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NCAAB Betting: St. Joe’s vs. Texas

Get ready for March Madness with our 2008 NCAAB daily gambling matchup previews, picks, and predictions. The St. Joe’s Hawks play the Texas Longhorns tonight, we preview and pick this game…

NCAA College Basketball Betting Action – St. Joe’s vs. No. 8 Texas

The St. Joe’s Hawks (1-0 SU, 1-0 ATS, 0-1 O/U) are coming off a poor performance in their last outing in the BetUS Sportsbook, losing to Holy Cross 71-69 in overtime last Sunday. The eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns (2-0 SU, 1-0 ATS, 0-1 O/U) have displayed a spectacular brand of defense to get off to a perfect 2-0 start for NCAA college basketball sports betting fanatics.

Tonight, the two teams will meet in the 2008 EA Sports Maui Invitational at 3 pm Eastern time from the Lahaina Civic Center in Hawaii.

Holy Cross scored seven straight points against the Hawks to break a 63-63 tie and Colin Cunningham and Devin Brown each converted three free throws in overtime to give Holy Cross a 73-69 upset win on Sunday.

6-9 senior center Ahmad Nivins scored 17 points to lead four double figure scorers in the contest and leads the way for the Hawks this season with double-doubles in the first two games while averaging 21.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per game on an incendiary 83.3 percent shooting mark from the field.

Nivins was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week for the first week of the season, sharing the award with Temple’s Dionte Christmas.

The Longhorns limited their 38 opponents to an average of 64.9 points per game and a combined 38.9 percent field goal shooting percentage in 2007-08 and are off to an excellent start defensively again this season.

In its first two games this year, Texas has held its opponents to an average of 44.5 points per contest and a combined 28.7 percent field goal shooting percentage, including a miniscule 10-of-43 (.233) mark from three-point range.

The Longhorns are coming off a thorough 76-51 win over Tulane on Tuesday as they forced 25 turnovers and had 16 steals.

Junior forward Damion James scored 16 points to lead the Longhorns who had five players reach double figures in scoring while senior guard A.J. Abram added 15 points, hitting Texas’ only three 3-pointers of the game.

Here is a look at the key trends for each team, followed by my in-depth analysis and NCAA basketball Free Picks:

The Hawks are 8-1 ATS in their last 9 non-conference games.
The Hawks are 10-2 ATS in their last 12 games following a S.U. loss.
The Longhorns are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games following a SU win of more than 20 points.
The Longhorns are 22-8 ATS in their last 30 Monday games.
The Under is 5-1 in Hawks last 6 non-conference games.
The Under is 4-1 in Hawks last 5 overall.
The Over is 4-0 in Longhorns last 4 games following an ATS win.
The Over is 4-1 in Longhorns last 5 games following a S.U. win.

NCAAB Odds

St. Joe’s +9½ -110
Texas -9½ -110

Analysis: I’ll keep this pick short and sweet by saying that I fully expect the Texas Longhorns to rout the St. Joe’s Hawks who do not compare based on overall talent and frontcourt height and depth.

While Hawks’ head coach Phil Martelli takes a back seat to no one, I like the Longhorns to ‘hook’ the Hawks in a convincing win in Hawaii.

NCAAB Free Picks: Texas -9½ Points