College Basketball Picks

NCAA Tournament: Wisconsin vs. Colgate 3/18/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

Wisconsin Badgers (24-7) vs. Colgate Raiders (23-11)
March 18, 2022 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Wisconsin Badgers -7.5 / Colgate Raiders +7.5 ; Over/Under: 139.5
(Get latest betting odds)

The Colgate Raiders and Wisconsin Badgers clash Friday in an NCAA tournament first round matchup in college basketball action from the Fiserv Forum.

The Colgate Raiders come into the conference tournament as the #14 seed, finishing the year with a record of 23-11 including an 16-2 mark in Patriot League play to finish as the Patriot League regular season champion. The Raiders took down Bucknell, Lehigh and Navy to hoist the conference tournament championship. Nelly Cummings leads the Raiders in scoring with 14.5 PPG while Tucker Richardson has 12.6 PPG, 5.6 RPG and a team-high 3.9 APG and Jack Ferguson has 12.6 PPG. Ryan Moffatt has 10 PPG and Keegan Records also has 10 PPG and 6.1 RPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Colgate so far this season. As a team, Colgate is averaging 75.3 PPG on 46.8% shooting from the field, 39.4% from three and 69.4% from the foul line while allowing 67.6 PPG on 43% shooting from the field and 33.2% from three this season.

The Wisconsin Badgers come into this tournament as the #3 seed, finishing the year at 24-7 overall, including a 15-5 mark in Big Ten conference play to finish with a share of the Big Ten regular season title. The Badgers’ tournament was short lived in the conference tournament as the Badgers lost to Michigan State in the quarterfinals. Johnny Davis leads the Badgers with 19.7 PPG, 8.2 RPG and 2.3 APG while Brad Davison has 14.5 PPG and 4.1 RPG and Tyler Wahl has 11.4 PPG with 5.7 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Wisconsin this season. Steven Crowl also has 9.1 PPG and 4.5 RPG as well this season for the Badgers. As a team, Wisconsin is averaging 71 PPG on 42.7% shooting from the field, 31.3% from three and 74.8% from the foul line while allowing 66.5 PPG on 43.8% shooting from the field and 32.7% from three this season.

Colgate is 14-6 ATS in their last 20 games overall and 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. Wisconsin is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 neutral site games as a favorite and 15-7-2 ATS in their last 24 NCAA tournament games while the over is 9-4 in their last 13 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.

I get why Wisconsin’s favored, and this is one of the rare instances in the NCAA tournament where a team gets a significant home court feel/boost with this game being played just over an hour away from where the Badgers play their home games. However, I’m not overly convinced of the Badgers just yet as the gameplan for opposing teams has been clear. Shut down Johnny Davis and you have a really good shot. Colgate is a solid team that won’t be intimidated by the Badgers and I think the Raiders are a live dog for not only the cover, but potentially an outright win. Give me Colgate and the points.

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: Colgate +7.5

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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