NC-Asheville vs. Syracuse

The Syracuse Orange have declared center Fab Melo ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, and it shaved a 1 off a line that was already amongst the lowest for a No. 1 seed in tourney history. His influence and presence will be missed, but not in this game. The Cuse is a deep team with plenty of scoring options, and their zone defense will be a chore, especially for a team that hasn't seen it such as NC Ashville. The Bulldogs play a soft conference, which played softer this year. When they had to step out late in the season for a bracketbuster game at Ohio, U. they were exposed, losing by 19 points. While the Bulldogs scored 80+ in 13 of their last 19 games, they met one Big East opponent and managed just 63 vs. Connecticut, and I would expect similar results here, and probably less. Syracuse played their first 13 games vs. non-conference opponents and held them collectively to under 60 points per game. The Orange have now gone 13-4 ATS in their last 17 as a favorite of 13 or more, and are 10-3 to the UNDER vs. teams that are over .600. NC Ashville has been slowed down as a dog where five of their last six resulted in games UNDER the total. Play on Syracuse and the UNDER in this one.