#8 BYU Battles TCU as Basketball Odds Road Fave

BYU takes on TCU as a likely huge basketball betting odds fave in the online sportsbook on Saturday, February 19th.

The Cougars are 24 and 2 and in position to secure a 3rd seed or better in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

In order to do that, they’ll need to first take down the TCU Horned Frogs.

That’s probably a given, but is BYU covering the spread a given?

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#8 Brigham Young (24-2) at Texas Christian Horned Frogs (10-17)

** Records and state not counting Thursday and Friday games.

Where: Daniel Meyer Coliseum, Ft. Worth, Texas

When: Feb. 19th, 2010 at 4:30 pm EST

TV: TBD

Likely NCAAB Betting Lines

Brigham Young Cougars -16 ½ O 152

TCU Horned Frogs +16 ½ U 152

Check out some betting trends for this game.

• The BYU Cougars are 5 and 4 ATS in their away games this season.

• The BYU Cougars are 5 and 5 ATS in their last 10 games.

• The TCU Horned Frogs are 3 and 7 ATS in their last 10 games.

• The TCU Horned Frogs are 4 and 6 ATS in their home games this season.

The BYU Cougars are fighting for a #3 or #2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. They should have no issues beating the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday, but might have a hard time covering versus what figures to be a huge basketball odds spread on Saturday.

BYU is led by the awesome Jimmer Freddette. Fredette is such a big time scorer that Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant tweeted that Jimmer was the best scorer in the world” after Jimmer put up 43 versus San Diego State on Jan. 26th. Fredette hasn’t come close to that number since January 26th, but he could end up scoring close to that against a TCU team that BYU figures to punish mercilessly.

Will mercilessly translate to a victory by at least 17 points on Feb. 19th? I believe that it will. BYU hasn’t been very good against the spread lately going 2 and 3 ATS in their last 5 games, but TCU is simply one of the worst teams in the MWC. The basketball odds should be lower than one would expect since BYU hasn’t covered as many spreads in their last 10 games.

With a lower than expected spread, BYU has to be the team to back to cover ATS. TCU averages only 68.6 points per game while shooting a ridiculously bad 44% from the field. The Horned Frogs give up, on average 71 points per game. They allow “average” teams to shoot close to 47% from the field against them.

BYU is not an average team. The Cougars are a Top 10 college hoops squad. They average 83 points per game while giving up only 66.6 per contest to their opponents. Even when Fredette isn’t scoring a lot, the Cougars find a way to get the ball into the basket.

It’s going to be very difficult for TCU to stick with BYU on Saturday. BYU is the team to back against the basketball odds spread on Saturday, February 19th.

NCAA Odds Betting Pick: BYU Cougars ATS

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