Gonzaga vs. Kansas predictions: March Madness odds, picks, bets for Saturday

Kansas is lucky to be here. 

The Jayhawks earned a lucky call at the end of their Samford game. AJ Stato⭕n-McCray smacked all-ball on Nicolas Timberlake.

The Bulldogs would’ve had numbers going the other way down one point with less th🌳an 20 seconds left. 

Tragic.

Just an unbelievable, LeBronဣ-esque chase down bloc🌃k by Samford’s AJ Staton-McCray. Did not like the foul call here, this appeared to be all ball.

— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore)

However, more pertinent to this game, Kansas looked exhau𒐪sted after a 40-minute battle with BuckyBall’s full-courtꩲ press.

The Jayhawkꦓs rank 317th nationally in bench minutes and are down a key starter, leading scorer Kevin McCul𝓰lar. 

Gonzaga vs. Kansas Odds

Team	Spread	Moneyline	Total
Gonzaga	-3.5 (-120)	-178	o151.5 (-110)
Kansas	+3.5 (-102)	+146	u151.5 (-110)

(Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook)

Gonzaga vs. Kansas Prediction

(3:15 p.m. ET, CBS)

Given Kans🐼as’ lack of depth and its exhausting Thursday battle, I expect the Zags to run the Jayhawks off the floor on Saturday. 

The Zags are an up-tempo, rim-oriented offense.

The Bulldogs push the pace in transition and run dangerous two-man ball screen sets with Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike, th꧅e latter of whom uses pace to leverage position in pos🍷t-up sets.

Kansas is great at defending thos🐼e sets, but the Hawks are down their second-h♊ighest-volume ball-screen coverage defender in McCullar.

His length and athletiꦡcism play well when defending the screens. 

But, most importantly, I don’t see the Jayhawks sticking with the Zags’ quick-strike attack 48♊ hours after an exhausting game with no de♓pth. 

And Kansas’ཧ defensive outlook is much bleaker.♛ 

The Jayhawks are a rim-oriented offense, primarily utilizing big men Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCulla🔥r as rollers, cutters, or posters. 

Behind I🅰ke, the♑ Bulldogs have turned into a deadly interior defense.

They🍌 rank eighth nationally in post-up PPP allowed (.67), 11th in 2-point shooting allowed (45%), and top 90 in paint💃 points per game allowed (29). 

I'm hammering Zags tomoro because I think they run over a depthless exhausted team that just got BuckeyBall'd for 40 mins 48 hours earlier AND the Zags interior D has been top-notch this year which is huge against a rim-oriented offense with no spacing

— Tanner McGrath (@tannerstruth)

You beat Gon𓆏zaga by shooting over the top, as the Bulldogs rank sub-230th nationally in Open 3 Rate allowed. 

However, th⭕e Jayhawks’ most significant problem is that they don’t have the proper floor spacers or shooters to complement Dickinson, Adams, and DaJuan Harris. 

Kan🃏sas ranks 300th nationally in ShotQuality’s Spacing metric, 335th in 3-point rat♚e and 209th in 3-point shooting, allowing defenses to sag toward the interior and muck up every set. 

And with McCullar sidelined, that issue is exac🔯erbated. 

The Zags should overwhelm thꦆe Hawks with speed on offense and paint protection on defense, comfortably winning this one and advancing to the Sweet 16. 

Gonzaga vs. Kansas Pick

Gonzaga -3.5 (-120) | Play to -4.5 (-110)