Posted on 3/29/2008 5:31:50 PM

March Madness Betting - Davidson vs. Kansas Only Eight Teams Left

By Charles Jay

BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds: Kansas -9, Total 144.5

The magic carpet ride for the Davidson Wildcats (29-6 SU, 23-10 ATS) continues, as they have an opportunity to play their way into the Final Four if they can beat the Kansas Jayhawks (34-3 SU, 19-14-2 ATS) in the final of the Midwest Regional of the NCAA tournament, scheduled to tip off at 5:05 PM ET at Ford Field in Detroit.

At BetUS Sportsbook, Kansas is listed as a nine-point favorite, with a total of 144.5 points.

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

* DAV has covered six of its last seven games

* DAV has won its last 25 games SU

* DAV has played seven of its last 11 games UNDER the total

* KAN has covered four of its last five games

* KAN has won its last ten games SU

* KAN has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total

Kansas has come through this tournament without a real challenge, having dusted off smallish Villanova in Friday night's action, winning by 15 and covering the 12.5-point spread. The Jayhawks have shot 54%, 58% and 53% from the field in each of their three games in the Big Dance.

The Jayhawks will cherish the opportunity to run up and down the court in the pursuit of turning this into a game where they force Davidson to trade points with them. And they present a different set of problems than Wisconsin did for the Wildcats in the last round of play. For one thing, as we mentioned, they prefer to fast break, even after made baskets, while the Badgers were a team that were more interested in setting up in a halfcourt offense. For another, while Kansas has the capacity to hit from long range, they will also go inside with as much force as anyone, and they have an All-America caliber player to do it with in Darrell Arthur.

We expect that they will try to shadow Stephon Curry again, just like Wisconsin did. But honestly, if Michael Flowers, one of the top defensive players in the country, was unable to do it successfully enough, we doubt the ability of Mario Chalmers (who we imagine gets the assignment) to do it either. The way Curry moves without the ball is uncanny, a lot like Reggie Miller. And his teammates do very well in setting screens for him.

Davidson is demonstrating that it is a team that isn't just composed of Curry. Jason Richards isn't the nation's assists leader just because he dumps the ball off to the sharpshooter. He makes an awful lot of plays, and has been a vital factor in getting other players involved in the offense, so as to keep opposing defenses honest.

Curry, who has scored 34 points a game in the tournament while making slightly moe than half his shots, is a force that by this time needs no introduction. But the pleasant surprise for the Wildcats has been the play of the big people, namely Andrew Lovedale, who is 14-of-23 in the tourney, Thomas Sander and Boris Meno, whose contributions have been seen mostly on the defensive end.

Davidson does not match up physically, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Wildcats have hung in there with the likes of Duke, North Carolina and UCLA (leading the Bruins by 18 at one time in the game), and have now beaten Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin in consecutive contests. If they've played the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, this pace won't blow them away. There's no reason they shouldn't be able to stick around till the end.

We're taking the nine points with Davidson, the underdog in the BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: DAVIDSON

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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)