Arizona vs. LIU prediction: March Madness 2026 pick, odds, best bet for Round of 64

Good head coaches at the highest level of college basketball will always remind their players to take every opponent seriously.

Any team, regardless of record, can be defeated on any given day, especially in the NCAA Tournament. It’s the reason we love March Madness.

No. 1 seeds Virginia in 2018 and Purdue in 2023 didn’t heed that message and fell victim to No. 16 seeds UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson, respectively. Duke, the top overall seed in this year’s field, had to fight tooth and nail against Siena.

That should serve as a cautionary tale for Arizona as it begins its journey through the tournament with a first-round matchup against LIU. History says Arizona has a 98.7 percent chance to win this game, but the players on both sides will determine the outcome.

As expected, the spread for this game is staggering, with sportsbooks listing the Wildcats as 30.5-point favorites. For bettors who just can’t help but root for an upset, the Sharks are 80/1 to win outright, tied with Prairie View A&M as the biggest moneyline underdogs in the tournament.

Arizona vs. LIU prediction, best bet

Arizona started the season 23-0 before losing to Kansas and Texas Tech in back-to-back weeks. Both losses were by razor-thin margins, but the Wildcats bounced back to win en route to the Big 12 regular season title and tournament championship.

Koa Peat #10 and Brayden Burries #5 of the Arizona Wildcats. Getty Images

Freshmen Brayden Burries (15.9 ppg) and Koa Peat (13.9 ppg), along with senior Jaden Bradley (13.3), provide a three-headed scoring punch for Arizona that at times made the best defenses in the country look average.

I’ll spare you the deep dive into their metrics; the Wildcats do everything well, and LIU would need Arizona to falter in several areas to even have a chance.

LIU is a good shooting team, and they’ll need to be good at volume to keep up with the Wildcats. They have to limit turnovers at all costs, which is an area they struggled in all season, ranking 319th out of 365 teams.

The Sharks will also need to bring the dog mentality that Sharks guard Jamal Fuller boasted about to the Post back in December. “We’re a team full of dogs,” Fuller said. “If you bark at us, we’re going to bite.”

Betting on College Basketball?

• Check out the best College Basketball betting sites
• Read the latest March Madness odds

If it seems like an overly simplistic strategy — shoot well, limit mistakes, play hard — that’s because it is.

That said, I think the Sharks can be competitive enough to cover this massive spread. Arizona has been at least a 30-point favorite seven times this season and is 1-6 against the spread in those games.

The Pick: LIU +30.5 (-105, BetMGM)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.