No. 3 Arkansas vs. No. 14 Colgate preview for NCAA Tournament first-round matchup

The NCAA Tournament begins on Thursday, March 18th with the First Four, and then moves on to the first round on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16. The No. 3 seed Arkansas Razorbacks will face the No. 14 seed Colgate Raiders in the first round. Game time has yet to be announced but we will update this article with that and game odds as soon as it comes available. For now, we’ve got a preliminary preview of the two teams to get you ready for March Madness!

Once the 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: Friday, March 19
Game time: 12:45 p.m. EET
TV channel: TruTV
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Odds: Arkansas -9
Over/Under: 157.5

No. 3 Arkansas

After a successful 20-win campaign in Year 1 of the Eric Musselman era, the Arkansas Razorbacks continued to show their promise as one of the upper echelon teams in the SEC during the 2020-21 season.

Pig Sooie ripped through their non-conference schedule to start the season at 9-0 before hitting choppy waters in January with a 2-4 start in SEC play. However the team found their footing again with an extended conference winning streak that included blowouts like a 92-71 beatdown of Vanderbilt and nail biters like an 81-80 victory over Kentucky. The signature win of that streak came on Feb. 24 when dominating Alabama for an 81-66 upset.

Freshman guard Moses Moody became the star of the show for Musselman’s group, averaging 16.5 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. The upperclassmen trio of JD Notae, Jalen Tate and Justin Smith have all held their own as well, each averaging 11+ points per contest.

Record: 22-6, 13-4 SEC
KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency: 34
KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency: 15
ATS: 17-9-1
Over Total: 14-12-1
Odds to win NCAA Championship: +2500

No. 14 Colgate

The Colgate Raiders joined Navy as one of the two best teams in the Patriot League, and they rode that to a postseason conference title. The Patriot League delayed the start of play until January, and made some unique adjustments. The league was split into three divisions and schools only played their division-mates. That means, Colgate went 11-1 in the regular season while only beating three schools in the process.

Guard Jordan Burns is the player to watch on Colgate’s roster. He leads the team with 17.1 points per game and 5.5 assists per game, but he also is third with 4.5 rebounds per game. The team has three other players scoring in double digits — guards Nelly Cummings, Jack Ferguson, and Tucker Richardson — but Burns is the player they’ll rely on to make some March magic.

Record: 14-1, 12-1 Patriot
KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency: 58
KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency:126
ATS: 9-5
Over Total: 7-7
Odds to win NCAA Championship: N/A