Posted on 2/28/2008 4:52:02 PM

College Basketball Betting - CONNECTICUT at RUTGERS

By Charles Jay

BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds: CONNECTICUT -10.5, Total 135

The Huskies of U-Conn (21-6 SU, 11-10-2 ATS), who had their applecart upset a bit this past weekend, will look to rebound from that defeat when they visit the great state of New Jersey to play the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (10-18 SU, 7-16-1 ATS) in a Big East game scheduled to tip off at 7:30 PM ET at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway.

In the BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds, Connecticut is listed as a 10.5-point favorite, with a total of 135 points.

Here are some of the NCAAB betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* CONN has won 10 of its last 11 games SU

* CONN has played seven of its last nine games UNDER the total

* CONN has covered seven of its last 22 road games

* CONN has won four of its last five road games SU

* RUT is 1-5-1 ATS in its last seven games

* RUT has lost its last seven games SU

* RUT has played seven of its last ten games OVER the total

* RUT has covered two of its last six home games

* RUT has lost six of its last seven home games SU

* CONN has covered nine of the last 13 meetings

* CONN has won the last six meetings SU

* Five of the last seven meetings have gone OVER the total

* CONN has had the shooting edge in each of the last six meetings

* CONN has had the rebounding edge in six of the last seven meetings

* RUT has made more three-pointers in four of the last five meetings

U-Conn went to Villanova on Saturday and came away with a 67-65 defeat at the Wachovia Center. That does not necessarily mean the death of the program; after all, Villanova has been on a recent upswing and gotten itself back into tournament contention. Hey - U-Conn is not very far removed from scoring wins over Notre Dame, Marquette, Indiana, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Meanwhile, what does Rutgers have to offer in the way of resistance, really? The Knights are a poor shooting team (under 40% for the season, under 40% in four of their last five games); they can't make their free throws with any regularity (64.7%, and at or under that in four of the last five); they shoot 32% from beyond the arc; they turn the ball over a lot more (15.2 a game), and they've triumphed in one home game since Big East play began.

More significantly perhaps for us here, Rutgers has lost nine conference games by double digits. So the Huskies, with a +8 rebounding margin and the huge shot blocking force in the middle (7'3" Haseem Thabeet) loom as the play here. We lay the points with U-Conn, the 10.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: CONNECTICUT

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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)