Posted on 3/10/2008 5:41:11 PM

College Basketball Odds - WESTERN KENTUCKY vs. ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK

By Charles Jay

BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds: WESTERN KY. -9, Total 129.5

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (25-6 SU, 15-13 ATS), hopeful of getting to the Sun Belt Conference championship game and another shot at South Alabama, will have to first get by the Trojans of Arkansas-Little Rock (20-10 SU, 12-13-1 ATS) in the conference semifinals that will begin at 10 PM ET on Monday night at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, AL.

In the BetUS NCAAB betting odds, Western Kentucky is listed as a nine-point favorite, with a total of 129.5 points.

Here are some of the NCAA basketball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* WKY has won 15 of its last 16 games SU

* WKY has played 12 of its last 18 games UNDER the total

* ALR has won and covered its last five games

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

* ALR has covered six of the last seven meetings

* WKY has won 14 of the last 18 meetings SU

* Four of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total

* WKY has had the shooting edge in four of the last six meetings

* WKY has made more three-pointers in seven of the last ten meetings

Arkansas-Little Rock comes into this game on a roll, having won and covered its last five, but those games were against weaker sisters of the conference, including Florida Atlantic and Louisiana-Monroe. But opportunistic WKU (7.6 steals a game), which beat UALR by 24 points in their only meeting this season, can take advantage of the Trojans' sloppiness with the basketball (16 turnovers a game).

So can the Hilltoppers extend this lead in the process of getting the chance to play for the Sun Belt title, which would give it an automatic NCAA bid? Well, eight of WKU's last nine wins have come by double digits. And UALR is not much for closing leads with long-range bombing (just over five three-pointers a contest).

Western Kentucky is considered to be on the NCAA bubble, because if South Alabama winds up winning the conference tournament, there may not be an at-large bid coming out of the Sun Belt. We will expect the best effort out of the Hilltoppers tonight, and so we will lay the points with WKU, the nine-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: WESTERN KENTUCKY

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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com gives it the old college try as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)