Posted on
3/21/2008 2:25:48 PM
NCAA Tournament Betting - St. Joseph's vs. Oklahoma
By Charles Jay
BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds: Oklahoma -1, Total 127.5
Two teams with great front court stars will get together in the first round of the NCAA tournament's East Regional on Friday night, when the St. Joseph's Hawks (21-12 SU, 19-12 ATS) tackle the Oklahoma Sooners (22-11 SU, 14-16 ATS) in a game that begins at 7:10 PM ET at the BJCC Arena in Charlotte.
At BetUS Sportsbook, Oklahoma is listed as a one-point favorite, with a total of 127.5 points.
Here are some of the NCAA college basketball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* STJ has won and covered four of its last six games
* STJ has won 17 of its last 25 games SU
* STJ has played six of its last eight games UNDER the total
* OKLA has covered six of its last 18 games
* OKLA has won four of its last five games SU
* OKLA has played its last seven games UNDER the total
St. Joseph's certainly played well enough when they had to, taking a 61-53 decision over Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament in what was their second win in three tries against the Musketeers. It was their bad luck that they had to run into a hot Temple team in the A-10 finals, but no harm done, because the Hawks got their at-large bid anyway. Phil Martelli, who almost took St. Joe's to an unbeaten season once (remember that?) almost always has his team in the right mental frame of mind
Oklahoma has the standout freshman player in Blake Griffin, who averaged 15 points and over nine rebounds a game, and had 20 points with 13 boards in the Big 12 tournament loss to Texas. And Longar Longar, the center, came back from injuries to make some nice contributions down the stretch. But St. Joe's, with all-conference performer Pat Calathes (18 ppg) and Ahmad Nivins, who makes his shots count (14.5 ppg on 65% FG's), has more than enough to match up. And we haven't even mentioned 6'8" Hawks forward Rob Ferguson, who can shoot the three (42%).
And despite his outstanding effort against Texas, we worry that Griffin knee, which has just recently been through an arthroscopic surgery, may be vulnerable. One problem we can be sure about is that defensive-minded Oklahoma has had problems all year long establishing some leadership in the backcourt.
We're going to take the point with St. Joseph's, the underdog in the BetUS college basketball betting odds, and we look for the kids from Philly to advance.
JAY'S PLAY: ST. JOSEPH'S
(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com gives it the old college try as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)
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