Posted on 3/6/2008 4:35:57 PM

College Basketball Picks - Stanford Cardinal vs. UCLA Bruins

By D.S. Williamson

Stanford Cardinal (+ 8.5) vs. UCLA Bruins (- 8.5)

Tip-off: 11:00 pm EST.

The last time these two Pac-10 heavyweights met the Bruins beat the Cardinal by 9 points. UCLA was on the road that day which would explain why the BetUS line is so high against the Cardinal even though Stanford is ranked in the top-ten. Both of these teams are very, very good. But against the BetUS spread neither team has been all that spectacular. UCLA is 7 and 3 against the BetUS spread in their last 10 games, but only 7-6-1 against the BetUS spread at home this season.

Stanford has gone 7 and 4 against the BetUS spread on the road this season but has gone 6 and 4 against the spread in their last 10 games. There are no injuries to either team. The trends below become even more important in light of that fact.

The Stanford Cardinal is 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games on the road.

The UCLA Bruins are 5 and 0 against the spread in their last 5 games on a Thursday night.

The Stanford Cardinal is 6 and 2 against the spread in the last 8 meetings between these two teams in UCLA.

The Road Team is 12 and 5 against the spread in the last 17 meetings between these two teams.

This is a rivalry game. Rivalry games are usually played close and I don’t see how this one should be any different. As good as UCLA is, Josh Shipp, one of UCLA’s most reliable players in the past, has been in a tremendous funk. He’s afraid to shoot the ball. That means that UCLA must rely on Kevin Love and Darren Collison to carry the load tonight.

Both players, Love and Collison, are terrific but Love will have his hands full with the Stanford twin-duo of Brook and Robin Lopez. Even though both fellas have girl names and have a deep love for Disney characters, I won’t hold that against them.

They’ll man-up enough tonight to keep Love under control. All they have to do is make sure that both of them together are even with Love at the end. That should be enough for Stanford to keep the game within the BetUS line.

The BetUS NCAAB Betting line is Stanford Cardinal + 8.5 against the spread on the road versus the UCLA Bruins.

I like Stanford to beat the spread tonight.

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