The South Carolina Gamecocks have overcome low expectations here in the NCAA Tournament, moving through against two very capable offensive teams, and now they will go up against the third-seeded Baylor Bears in the Sweet 16, playing for the right to go to the Elite 8. This one begins at 7:29 PM ET at Madison Square Garden in New York, and while the folks from TBS televise it, BetAnySports customers will have the opportunity to place wagers in real-time after the opening tip, utilizing the state-of-the-art software from Live Betting Ultra.

South Carolina is a very capable defensive team; that much we knew throughout the regular season. And one of their early efforts was downright scary, as they defeated Michigan while holding them to only 10 field goals and 19.2% shooting. In January, they limited the Florida Gators to 0-17 from three-point territory. In case you didn't notice, both Michigan and Florida advanced to the Sweet 16 this season.

The Gamecocks are 24-10 straight-up and 13-17-1 ATS. Baylor is 27-7 straight-up, and they are 15-14 against the points. The Bears have a lot of good wins on their record, but they were kind of fortunate to get by USC in the last round. This is a team that must limit its turnovers in order to get by this game, against the South Carolina team that is fourth-best in the country at forcing them, but it won't be all that easy.

In the NCAA Tournament betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, Baylor is the favorite:

Baylor Bears -3.5
South Carolina Gamecocks +3.5

Over 135 points -110
Under 135 points -110

South Carolina was not a great shooting team this season, hitting a little lower than 42% coming into the Big Dance. But it has simply been amazing the way they have exploded at times. Against Marquette in their opening game, they were nick-and-tuck much of the way, but they would up the scoreboard for 54 points in the second half and won by 20 points. Against Duke, they had 65 second-half points to overcome a double-digit deficit and beat the Blue Devils. The main man there was Sindarius Thornwell, who averaged 21.4 points this season but has had 53 points in these last two games. Thornwell missed six games this season with an injury, but he has had dominant efforts at times, scoring 44 points against Alabama and 34 against Kentucky. He also knows how to draw contact, like many of the players on the South Carolina team.

Baylor coach Scott Drew has a 9-2 record against lower seeded teams this season, and as BetAnySports patrons know, his Bears are a genuine threat on the offensive boards, pulling down 40% of all opportunities. So South Carolina has its work cut out for it in that regard. Johnathan Motley must play well; the 6-10 forward had 19 points against USC, battling a finger injury, but he fouled out late in that game. And he has committed a turnovers in these first two games. But Baylor got a big effort out of its bench against USC, including 17 points out of King McClure, and Terry Maston, who averaged only 7.2 points in the regular season, has had 19 points and nine rebounds in both games, hitting 64% of his field-goal attempts.

Both of these teams have caught fire just lately, as South Carolina has gone 4-5 in its last nine games, with Baylor just 7-6 in its last 13. Remember that Baylor was, at one point, the #1 team in the country, so a loss at this juncture in the tournament would certainly be a huge disappointment.

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