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The Houston Cougars take on the Longwood Lancers at FedExForum in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The Cougars are the favorites to win. But can the Lancers upset them? We give you the answer in our latest March Madness NCAAB betting picks.
- What: 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament – First Round
- Who: Houston Cougars (1) vs. Longwood Lancers (16)
- Where: FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee
- When: Friday, March 22nd 2024
- Tip-Off: 8.20 p.m. ET
Like so many of the top schools in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Houston Cougars need to guard against the possibility of an upset when the teams meet in Tennessee on Friday.
Like fellow No.1 seeds, the UConn Huskies (in their matchup against the Stetson Hatters), this looks like a serious mismatch. Nevertheless, the Cougars need to make sure they make no silly errors.
And after their stinker of a performance against the Iowa State Cyclones last Saturday in the Big 12 Tournament title game, they may come into this match more on edge than they needed to be.
Betting to win the Men’s 2024 NCAA Basketball Championship
Despite last Saturday’s loss, the Houston Cougars are still one of the favorites to win the championship with the best March Madness betting sites.
The Cougars aren’t the favorites. That’s the UConn Huskies at +400. But they are the second favorites. Houston did start the week at +550, but they are now out of +650.
Behind the leading two contenders are the Purdue Boilermakers at +750 and the Arizona Wildcats at +1200.
Sitting on +1600 are Auburn, Tennessee, Iowa State, and North Carolina. The Tar Heels started the week at +1100. But have seen their odds dramatically drift in recent hours.
Betting to win the South Region
In regional bracket betting, the South bracket looks to be one of the more competitive markets.
Houston opened as the favorite at +140. They are now +125 with the best college basketball betting sites. Their closest betting rivals are Marquette at +550, Duke at +600, and Kentucky at +650. Outside of the leading four contenders are Wisconsin and Florida at +1400 and Texas Tech at +1800. Longwood is a huge looking +25000 to win the South Region.
Elsewhere in the regional betting, UConn is -105 to win the East Bracket, with Auburn second at +400. In the Midwest bracket, Purdue is the favorite at +170. Finally, in the West bracket, Arizona is +210 to win. North Carolina is second in the betting at +325.
Houston Cougars vs. Longwood Lancers: March Madness Match Betting
The top betting sites don’t see this as a competitive matchup and strongly favor a win for the Houston Cougars. On the money line, the Cougars are -7000. The Lancers are +1700.
On the handicap spread, the Lancers are receiving a 24-point advantage. To win with the spread, Longwood is -110. To win and cover the 24-point spread, the Cougars are -110.
The total points amount is 128, with over and under both at -110. More betting options are available on our college basketball odds table. For our odds, we only use the top-rated NCAA basketball betting sites.
| Houston vs. Longwood |  |  |  |
| Houston | -7000 | -7000 | -7000 |
| Longwood | +1700 | +1700 | +1700 |
| Houston (-24) | -110 | -110 | -110 |
| Longwood (+24) | -110 | -110 | -110 |
| Over 128 | -110 | -110 | -110 |
| Under 128 | -110 | -110 | -110 |
Houston Cougars vs. Longwood Lancers: Latest Form
Overall, the 2023/24 season has been an exceptional one for the Houston Cougars. They finished top of a very competitive Big 12 with a 15-3 conference record. Their overall record stands at 30-4. At home, they were 17-0, and on the road, 7-3.
More recently, the Cougars are 11-1 in their last 12 matches. They were on an eleven-match winning streak until the unexpected hammering they took from Iowa State last Saturday. No one saw that coming. But if you take the 69-41 defeat out of the equation, there looks to be little wrong with the performance of the Cougars.
Blown away: No. 7 Iowa State blitzes No. 1 Houston in second half, wins Big 12 tourney title 69-41 https://t.co/tKR7LH3rNZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 17, 2024
Perhaps it was simply one of those bad days at the office.
As for the Longwood Lancers, they finished sixth in the Big South with a 6-10 conference record. Overall, they are 21-13 this season. At home, their record was 13-3. On the road, they were 5-10.
The Lancers are also on a four-match winning streak, with three of the wins coming against Winthrop (69-56), No.1 ranked High Point (80-79), and UNC Asheville (85-59) in the Big South Tournament.
Houston Cougars vs. Longwood Lancers: Our Picks
The combined scoring average for the two schools is over 148 points per match. The total points spread set here is 128. Although we don’t expect Longwood to score as many as they might, we do think that unless Houston has a repeat performance of their woeful finishing against Iowa, this is a low-looking spread that has to be taken on.
Our main betting pick for the match is over 128 on the total points spread.
We think that Houston will win the match. But we’re not backing them at -7000. Upsets do happen. And even though we don’t see one here, that’s too much of a risk.
For the handicap spread, we think that it’s too risky to back Houston to cover. We know they can. But we won’t risk it. But if you are looking to bet on the handicap, we would go with the Lancers to win with the spread.
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