The Kansas Jayhawks host the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders at the Phog Allen Fieldhouse on Friday night. Both teams won their openers earlier this week. Kansas beat Fordham by 30, while MTSU hung 117 points on an NAIA squad. On Friday, the Blue Raiders do their duty as a mid-major and head off to play one of the big boys. The Jayhawks rank inside the top 20, but whether they are an elite team this season remains to be seen. With a spread at 30 points, I am looking to take the game total under 152.5.
Kansas brought in a pair of five-star freshmen guards, including the #1 player in the class, Tyren Stokes. This backcourt will be young, obviously, but the rest of the squad is heavily composed of portal grabs. Last season, Bill Self struggled to get buy-in from his star freshman; that will need to change with this year’s crop. As for MTSU, they are picked in the bottom half of CUSA, and they do not have a lot of depth, especially at guard. There’s no doubt they will be boat-raced in this one, but we would have to go beyond 90-60 to bust this total. I think MTSU will struggle to reach 60, and the Jayhawks might slow it down eventually. I’ll try the under.
Middle Tennessee State vs Kansas: Under 153.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable to 150.5.
