Posted on
3/17/2008 5:54:51 PM
NCAA NIT Betting - Stephen F. Austin at Massachusetts
By Charles Jay
BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds: Massachusetts -9.5
The Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin (26-5 SU) open up first-round NIT action when they visit the Massachusetts Minutemen (21-10 SU, 14-14 ATS) on Tuesday night at 6 PM ET at the Mullins Memorial Center.
In the BetUS Sportsbook, U-Mass is listed as a 9.5-point favorite.
Here are some of the NCAA college basketball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* SFA has won 11 of its last 13 games SU
* SFA won 12 out of 15 road games SU
* MASS has covered five of its last seven games
* MASS has won six of its last seven games SU
* MASS has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
* MASS has covered three of its last ten home games
* MASS has won 20 of its last 25 home games SU
* MASS has played five of its last seven home games UNDER the total
Coming out of the Southland Conference, Stephen F. Austin lost in the conference tournament to Northwestern State, but had previously scored a road win over conference tournament champion Texas-Arlington. After a rather promising start, U-Mass ran over some rough terrain early in their Atlantic-10 season and closed strong before losing to Charlotte in the conference tournament.
They're going to look to play an up-tempo game, and have been hitting more threes than usual, with almost twelve per game over the last five. So it becomes a matter of whether the 'Jacks can slow the pace and test the patience of U-Mass.
The visitor can't be ignored, since the Lumberjacks registered back-to-back road wins against both Oklahoma and San Diego, who are in the NCAA tourney. And in those games they kept the opponent to 62 and 50 points, respectively. Texas Tech scored only 60 against them. And on four different occasions, they have held foes to 39 points or less.
For a team that is not intimidated, there is the chance that SFA is able to keep the Minutemen and their go-go style off-balance for the entire 40 minutes - cutting short those "minutes", if you pardon the pun.
We are going to take the points with Stephen F. Austin, the 9.5-point underdog in the BetUS March Madness betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
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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)