There’s No Reason Not to Bet on St. Peter’s Over Purdue
The St. Peter’s Peacocks are writing some kind of story right now. Read to find out why you could cash in on this Cinderella team.
There’s No Reason Not to Bet on St. Peter’s Over Purdue
The St. Peter’s Peacocks have defied the odds, taking down two heavyweights in #2 seeded Kentucky Wildcats and #7 Murray State Racers. They’ll now face their toughest test yet: #3 Purdue Boilermakers.
The Boilermakers are a formidable basketball team who have convincingly beaten #14 Yale and #6 Texas to get to the Sweet Sixteen. If you’re playing the numbers, then Purdue is the safe bet.
This is March, though. Throw the safe bet out the window. You heard it here first: the St. Peter’s Peacocks are going to upset the Purdue Boilermakers and advance to their first Elite Eight in school history.
Game Preview
ESPN is understandably giving Purdue a massive edge over St. Peter’s. They have the Boilermaker’s at 90.6% probability of victory with the Peacocks at just 9.4%.
The Boilermakers are a really tall team with 6’4 guard Jaden Ivey and 7’4 center Zach Edey leading the way in scoring and rebounding, respectively. The prestige of Purdue basketball cannot be understated especially when compared to the up and comer they’ll be facing, but March is where madness happens.
Expect the unexpected, no game is a sure thing in March. The Peacocks have already taken down two teams who were poised to go on big runs in this tournament.
When your opponent is a 15 seed who has taken down Kentucky and the 30-2 force of Murray State, you cannot go in thinking you’ve already won.
St. Peter’s are led in scoring by junior guard Daryl Banks III. Banks put the team on his back with a 27 point performance in the Peacocks’ overtime victory over Kentucky in the Round of 64. He cooled off significantly against Murray State, dropping just 6 points on 1 of 7 shooting.
The Peacocks were picked up by a 17 point game from senior forward KC Ndefo, who also had a double-double in that game by grabbing 10 rebounds. Junior guard Doug Edert was also money coming off the bench as he dropped 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting.
If St. Peter’s can beat a team like Murray State despite a lackluster performance by their leading scorer, they ought to be taken as seriously as any other team remaining in this tournament.
Predictions
This seems like the definition of a trap game for Purdue. Their fans are expecting a cakewalk and so is virtually every analyst and basketball fan.
Yes, St. Peter’s is making their first real March Madness run in school history, but you simply cannot write this team off as a spoiler. The Peacocks are writing a special kind of script and have already knocked out two of the tournament’s stronger teams.
The -12.5 spread in favor of Purdue is just disrespectful. Bettors should be hammering +12.5 in favor of St. Peter’s. This team is going to keep it close and give the Boilermakers a run for their money.
The over/under is 135.5. These are both teams who play excellent, clutch defense so people may be tempted to take the under, but this is a game where offense is going to be the difference. Both teams will play a physical game causing lots of fouls and even more scoring. It’s going to be close, but take the over in this one.
The moneyline unsurprisingly has St. Peter’s as heavy underdogs at +650. The value is simply too great not to throw at least $20 on that. The Peacocks are playing with house money and bettors who trust them on Friday night will be doing the same by the game’s end.
Final score prediction: St. Peter’s 73, Purdue 72
