saturday, 12\/18\/10, 3:30 PM EDT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Kansas State -1.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Kansas State -1 Kansas State returns from its week-long exam break to begin a stretch of three games in a six-day period and will be taking on SEC foe Florida in the second game of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":9772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[3881,4183,499,3946,3880,2807,739],"class_list":["post-11629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-billy-donovan","tag-chandler-parsons","tag-florida-gators","tag-frank-martin","tag-jacob-pullen","tag-kansas-state-wildcats","tag-sec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11630,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11629\/revisions\/11630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}