Big East Tournament Betting – Rutgers vs. Cincinnati

Getting past the absurdity of the venue’s name, the Fifth Third Arena will host one of the opening round matchups in the vaunted Big East Tournament. Neither Rutgers nor Cincinnati is really expected to knock Syracuse off the top of the mountain, but if they want that chance, the first order of business is a win tonight. Cincinnati is getting the nod from the oddsmakers, but do they deserve it?

There’s a hardcore group of Cincinnati fans out there that simply can’t get enough of this team, largely because they’ve been considered a “tough basketball school” ever since Kenyon Martin attended the program. Hell, even I have his Cincinnati jersey hanging somewhere in my closet. Still, if those guys are betting on Bearcats basketball, they’re probably black and blue in the wallet. The Bearcats are 1-5 SU/ATS in their past 6 games and are winless against the spread in their last 5 home stands.

Against Rutgers, Cincinnati has been pretty dominant winning this year’s matchup 65-58 on Rutgers’ home turf. In fact, the Bearcats haven’t lost to the Knights in three years giving them a 3-0 SU/ATS record against the very team they’ll play tonight.

Cincinnati’s recent woes don’t come without some form of asterix either. They’re last three games were against ranked opponents but that doesn’t necessarily justify losing to the spread so badly. Against Georgetown, they were crushed 74-47 with a dwindling -7.5 point line in favor of the Hoyas. They also lost to Villanova and West Virginia and barely beat DePaul, the worst team in the Big East, by a score of 74-69.

In conference play, the Bearcats are just 7-11 SU which is only mildly better than Rutgers’ 5-13 SU record. Yet one thing that you have to love about Cincinnati is that they do, indeed, play tough defense. It’s one of the marquees of the program, and clamping down an offense that ranks just 209th in the country shouldn’t be too difficult.

Tuesday, March 9th --- Fifth Third Arena --- 9:00pm EST
: Cincinnati -8 (131.5)

Rutgers isn’t exactly a juggernaut in the sports betting world, and a 2-3-1 ATS record in their past 6 games is cringing. The caliber of their opponents hasn’t been that bad either, as they’ve lost to Seton Hall twice in the past two weeks. Yikes.

Making it more unfathomable to side with Rutgers is their horrific 2-6-1 ATS record in the past 9 games on the road. This is a team that has trouble putting up points to begin with, but when they’re forced on the road they do even worse. Their scoring average drops to just 64.9 points per game when they’re playing away from Jersey.

So the oddsmakers have a more than fair line up on this game and I suggest you trust their judgment. The Bearcats have too many advantages in this game, from strong matchups underneath the rim, to their stifling defense playing a road offense that is inept to begin with. Simply put, they’re just a better basketball team.