NCAA Basketball Lines – Texas A&M vs. Washington

BetOnline NCAA Basketball Lines: WASHINGTON -7.5

The Washington Huskies go a hundred miles an hour. They are among the top dozen teams in the nation in terms of scoring, at over 84 points a game. They shoot 45.5%, which is actually not much better than their opponents, and are not hung up on making threes (5.2 per game) but they know how to get to the free throw line and convert (73.4%) and they are very, very good at hitting the offensive boards (16.2 per contest). Lorenzo Romar’s got a team to look out for, and they appear to be transitioning very well after losing their most prominent player and big man, Jon Brockman, to the draft. Of course, it helps when Quincy Poindexter is averaging 21.6 ppg on 56% shooting in the paint.

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

• A&M has won five of its last six games SU
• A&M has covered five of its last six road games
• A&M has won seven of its last nine road games SU
• WASH has covered one of its last six games
• WASH has won seven of its last nine games SU
• WASH has covered one of its last five home games
• WASH has won seven of its last eight home games SU

U-Dub also has the speed of Isaiah Thomas going for it. No, not the same guy who played for the Detroit Pistons so many years; he’s the coach at Florida International. No, we’re talking about the sophomore out of Tacoma who provides much of the offensive spark from the backcourt, hitting 44% of his shots and averaging a shade under 20 points.

Thomas has improved his three-point shooting to the point where he is a bona fide threat (at 40%) but he still has to shake a problem with turnovers, and that may be one reason why Washington is 2-7 ATS in the NCAA basketball lines.

It wasn’t a shame for Texas A&M to lose to New Mexico ten days ago, considering that the Lobos have a bunch of dead-eye shooters who have been taught well by Steve Alford. What the Aggies have to worry about here is less about getting out and defending the perimeter (although that’s always a very good idea) and more about trying to slow down Washington as it tries to beat them down the court.

I see the problem with A&M being that they don’t make a lot of "transitional" plays on defense – in the Big 12 they are tenth in rebound margin, ninth in steals and tenth in blocked shots. As the visitor, they will have their work cut out for them, as they may not have the easiest time holding the Huskies to one shot.

We’re going to lay the points with Washington, the 7.5-point favorite.

JAY’S PLAY: WASHINGTON -7.5 **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)