Posted on 2/21/2008 4:04:34 PM

College Basketball Betting: Arizona vs. Washington

By D.S. Williamson

Arizona Wildcats (+ 1.5) vs. Washington Huskies (- 1.5)

The Arizona Wildcats are at 16 and 9 straight-up this season. They have to win tonight in order to start convincing the NCAA Tournament selection committee that they deserve a berth in the tournament. According to their record against the BetUS spread lately, that win is very possible. The Wildcats have gone 7 and 3 against the BetUS spread in their last 10 games. Nice! The Huskies have been not so great going 4 and 6 against the BetUS spread in their last 10.

Here are more trends:

The Arizona Wildcats are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games on the road.

The Arizona Wildcats are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games as an underdog.

The Arizona Wildcats are 4 and 1 against the spread in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.

Desperation calls for great play from great players and the great player in this case is freshman point-guard Jeryd Bayless for the Arizona Wildcats. He is unstoppable when he gets going. Pair Bayless with Chase Budinger and the Wildcats are actually good enough to upset some of the best teams in college basketball.

The same can’t be said for the Washington Huskies who play with heart but just don’t have that one player that can turn them into Pac-10 contenders. They will play tough in this game, but their backs aren’t against the wall and they have no dreams of making the NCAA Tournament.

That means that the Wildcats should get a lead late in the game and hang on to if for a much needed win. The NCAA Tournament selection committee is dying to put the Wildcats into the Big Dance. Heck, the Wildcats have made it to the Big Dance every year since the mid 1980’s. That means that all the Wildcats have to do is win this game outright and give up maybe one more game this year at they’re in, Becky!

Because of that I like the Wildcats. They’ve played the toughest schedule of any team in college basketball this season. That toughness should come through tonight.

The BetUS line is Arizona Wildcats + 1.5 against the spread on the road versus the Washington Huskies.

I’m betting on the Wildcats to win this one straight-up.

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