The NCAA Tournament West final tips off at 7 p.m. tonight from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., with two of college basketball’s goliaths, Kansas (33-4) and UCLA (26-5), going head to head in this elite-eight matchup with the winner advancing on to the tournament’s Final Four in Atlanta and a chance at winning the 2007 NCAA National Championship.
The number one-seed Jayhawks are favored to beat the two-seed Bruins by a bucket (-2 points) according to most offshore sportsbooks with a 130.5-point total. The price of a money line (ML) bet on Kansas is -140 while UCLA backers are getting +120 ML juice.
Kansas is 5-0 SU in its last five games while the total has gone over in 12 of the Jayhawks’ last 17 games. Kansas is 4-1 SU in its last five games when playing UCLA. The Bruins have gone 8-2 SU in their last 10 games with the total going UNDER in five of their last six games.
The betting public is split dead even on ML betting at 50 per cent while 58 per cent of the ATL money has gone on the Jayhawks. On the total, the OVER is getting a slight majority of public money with 57 percent.
Sophomore guard Brandon Rush , an All-Big 12 First-Team selection each of the last two seasons, leads Kansas in scoring at 13.7 points per game and with 73 three-point field goals made. Sophomore guard Mario Chalmers, the co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, is next in scoring with a 12.5 average. Chalmers leads the Big 12 with 2.46 steals per game. Sophomore forward Julian Wright, an all-league first team selection along with Rush, leads the Jayhawks with 7.9 rebounds a game and is scoring 12.1 points per contest. Kansas coach Bill Self is 16-8 in NCAA Tournament play with three schools and has advanced to the Elite Eight four times. Self is has yet to face UCLA.
UCLA was the runner-up to Florida in last years NCAA Tournament. This season, coach Ben Howland hopes to guide the Bruins to their 12th national title and its first since 1995. Sophomore point guard Darren Collison has been a great addition to the starting lineup this year and compliments the scoring of Arron Afflalo and defensive wizard Luc Richard Bbah a Moute. Both Afflalo and Moute return form last years team.
Point-Spreads.com pick: UCLA + 2.0
