Posted on 1/29/2008 8:24:45 PM

NCAA Basketball Betting – Tennessee at Alabama

By Charles Jay

The Tennessee Volunteers (17-2 SU, 7-7-1 ATS) go on the road on Tuesday, traveling to Tuscaloosa to tackle the Alabama Crimson Tide (12-8 SU, 5-9 ATS) in Southeastern Coneference play that is slated to begin at 9 PM ET.

In the BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds, the Volunteers are 4.5-point road favroites, with the total posted at 154.5 points

Here are some of the NCAA college basketball betting trends relative to this matchup:

* TENN has won 12 of its last 13 games SU

* TENN has played four of its last five games UNDER the total

* TENN has covered four of its last six road games

* TENN has won four of its last five road games SU

* TENN has played four of its last five road games UNDER the total

* ALA has lost four of its last five games SU

* ALA has won eight of its last 11 home games SU

* ALA has covered the last eight meetings

* ALA has won seven of the last eight meetings SU

* ALA has won and covered the last five meetings as the home team

* Four of the last five meetings at Alabama have gone OVER the total

Let's preface this by saying that Alabama has dominated things in this seris, covering the last eight meetings and winning seven of them straight-up.

How can a team with two losses be ranked #1 by the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) despite the presence of two unbeaten teams? Well, it's because Tennessee played tough non-conference games against the likes of Texas, West Virginia, Xavier and Gonzaga before even starting the SEC conference schedule. You know, we respect Alabama's "Big Three" of Richard Hendrix (19.4 ppg), Alonzo Gee (15.9 ppg) and Mykal Riley (13.3 ppg), but beyond them no one is averaging as many as seven points.

The Volunteers can go much deeper, with scorers on hand like the Smith crew (JaJuan, Ramar and Tyler, combining for 36 ppg), as well as Chris Lofton, whose scoring is down (14.5 ppg) but for the good of the team in general. This is a very high-octane offense (84.5 ppg, sixth nationally), and this team got better on the inside as Duke Crews has returned to action, having been cleared to play after being diagnosed with a heart condition.

It's not been the easiest thing in the world for Alabama to replace point guard Ronald Steele, who is out for the year with an injury. And tempo will be important against this Vol squad that goes 100 mph on both ends. Despite the runaway win on Saturday over an Auburn team with seven scholarship players, we still have little interest in this Tide team that has lost by seven points or more to every good team they've played.

Despite the series trends, we'll lay the lumber with Tennessee, the 4.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds.

BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds: TENNESSEE -4.5, Total 154.5

JAY'S PLAY: TENNESSEE

Go to the BetUS.com online sportsbook today to bet on NCAA basketball. We have the most current NCAA basketball odds and lines, as well as player and game props. Join BetUS.com to experience the best in online sports betting action!

(Charles Jay of TotalActionExtra.com gives it the old college try as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)