March Madness bracket 2023: Alabama-Texas A&M CC/SE Missouri State preview, odds

The NCAA Tournament begins on Tuesday, March 14th with the First Four, and then moves on to the First Round on Thursday, March 16 and Friday, March 17. The No. 1 seed Alabama Crimson Tide will face the No. 16 seed Texas A&M CC or SE Missouri State.

Here's an early look at what we can expect from the matchup.

Once odds from DraftKings Sportsbook are made available for this game, we'll add that information below. We'll also add the game time and TV channel once it's settled.

Game date: Thursday, March 16
Game time: 2:45 p.m. ET
TV channel: CBS
Location: Birmingham, AL

Odds: TBA

No. 1 Alabama

The Crimson Tide topped the college basketball rankings for much of the season thanks to a fast-paced offense and a premier lock-down defense. Despite off-the-court controversy involving SEC Player of the Year candidate Brandon Miller, the Tide will be a formidable force and are one of the favorites to cut down the nets in Houston.

Bama finished 17-1 in a loaded SEC, with their lone loss to Tennessee in early February. But it's their pace and stifling defense that is their most effective weapon, as Bama's second in the nation in both effective field goal percentage defense and shortest length of possessions.

Record: 28-5, 16-2 SEC Coach: Nate Oats Qualifier: Automatic bid KenPom overall: 3 KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency: 21 KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency: 3 Pace: 4 PPP overall: 1.074 Leading scorer: Brandon Miller NET: 2 Quad 1 record: 12-5 Against The Spread: 18-14-1 Over Total: 15-17-1 Odds to win NCAA Championship: +700

No. 16 Texas A&M-CC

Champions of the Southland Conference, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders are in the midst of their best three-year stretch in school history. Having qualified for the Big Dance just twice ever – including an elimination in the First Four last season – TAMU-CC can put up points with the best of them; The Islanders, as a team, averaged over 80 PPG this past campaign (19th-best among eligible DI programs).

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi enters the NCAA Tournament as hot as they have been all season, rallying for a dozen wins over their past 13 contests. Carried by their offense, the Islanders have scored more than 90 points in a game 10 times this year, while crossing the triple-digit mark twice. If any small school has the makings to take down a Power-5 institution in this year's tourney, it may be A&M-CC.

Record: 19-10, 14-4 Southland

Coach: Steve Lutz

Qualifier: Automatic

KenPom overall: 170

KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency: 137

KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency: 229

Pace: 80

PPP overall: 1.078

Leading scorer: Trey Tennyson

NET: 174

Quad 1 record: 0-3

Against The Spread: 17-12

Over Total: 18-11

Odds to win NCAA Championship: TBD

No. 16 Southeast Missouri State

Southeast Missouri State defeated Tennessee Tech to be the first school to punch their ticket to the Big Dance, winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament in a dramatic overtime victory in the process. The Redhawks rank in the top 50 in the nation in scoring (77.7 PPG), which is a necessary strength given that they give up nearly an equal amount of points on the defensive end (76.0 PPG).

The Redhawks are led by their three leading scorers who average double-digits in the regular season: Phillip Russell (18.2 PPG), Chris Harris (15.4 PPG), and Israel Barnes (10.3 PPG). From there on out, no one else on the roster has averaged more than eight PPG from the field, which likely means relying heavily on top three scorers to pull off any hope of an upset in the Round of 64.

Record: 17-16, 10-8 OVC
Coach: Brad Korn
Qualifier: Automatic
KenPom overall: 257
KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency: 263
KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency: 243
Pace: 7
PPP overall: 1.010
Leading scorer: Phillip Russell
NET: 242
Quad 1 record: 0-3
Against The Spread: 19-13-1
Over Total: 21-12
Odds to win NCAA Championship: TBD

  
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