Posted on 3/18/2008 5:33:04 PM

NCAA NIT Basketball Betting - Rhode Island at Creighton

By Charles Jay

BetUS NCAA basketball betting odds: Creighton -7

The Rhode Island Rams (21-11 SU, 13-15-2 ATS) had an incredibly disappointing end to their season, and they will try to make up for some of that when they travel to Omaha to visit the Creighton Blue Jays (21-10 SU, 14-12-1 ATS), who were a little upset about being left out of the Big Dance, in a first-round NIT game that is set to tip off at 10 PM ET on Tuesday at the Qwest Center.

At BetUS Sportsbook, Creighton is listed as a seven-point favorite.

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

* URI has covered one of its last nine games

* URI has lost seven of its last eight games

* URI has played six of its last eight games OVER the total

* URI has covered one of its last five road games

* URI has lost four of its last six road games SU

* URI has played eight of its last 12 road games OVER the total

* CREI has won four of its last six games SU

* CREI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total

* CREI has covered four of its last five home games

* CREI has won its last six home games SU

* CREI has played five of its last six home games OVER the total

Although they did register wins over Syracuse and NIT contestant Brown, there is no question that Rhode Island played a relatively weak non-conference schedule, which eventually hurt them with the RPI. The Rams beat a couple of the teams that, like them, were bunched up pretty closely in the Atlantic 10 (all below Xavier, of course), but they really faded down the stretch, beating only defenseless LaSalle over the last month. And Rhode Island has struggled on the defensive end as well, giving up almost 77 points a game on the road.

Jimmy Baron exploded for 25 points in the A-10 tournament loss to Charlotte, but he was nine for his last 27 attempts from beyond the arc coming into that one. Hey, we're not crazy about Creighton, which was maybe not even among the top three Missouri Valley teams. But the Blue Jays played 15 games against teams that made the post-season, and emerged victorious in seven of those games. They covered nine of their 14 home games.

Meanwhile, if not for that quick start, Rhode Island would be a team absent from anybody's radar screen. Will Daniels is often left in a position where it has to do things by himself. And that will not work. We'll lay the points with Creighton, the seven-point favorite in the BetUS March madness betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: CREIGHTON

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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)