NIT Betting Odds: St John’s vs Memphis

Norm Roberts is a guy in limbo right now. The St. John's coach may soon be the ex-St. John's coach, because the general feeling on the part of the administration, alumni and press is that the program has enough talent to make it into the NCAA Tournament, and the failure to do that warrants a move.

St. John's Red Storm (17-15 SU, 15-14 ATS) at Memphis Tigers (23-9 SU, 10-17 ATS)
NIT Tournament
Wednesday, March 17 - 9 PM ET

NCAA Basketball Lines: MEMPHIS -6.5, Total 133.5

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

• STJ has lost four of its last six games SU
• STJ has covered five of its last six road games
• STJ has won four of its last six road games SU
• STJ has lost 18 of its last 25 road games SU
• MEM has covered two of its last six games
• MEM has won seven of its last nine games SU
• MEM has played eleven of its last 16 games OVER the total
• MEM has covered one of its last six home games
• MEM has won four of its last five home games SU
• MEM has played six of its last nine home games OVER the total

The tough part about this whole thing is that the St. John's Red Storm players really like their coach, and would like to do something to help him keep his job if it is possible. It may be too late by this time, but I would expect a big effort from the Red Storm nonetheless.

It's not like they aren't capable of a strong performance. St. John's put together some nice non-conference wins, over Siena and Temple, just to name a couple, and they beat Louisville, Notre Dame and Cincinnati in the regular season, then blasted out U-Conn in the Big East tournament before finally losing to Marquette by two points in what was a sensational game. This team has several players it can look to for a bucket, and this is a tough team to deal with on the boards, with DJ Kennedy, the best all-around player on the squad, leading the club in rebounds with 6.1 and points with 15 a game.

Memphis has found that life after Calipari can be rough. Of course, when John Calipari leaves a program, he usually does so in the wake of scandal and upheaval. This year's club was 10-17 ATS in the NCAA basketball lines. Hey, not that Memphis doesn't have talent left over; indeed, the Tigers have four starters who have averaged in double digits, including swingman Wesley Witherspoon and veteran guard Willie Kemp. Elliot Williams, a transfer from Duke, has been adequate at the point guard position, but he hasn't provided the kind of leadership or energy that was supplied by either Derrick Rose or Tyreke Evans before him, and that is one of the reasons why Conference USA was not as kind to Memphis Tigers as it has been in the past.

The Tigers finished second in the league standings this year, behind UTEP, and got only as far as the semi-finals, where they were upset by eventual tournament champion Houston. As a result, no NCAA bid for this team.

One of the things St. John’s has going for it is that it has competed in a vastly superior conference, and for that reason the FedEx Forum crowd, which is used to something more meaningful, is not likely to be very intimidating to them. This is a substantial number to be affording that kind of team. We'll take it with St. John's, the 6.5-point underdog in the NCAA basketball lines, and if they don't win, Roberts' firing will absolutely, positively have to be done overnight.

JAY'S PLAY: ST. JOHN'S +6.5 ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)