NCAA Basketball Betting Odds - James Madison vs. Ohio State

Thursday, November 12 - 7 PM ET

BetUS NCAA Basketball Betting Odds: OHIO STATE -17

This game is part of second round action in the 2K Sports Classic, and Ohio State opened its season with an easy 100-60 (I guess that's redundant) victory over Alcorn State.

Here are some of the NCAA betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• JMU has covered nine of its last 13 games
• JMU has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
• JMU has lost five of its last six road games SU
• JMU has played five of its last seven road games OVER the total
• OSU has covered four of its last five games
• OSU has won five of its last seven games SU
• OSU has won 21 of its last 25 home games SU

Ohio State has a couple of players banged up for this one. Dallas Lauderdale, who gives this team a strong inside presence, especially on the defensive end, was out for the opener with a broken finger, while Zisis Sarikopoulos, who is eligible after transferring from UAB, is listed as day-to-day with a knee injury, but he played in the opener against Alcorn State. Sarikopoulos is obviously going to have an adjustment period, because he committed four fouls in a period of 14 minutes, and was dominated on the defensive end. Kyle Madsen was the guy who was taking Lauderdale's place, and he was not a big factor.

Okay, the good news is coming. Lauderdale, in all likelihood, is going to be cleared by game time to play, and if he's in there that will improve what is already a formidable defensive lineup, when you consider Ohio State also has a healthy David Lightly, a real stopper who was also their on-court leader.

Lightly is all set to deliver some bad news to James Madison's standout sophomore Julius Wells, who was the rookie of the year in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) last season and is, like him, 6'5". Devon Moore, also slated to start for JMU at guard, is out for the year, having torn his ACL. Denzel Bowles, who was going to give this team some size, is not going to be eligible after his transfer from Texas A&M until the second school semester.

The dynamic Evan Turner, Ohio State's All-American candidate, is going to assume more of a position of "point forward" this season, literally bring the ball up the court. When he's paired with 6'5" Wiliam Buford, a soph who is going to be a star, or 6'6" Jon Diebler, he creates all kinds of matchup problems for opponents. Coach Thad Matta is counting on it.

James Madison was not pegged to be a principal contender in the CAA, and they certainly won't be at full strength until they get Bowles into the lineup and figure out a way to compensate for the absence of Moore. We'll go with Ohio State, the 17-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: OHIO STATE -17 ***
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)