Posted on 3/13/2008 5:31:10 PM

NCAAB - Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Florida Gators

By DS Williamson

Alabama Crimson Tide (+ 3) vs. Florida Gators (- 3)

Tip-off: 7:30 pm EST.

The Florida Gators, two-time defending National Champions, are actually on the bubble. That’s right. If they don’t play well in the SEC Conference Tournament, then they might not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament. That would be a shame as the Gators are a better team then what their record reflects. Against the BetUS spread, the Gators have gone an atrocious 2 and 8 in their last 10. They are 11 and 11 against the BetUS spread overall this year.

Alabama is a pretty awful college basketball team. They have comprised a 16 and 15 straight-up record and a 10 and 15 overall against the BetUS spread record this year. In their last ten, though, the Crimson Tide has gone an even 5 and 5 against the BetUS spread. Here are more trends.

The Alabama Crimson Tide is 5 and 0 against the spread in their last 5 games versus a team with a winning percentage above .600.

The Florida Gators are 4 and 0 against the spread in their last 4 games on a Thursday night.

The Florida Gators are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games as a favorite of between .5 and 6.5 points.

The Alabama Crimson Tide is 2-5-1 against the spread in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.

The last time these two teams met the Gators beat the Crimson Tide by 7 points. Because this is a conference tournament game, the BetUS line is much lower. At 3 points there really isn’t any reason not to wager on the Florida Gators in this game.

I just have to believe that Florida coach Billy Donovan will make his team understand how important this game actually is. Even though Florida won two straight NCAA Championships, they have to consistently make the NCAA Tournament, with or without players like Joakim Noah, if they want to be considered in the same class as the Dukes, North Carolinas, Arizonas, and Kansases.

Winning the championship is special, but what really separates one program from another is its ability to be consistently good year in and year out. I’m not sure if Florida qualifies as one of the great programs until Billy Donovan takes a team into the tournament with ten losses or more, and then upsets a major favorite.

Because I have tons of faith in Donovan, I’m going to say that Florida makes a statement versus the Crimson Tide tonight. They should win this game by at least 10 points and shatter the BetUS spread.

The BetUS NCAAB line is Florida Gators – 3 against the spread versus the Alabama Crimson Tide.

I like Florida to cover.

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