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Iowa State vs. South Dakota State: 2024 NCAA Tournament Odds & Picks

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Now that the 2024 NCAA Tournament brackets have been announced, it’s time to make your sports betting picks to increase the excitement of March Madness. Let's take a look at the early odds and picks for the 2024 NCAA Tournament game: Iowa State vs. South Dakota State And make sure to check out our 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket Optimizer to take down your pools!

2024 NCAA Tournament Odds & Picks: Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State 2024 NCAA Tournament Preview

In terms of championship-caliber teams, it’s difficult to leave Iowa State out of the mix. Since February 1st, the Cyclones rank third in Bart Torvik with a truly suffocating defense and an impressive Big 12 tournament run, taking down Kansas State, Baylor and Houston in consecutive days, all by double-digits. Tamin Lipsey was one of the best defenders in Division I with a top-10 steal rate in all of basketball and a clear All Big-12 First Team selection.

Overall, their defense ranks first in the nation on KenPom, forcing the second-highest number of turnovers in the country. T.J. Otzelberger’s team forces the team deep into the shot clock, allows nothing down low, and has faced some truly difficult competition. What this team has going for it is how preparing for them must be. They allow the fewest percentage of near-look shots, rank in the top 25 at second-chance conversion defense and transition defense, and have limited opponents to shooting under 32 percent from beyond the arc, top 50 in the nation.

Looking at the Big 12 title game alone is an impressive review of their play, holding the Cougars to 41 points and 4-22 (18%) from deep. The limiting factor with this squad is their offense. Of the past 26 NCAA Tournament champions, 25 had a top-20 offense and a top-45 defense on KenPom - Iowa State’s offense currently ranks outside the top-50. The Big-12 auto bid selection can stall offensively at times, as seen by losses on neutral court games to Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. Their defense gives them a high floor, but it’s just a matter of how much their offense limits their ceiling. Considering their conference tournament play, the confidence level has to be high for Cyclone country. Their defense can limit anyone, and high expectations are expected. However, with their ranking 358th in Haslametrics away-from-home metrics and the mere history of tournament success, Iowa State cannot have blind trust.

South Dakota State 2024 NCAA Tournament Preview

After starting the season going 1-4 with their only win against a Division II opponent, South Dakota State came together in the end, winning eight straight games including three Summit League tournament games to earn an auto-bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Jackrabbits not only have one of the better mascots in the tournament, but a solid offense as well. SDSU owns a top-25 effective field goal percentage with Zeke Mayo and Luke Appel leading their inside-out approach.

No team is perfect, and every team has flaws, but the Jackrabbits have a truly remarkable fatal flaw, and that’s three-point defense. With a defensive shooting percentage ranking outside the top 250, no other team in the nation has more opponent points coming from beyond the arc than South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits allow a lot of threes, have a low free-throw rate, and have an offensive rebound percentage tanked outside the top 300. Anything possible come March, I truly mean that and South Dakota State has a solid offense. But the profile of the Jackrabbits does not bode well for tournament success.

2024 NCAA Tournament Predictions: Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

The Cyclones took the Big 12 Tournament title in emphatic fashion with a 61-49 victory over Houston on Saturday. They’ll take on a South Dakota State team that ran through the Summit League Tournament.

The committee put together an interesting matchup here between two similar-style defenses. Iowa State built their top-rated defense on shutting down any kind of offense inside the three-point arc. Opponents are only scoring 43.3% of their points on 2-point attempts, where the national average is 50.6%. They’ll allow you to shoot threes with 45.0% of opponent FGA being from beyond the arc.

South Dakota State Jackrabbits play a similar style on defense, allowing 47.1% of opponent FGA from beyond the arc. This style of game could play to the Jackrabbits’ strength, as they’re a top 50 3P% team, shooting 36.2%. Meanwhile, the Cyclones are just about national average. As we’ve seen many times in March, a hot shooting three-point team can often spell an early tournament exit for a national contender that doesn’t quite have the offensive firepower to keep up. Could the Jackrabbits be this year’s Cinderella?

2024 NCAA Tournament Picks: Iowa St. vs. South Dakota St.

Bet: South Dakota State +16.5 (-110 via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Check out all of our 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket & Betting Coverage >>

2024 NCAA Tournament Sports Betting Picks

Now that the 2024 NCAA Tournament brackets have been announced, it’s time to make your sports betting picks to increase the excitement of March Madness. Let's take a look at the early odds and picks for the 2024 NCAA Tournament

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2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket Pool Strategy & Picks

Below we provide strategy, advice, and picks to create the optimal NCAA Tournament bracket. And be sure to use our FREE bracket optimizer to build a winning men’s NCAA tournament bracket and take down your contest!

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