Cardinal and Wildcats square off in top-five showdown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

12/31/2011 - Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Instate rivals close out their respective 2011 campaigns this afternoon in Lexington, as the third-ranked Kentucky Wildcats play host to the fourth-ranked Louisville Cardinals.

Rick Pitino's Cardinals opened the season with 12 straight victories, but suffered their first defeat in opening up Big East play this week, falling at home to nationally-ranked Georgetown, 71-68. Still, Louisville's 12-1 start is its best since the 2003-04 season. Pitino is certainly know stranger to Kentucky, as he led the Wildcats to three Final Four appearances, as well as a national title in 1996.

John Calipari's Wildcats are also 12-1 on the season, but their lone loss came back on December 10th at Indiana (73-72). Since then, Kentucky has strung together four straight victories, including an 86-64 drubbing of Lamar this week. Kentucky holds the nation's longest current homecourt winning streak at 43 games.

The Wildcats hold a 28-14 edge in the series and have won the last two meetings, including a 78-63 decision last year in Louisville.

Louisville trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half this week against Georgetown, but the comeback bid fell short in a three-point loss to the Hoyas. Kyle Kuric led the offensive charge for the Cardinals with 17 points. Peyton Siva and Russ Smith added 15 and 14 points, respectively. The Cardinals were only able to shoot a modest .417 from the floor in the game and were outrebounded by the Hoyas 38-32. The Cardinals are at their best when they can impose their defensive will on opponents, which wasn't the case against Georgetown. On the season, Louisville is limiting the opposition to just 58.0 ppg, holding them well under 40 percent shooting (.371). In addition, Louisville also possesses a +5.8 rebounding margin. Kuric is the team's leading scorer at 13.5 ppg, followed by Smith's 10.8 ppg. Sophomore center Gorgui Dieng has been strong in the middle, averaging a double-double with 10.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.

Kentucky may be young, but the team has shown great poise and balance at both ends of the floor this season. The Wildcats come into this contest with an impressive +23.5 scoring margin, tops in the SEC. The team is shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor (.498) and is netting 82.1 ppg, while holding foes to a mere 59.1 ppg, on a national best 35.2 percent accuracy overall. Kentucky also leads the nation in blocked shots (9.4 per game), is outrebounding opponents by almost seven boards per game and is forcing nearly 15 turnovers. The scoring pool is deep, with six players averaging double figures. Doron Lamb leads the offensive charge with 15.8 ppg. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is next in line with 13.5 ppg, followed by Terrence Jones (12.1 ppg), Anthony Davis (11.6 ppg), Marquis Teague (11.2 ppg) and Darius Miller (10.5 ppg). Davis is yet another freshman phenom for Calipari, as in addition to his scoring, he has been a dominant force down low with 10.2 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game. In the win over Lamar, Kidd-Gilchrist led the way with 18 points. Miller and Teague finished with 15 points apiece, while Lamb tacked on 12. Davis recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while swatting six shots.

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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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