The Saint Peter’s Peacocks (19-13) hope to begin a Cinderella run once again as they take on the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers'(24-8) in NCAA Tournament first-round action. Tip-off from Spectrum Center in Charlotte is scheduled for 9:20 p.m. ET (TNT). Below, we analyze FanDuel Sportsbook’s lines around the Saint Peter’s vs. Tennessee odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and best bets.
The 15th-seeded Peacocks earned their spot in this year’s Big Dance by winning the MAAC Tournament, slipping past Rider, Quinnipiac, and Fairfield by a combined 9 points. F Corey Washington, the Peacocks’ leading scorer (16.5 points per game), was named the MVP of the tournament after netting 20 of his game-high 24 points in the 2nd half of a 68-63 win over the Stags in the final.
Tennessee, the 2nd seed in the Midwest Region, suffered an unceremonious end to the SEC Tournament, as the Vols were blasted 73-56 by Mississippi State'in the quarterfinals Friday. G Dalton Knecht,'who sits atop the SEC alongside Alabama’s Mark Sears in scoring (21.1 points per game), was just 4 of 17 from the field. Knecht did net a game-high 26 points when the Vols were crowned SEC regular-season champions in a 66-59 win over No. 17 South Carolina March 6.
–'.