posted March 21, 2008 at 15:04 in NCAA B Articles

BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds: North Carolina -25, Total 150

On Friday night, the North Carolina Tar Heels (32-2 SU, 20-10-1 ATS) practically have a home game in their first round NCAA tournament matchup, as they take on the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (19-14 SU, 2-0 ATS) in the East Regional at RBC Center in Raleigh. Game time is 7:10 PM ET.

At BetUS Sportsbook, North Carolina is listed as a 25-point favorite, with a total of 150 points.

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

* MSM has won its last six games SU
* NC is 1-4-1 ATS in its last six games
* NC has won its last 11 games SU
* NC has played five of its last eight games OVER the total

Obviously the question here revolves around how motivated North Carolina is going to be to run the score up on Mount St. Mary's, who won the play-in game against Coppin State. The Northeast Conference champions, who lost 20 games last season, offer some capable guard play with Chris Vann and Jeremy Goode, a tandem averaging 28 points between them. But this club plays a three-guard offense where two of those guards are six feet or shorter, and there are two members of the starting lineup who are 6'7". So there isn't the kind of size that can contend with a demon inside scorer like Tyler Hansbrough (23 ppg, 10.3 rpg).

Let's not lose sight of the fact that the Mountaineers shot only 34.5% in their 69-60 win over Coppin State. It wouldn't be out of line to be highly skeptical about how Mount St. Mary's could possibly keep up with the high-octane Heels, who tally almost 89 points a game and pull down 41 rebounds per contest, which is the highest figure in the country.

When North Carolina had the opportunity, it rolled over inferior opposition, as wins by 35 over Iona, 46 over South Carolina State, 36 over Nevada, 32 over Valparaiso, 35 over UC-Santa Barbara and 35 over Penn would attest. And if you notice, there is an NIT team and a couple of CBI contestants in that group.

Perhaps in front of many home fans, Roy Williams' team won't dog it here either. Let's lay the points with North Carolina, the 25-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY:  NORTH CAROLINA

(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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