Cavs and 'Noles square off in ACC tussle

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

02/10/2009 - Tallahassee, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second time in less than three weeks, the Virginia Cavaliers and the Florida State Seminoles will meet in an ACC tilt, this time in Tallahassee.

On January 24th, Florida State beat Virginia in Charlottesville by a 73-62 final, cutting the Cavaliers' lead to 17-16 in the all-time series.

Virginia limps into this evening's tilt with a seven-game losing streak that has dropped the club to 7-12 overall and 1-7 in conference. The Cavs have lost by double digits in five of the seven setbacks, including a 76-61 loss at North Carolina on Saturday. Virginia is 1-6 in true road games, not exactly a reason for optimism tonight.

As for Florida State, it has won its last two outings, including an impressive 65-61 road win over an extremely talented Clemson squad on Saturday. At 18-5 overall and 5-3 in conference action, the Seminoles, who are ranked 25th in the country this week, are in outstanding position to claim an NCAA Tournament bid, although plenty of regular season challenges await in the loaded ACC.

There are a few obvious reasons that Virginia lost to North Carolina on Saturday. The Cavaliers connected on only 36.5 percent of their field goal attempts in the contest, and they were outrebounded by a 46-34 final. An 11-5 deficit in points from the foul line also helped the cause. Jeff Jones scored 19 points for Virginia in the setback, and Sylven Landesberg pitched in 16 points. Sammy Zeglinski rounded out a trio of double-digit scorers with 11 points off the bench. Through 19 outings, the Cavaliers are posting 72.3 ppg, slightly less than the 73.7 ppg that the team is surrendering. Landesberg is just a freshman, but he is scoring 17.9 ppg. Mike Scott adds 10.5 ppg and 7.6 rpg, while Zeglinski is netting 9.5 ppg.

Toney Douglas was outstanding in the thrilling triumph over Clemson last time out, as the standout guard led Florida State with 23 points. Solomon Alabi came through with 17 points and nine rebounds for the Seminoles, who earned a 36-28 rebounding advantage in the clash while also forcing 18 turnovers. FSU actually trailed by eight points at intermission after shooting 30 percent from the floor in the first half, but 51.7 percent field goal efficiency over the final 20 minutes enabled the Seminoles to claim the come-from-behind win. Douglas is racking up 20.3 ppg this season, and no other player on the roster is scoring more than 8.4 ppg. With that in mind, it is fair to say that no other player in the ACC means more to his team than Douglas.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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