CBI College Basketball Betting Line – Indiana State to Battle St. Louis

Larry Legend lives college basketball fans!

Okay, okay. So it’s not a second-coming of one of the greatest roundball players in history, but at least Bird’s old school, the Indiana State Sycamores, are back in the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade.

Indiana State will hit the road to battle the Saint Louis Billikens at Chaifetz Arena at 8 p.m. tonight in the first round of the 16-team College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Tuesday, March 16, 9:00 PM ET
TV: HDNet

NCAAB Betting Odds: St. Louis -7.5

Indiana State (17-14 SU, 17-11 ATS, 12-10-1 O/U)
St. Louis (20-11 SU, 15-10-1 ATS, 11-12 O/U)

This is the also first postseason tourney game for the Billikens since the 2004 NIT.

SLU finished fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference with an 11-5 league mark while Indiana State went a respectable 9-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The winner of this game advances to a March 22 quarterfinal game against either Akron or Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Indiana State 411

• Sycamores are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
• Sycamores are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall.

The Sycamores have lost three of four including a 69-65 loss to Illinois State on Friday. Indiana State did manage to cash in for college basketball betting backers as 6-point road underdogs as sophomore guard Dwayne Lathan scored a game-high 27 points to help his team move to 2-0 ATS over the last two games and 5-1 ATS over the last six games overall.

This is Indiana State's first postseason appearance since the 2001 NCAA Tournament. The best known Sycamores team in school history was the 1978-79 squad led by Larry Bird that lost to Michigan State and Magic Johnson in the 1979 NCAA championship game.

ISU's top players are senior guard Harry Marshall (13.7 ppg), sophomore guard Dwayne Lathan (12.9 ppg) and senior guard Rashad Reed (9.9 ppg, 56 3-pointers, 71 assists). Indiana State averages 66.4 points per game while allowing 66.5 per contest defensively.

Saint Louis 411

• Billikens are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
• Billikens are 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 games as a favorite.
• Billikens are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games.

St. Louis has alternated wins and losses over the last six games and got spanked by Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, losing to their league rivals 63-47 while never coming close to covering the NCAA basketball betting line as a 3.5-point underdog. Kwamain Mitchell scored a team-high 18 points as the Billikens fell to 1-2 ATS over the last three games. St. Louis averages 63.3 points per game while allowing 59.8 points per game defensively.

Analysis: I think this matchup is an interesting matchup of two teams that recorded similar results this season – in two totally opposite fashions.

The Indiana State Sycamores generally overachieved to record their winning record this season while the Saint Louis Billikens underachieved nearly all season long before finding a bit of consistency down the stretch that they couldn’t maintain over their final few regular season games and into the A-10 Tournament.