CBI Tournament Odds: Indiana State vs Saint Louis
by Charles Jay
In the Missouri Valley Conference, Indiana State had a record of 9-9 and came fifth in the standings. This is the first time they will have played in any post-season tournament since they made the NCAA tourney field back in 2001. Of course, the school has not experienced any glory in college basketball since 1979, when they made it to the national championship game behind Larry Bird and another since forgotten player, Carl Nicks, who averaged almost 20 points that year (and almost 27 the next) before being drafted in the first round by the NBA.
Indiana State Sycamores (17-14 SU, 17-11 ATS) at Saint Louis Billikens (20-11 SU, 15-10-1 ATS)
CBI Tournament
Tuesday, March 16 - 9 PM ET
NCAA Basketball Betting Odds: SAINT LOUIS -8
Here are some of the NCAA basketball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
- ISU has covered five of its last six games
- ISU has played five of its last six games OVER the total
- ISU has covered 17 of its last 23 road games
- ISU has lost its last five road games SU
- STL has covered eight of its last ten games
- STL has won eight of its last 11 games SU
- STL has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total
- STL has covered seven of its last ten home games
- STL has won 19 of its last 25 home games SU
- STL has played four of its last five home games UNDER the total
Anyway, this year's edition of the ISU program isn't going to achieve glory, unless they rally to win the CBI tournament. To do that they must first get by this Saint Louis squad, which pressures the ball, but more importantly, is very adept at getting out to the perimeter to defend the three-pointer. In fact, the Billikens, statistically speaking, are the best in the country at thwarting three-point attempts, allowing only 27% shooting from beyond the arc. Since Indiana State has to be successful in its outside shooting, and outside shooting usually means three-pointers, this becomes a tough matchup for them.
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Where this might get even tougher is that Harry Marshall, who is ISU's best player, is out of this game with a foot injury that was re-aggravated in the Missouri Valley tournament against Illinois State. Marshall was a guy who could score without having to heave up a lot of three-pointers, so that is lost. ISU also comes in with a free throw percentage of over 77%, which would give it a big edge over Saint Louis' rather poor 61%, but Marshall, along with another injured guard, Jake Kelly, were the only regulars who were over 80%. Because there is no effective size to speak of, Indiana State, which might be a bit rusty after eleven days off, may have to go with long-range bombing anyway. This team has struggled to get above 40% from the floor in recent games.
The only saving grace for them could be that Saint Louis is not a very explosive team, and that they haven't scored more than 71 points since back on January 20. That's why we'll hold back on making this a bigger play, but we'll go with Majerus' team, which knows how to slow down an offense, and which has covered eight of its last ten games, laying eight in the NCAA basketball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: SAINT LOUIS -8 **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
