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Kansas vs. Samford: 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: Kansas vs. Samford. And make sure to check out our 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket Optimizer to take down your pools!

2024 NCAA Tournament Odds & Picks: Kansas vs. Samford

Kansas 2024 NCAA Tournament Preview

As Kansas seasons go, this has to be one of the more disappointing years for the Jayhawks in recent memory. Against Cincinnati in the Big 12 Tournament, Bill Self’s squad looked like a mere shell of itself, with seemingly very little effort put in by Kansas. Yes, it was smart to sit Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar, who are both banged up entering the tournament, but it still highlighted the lack of depth this Jayhawks team has. Over their final 11 games of the year, Kansas went 5-6, with an offensive efficiency metric ranked outside the top 120. The Jayhawks’ momentum, consistency, and away-from-home metric, per Haslametrics, all sit outside the top 325, so it seems as if this team is not as good as its seeding suggests.

Kansas may be Shot Quality’s worst nightmare, with a rim-and-three rate ranked outside the top 250. Kansas will attempt few perimeter shots, with only 22 percent of its points coming from beyond the arc, bottom 25 in the country. With a lack of offensive rebounding and a mediocre free throw rate, it is tough to trust this offense, especially with the Jayhawks’ lack of depth, even when healthy.

Kansas did have a top-five strength of schedule this year, so this is a battle-tested squad. KU also ranks in the top 10 in height. The Jayhawks’ inside-out approach allows lots of opportunities for opponents to score from deep. Allowing 91 points to West Virginia and 79 to Texas Tech brings into question how the Kansas defense will show up against teams with solid perimeter offenses. This analysis of the Jayhawks is based on them coming into the tournament fully healthy, which is a big “if.” Without Dickinson and McCullar fully healthy, there is only so much Dajuan Harris, K.J. Adams, and Johnny Furphy can do, as shown in their embarrassing effort against Houston and the loss to Cincy. Yes, it’s Bill Self. Yes, it’s Kansas. But this team just doesn’t seem to have the energy to make a deep tournament run.

Samford 2024 NCAA Tournament Preview

If you’re looking for a fun team to jump on the bandwagon for this tournament, Samford might be your team. With a pace of play ranking in the top 20 in the nation, the Bulldogs can sling it from deep and force turnovers. Despite losing their first two games of the season by a combined 63 points, Samford still stepped up class against higher competition. Against a top-150 squad, the Bulldogs forced turnovers at a top-10 rate in the country. Considering they have a top-10 shooting percentage from deep – with Jaden Campbell making nearly half his threes – they are capable of sticking with any opponent.

The problem is, when the shots aren’t falling, they don’t have much of a fallback plan. Their second-chance conversion percentage ranks outside the top 300, and they foul at a high rate, so opponents get nearly 20 percent of points at the charity stripe. Of note as well is that Samford has had the ball bounce their way, ranking sixth in KenPom’s luck metric while owning an 18-14 Shot Quality record. In a game of inches, the draw has gone to Samford. Achor Achor is an awesome center, but it will be interesting to see if they have any more special sauce in them for the Big Dance.

2024 NCAA Tournament Predictions: Kansas vs. Samford

Don't be surprised if the Samford Bulldogs, winners of the SoCon, are one of the sexier upset picks among your bracket pools. Perhaps no team is entering the big dance with less momentum than Kansas, who sat stars Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar in the Big 12 Tournament. The statuses of both players are unknown, but the assumption is both will be back for the first round. The Bulldogs profile as a potential giant slayer. They play super-fast, take and make a high number of threes, can clean up the offensive glass and can turn opponents over. The Jayhawks also don't exploit Samford's biggest weaknesses. The Jayhawks don't force a ton of turnovers (Samford ranks 262nd in turnover percentage), they are a poor offensive rebounding team (Samford ranks 314th in defensive rebounding rate) and they aren't a good 3-point shooting team (Samford ranks 282nd in 3-point rate defensively and 172nd in 3-point percentage allowed). Oh, and Kansas allows opponents to shoot 3-pointers at a really high rate. Sometimes trendy underdogs are trendy for a reason, and Samford will be worth a shot both on the spread and in your brackets.

2024 NCAA Tournament Picks: Kansas vs. Samford

Pick: Samford +9.5 (-110 on DraftKings)

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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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