Posted on
1/7/2008 3:57:15 PM
NCAA Basketball Betting – San Jose at Santa Clara
By Charles Jay
San Jose State Spartans (6-7 SU, 3-7 ATS)
Santa Clara Broncos (8-6 SU, 5-7 ATS), Steve Nash's alma mater, in college basketball action scheduled to begin at 10 PM ET from the Leavey Center in Santa Clara.
In the BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds, Santa Clara is listed as an 11-point favorite. On the BetUS money line, Santa Clara is -750, with San Jose State at +550.
Here are some of the NCAA college basketball betting trends and stats relative to this matchup:
* SJSU has won four of its last 25 road games SU
* SC has won the last five meetings SU
* SC has won four of the last five meetings at home
* SC has covered one of its last six games
* SC has won two of its last six games SU
* SC has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
* SC has won seven of its last nine home games SU
* SC has had the shooting edge in each of the last four meetings
* SJSU is shooting 41.1% field goals
* SC is shooting 49.8% field goals
* SC is giving up 42.2% shooting by opponents
* SC is averaging seven offensive rebounds per game
* SC is giving up 58 points per game at home
* SJSU is averaging 7.5 steals a game
San Jose State has already exceeded last year's total of five wins. That's the good news. The bad news is that this year's edition doesn't have any significant wins as of yet. The Spartans have been making some impressive comebacks, but the problem is that they're getting way behind. And George Nessman doesn't quite know what to do about it, so he's going to shuffle the rotation around.
That might bring some answers, but it might not. In terms of waging these comebacks, because the Spartans don't make a lot of three-pointers (just 4.4 per game, in fact), they have to rely on the other team to get cold. Not much chance of that happening against the Broncos, who have sizzled with 49% shooting this season. And how long a slump could these Broncs possibly get into as long as they are reliant upon center Josh Bryant, who is scoring 18 points a game on 59% shooting?
We certainly respect that freshman guard Justin Graham (13.2 ppg) is a genuine offensive threat for SJSU, and his 29 points in the recent loss to Hawaii marks him as potentially dangerous and explosive. But he had to get to the line 17 times to rack up those numbers, and he's not going to run the lane against the intimidating Bryant, who has almost two blocks per game. In this season's previous meeting, Bryant had 21 points and 12 rebounds to key a 73-63 Santa Clara win in which it covered as a five-point road favorite. The Broncos have won five straight against San Jose, with two of those being double-digit wins at home.
We think they'll do it again. Let's lay the points with the team that has the effective big man in this game. That's Santa Clara, the 11-point favorite in the BetUS NCAAB betting odds.
BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds: SANTA CLARA -11
JAY'S PLAY: SANTA CLARA
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(Charles Jay of TotalActionExtra.com lives within a stone's throw of the Notre Dame campus. And believe us, he's thrown some stones at it. He currently is a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)