Howard vs Delaware State Odds, Pick: How to Bet MEAC Title

Howard takes on Delaware State on Saturday, March 16, at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Here's Howard vs Delaware State odds and a pick.

For the second time in as many seasons, the Howard Bison will be headed to the MEAC Championship game.

After a 30-year drought, the Bison broke through last year and won the MEAC tournament, securing an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

Now the No. 4 seed Bison will look to keep a good thing going after getting past No. 5 seed Morgan State and No. 1 seed Norfolk State.

The Bison will be met by No. 6 seed Delaware State, and the Hornets have all the makings of a Cinderella story after defeating No. 3 seed South Carolina State and No. 2 seed North Carolina Central.

After struggling for years, head coach Stan Waterman has Delaware State in a position that no one thought was possible just a couple of years ago.

The Hornets, who had just six wins last year, are poised to do the unfathomable, but they'll have to slip past the defending champs, who've already beaten them twice this season.

I think that you can make a pretty strong case to be on either side of the spread in this game, but team statistics indicate the value resides with the under for a number of reasons.

This game is an incredibly quick turnaround for both teams, with under 24 hours between games. I think the likelihood of one of these two teams to be out of sync is higher than normal and could spur to a poor shooting performance.

After consecutive 70-plus point performances, the Delaware State offense is due for a bit of a setback. Coming into the championship game, the Hornets rank just 339th in the nation in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency, and I think an offensive let down could be around the corner for the Hornets.

The Bison and Hornets enter this game tied for 348th in turnover rate, with a rate of 21.3% respectively, and I think that these turnovers will be an issue in this game. This is well above the national average of 17.1% and will be able to mitigate tempo concerns that under bettors may have.

Lastly, the Delaware State defense — which happens to be the best in the MEAC — should be well positioned to slow down the second-ranked Howard offense. The Hornets rank 178th in the nation in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency and are allowing a league-low 105.7 points per 100 possessions.

My model is projecting the total for this game at 136.5. I think there's value to the under, and it's already started to inch down after opening at 140 early this morning.

With wake-ups and walk throughs occurring less than 12 hours after the last game for both teams, I recommend taking the under and betting it at 137 or higher, as both teams look to fight its way into the Big Dance.

Pick: Under 139