Marquette Golden Eagles (11) vs. Syracuse Orangemen (3) Sun. March 20, 2011 7:45 p.m. EST

Last season the Syracuse Orangemen (3) were playing some superb basketball headed into the NCAA Tournament, but then just couldn’t hang with the best of the best in the Big Dance and were knocked a bit sooner than anticipated. This season the Orangeman are playing at a high level once again and despite all the stiff competition coming out of the Big East conference with 11 teams punching their tickets to the 2011 NCAA Tournament, Jim Boeheim’s squad was able to wrap up a third seed in the East Region.

Unfortunately, even though the Syracuse Orangemen (3) are a high seed, the competition within the East Region is tough to say the least with the Ohio State Buckeyes (1) and the North Carolina Tar Heels (2) in their path, but in the meantime they will concentrate all their efforts into taking down another Big East squad in the Marquette Golden Eagles (11).

Even though Marquette (11) was able to pull off the upset in the second round against the Xavier Musketeers (6), the Golden Eagles will be facing another beast entirely in Jim Boeheim’s very talented Orangemen squad. There is potential for an upset here and the Golden Eagles are no strangers to the Orangemen, but I believe Syracuse (3) is just the better all-around basketball team right now and should come out with the win to advance to the Sweet 16.

As of right now, Jim Boeheim’s boys have been given the edge with a -4.5 point spread in their favor heading into Sunday night’s matchup with the Marquette Golden Eagles (11) in Newark, New Jersey.

Like I said, there is a bit of an upset alert for this game, but taking Syracuse at -4.5 is the wise decision in my opinion.

The online sportsbook odds for this matchup are:

Bodog Sportsbook:
Spread: Marquette Golden Eagles +5 & Syracuse Orangemen -5
Moneyline: Marquette Golden Eagles +175 & Syracuse Orangemen -210
Over/Under: Marquette Golden Eagles 110 Syracuse Orangemen 110 under (140)

BetDSI Sportsbook:
Spread: Marquette Golden Eagles +4.5 & Syracuse Orangemen -4.5
Moneyline: Marquette Golden Eagles +175 & Syracuse Orangemen -205
Over/Under: Marquette Golden Eagles 110 Syracuse Orangemen 110 under (140.5)

Related News

• March Madness: Can the Marquette Golden Eagles compete with the North Carolina Tar Heels?
• March Madness: George Mason (8) vs. Villanova (9) odds in Western Region action
• Ohio State locks up number seed of East Region of NCAA Tournament
• March Madness: George Mason (8) vs. Ohio State (1) odds and predictions
• March Madness gears up as Duke gets number one seed in West Region of NCAA Tournament