Posted on 3/12/2008 6:58:01 PM

NCAA Basketball Point Spraeds - Oregon State Beavers vs. Arizona Wildcats

By DS Williamson

Oregon State Beavers (+ 18.5) vs. Arizona Wildcats (- 18.5)

Tip-off: 11:30 pm EST.

The biggest news regarding this game is the fact that coach Lute Olsen will be returning to the Arizona Wildcats next season. Why is that big? Well, right now the Cats play for Kevin O’Neill. Although O’Neill and Olsen are friends, they have very different coaching styles. Olsen is more hands-off then O’Neill. Olsen is a different sort of motivator. I’m curious to see how Arizona’s youngsters respond tonight to the news that Old Man Olsen is returning to coach them next season. Will they step up and play well? Or, will they crumble and just give up on this year?

Oregon State is a horrible team. Against the BetUS spread these guys are 9-18-1 on the season. They’ve won only 6 games straight-up this season. That makes Oregon State the worst team in the ultra-tough Pac-10. Here are more trends.

The Oregon State Beavers are 3-13-1 against the spread in their last 16 games versus a team from the Pac-10.

The Arizona Wildcats are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games following a straight-up loss.

The Arizona Wildcats are 6-1-1 against the spread in their last 8 games on a Wednesday night.

The Oregon State Beavers are 5-16-1 against the spread in their last 22 overall games.

The last time these two teams met the Wildcats beat the Beavers 81 to 45. The problem for the Beavers is that they can’t score. The most points that the Beavers have scored in a single game this season is 76 against the Cal Golden Bears back in early February.

Even though I have my doubts regarding Arizona’s toughness, and Olsen’s announcement that he’s returning certainly doesn’t convince me that the Cats will play better tonight then they have all season, I can’t see the Cats giving up more then 50 to 55 points in this game.

If the Cats hit 74 points in this game, they cover. To me, that makes this an easy call. Arizona should have no issues beating the Beavers by 20 to 30 points in this game. None at all.

The BetUS college basketball line is Arizona Wildcats – 18.5 against the spread at a neutral site versus the Oregon State Beavers.

My money will be on Arizona to cover the spread tonight.

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