St. John’s leads a Storm of sportsbook betting against South Florida

After lying dormant the past few years, the St. John’s Red Storm basketball program is back to being a player on the national stage. They will see a lot of sportsbook betting this coming weekend as they close out the regular season in the Big East against the South Florida Bulls on-campus at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York.

South Florida (9-21, 3-14 Big East) at #15 St. John’s (19-10, 11-6 Big East)

Date/Time: Saturday, March 5, 8:00 PM ET

Venue: Carnesecca Arena in Queens, NY.

Broadcast: ESPN3/ESPN Full Court

Money Line: OFF

Spread: Not available at time of writing

Over/Under: OFF

The Johnnies are back in the big time with an impressive string of quality victories, and appear headed to the NCAA Betting Tournament as one of a possible-record 11 clubs from the Big East. The list of wins is certainly influencing a lot of sportsbook betting in their favor, especially in home games. Consider this list of victims: Duke, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Notre Dame, and Villanova, all as Top Ten ranked teams at the time of those games.

But if there is a concern about the Red Storm being too easy a play in sportsbook betting against the Bulls on Saturday, it might be the location of the game. While it is a home game for St. John’s, and on-campus on senior day on the court named for the legendary coach Lou Carnesecca, all of those other big-time triumphs happened at the “Mecca of basketball”, Madison Square Garden. So will the lack of big lights dim the Johnnies chances?

Not likely considering the quality team that they are. Want to know one reason many are choosing to play St. John’s in sportsbook betting this weekend? Check this stat out: St. John’s is 12th best in the country, and leads the Big East, in turnover margin at +3.9 per game. That’s four extra possessions per contest, and they know how to take advantage.

Dwight Hardy leads the Red Storm in scoring at 17.9 points per contest. Justin Brownlee (12.1 PPG) and DJ Kennedy (10.5 PPG) are two other contributors offensively. Steve Lavin, in just his first season on campus, has brought the Johnnies back into the national discussion.

It has been a struggle for the USF Bulls, but a run in the Big East tournament can redeem their season. They recently snapped a six-game losing slide by defeating DePaul on Wednesday in Chicago, completing a season-sweep of the Blue Demons.

One reason why there will be some sportsbook betting happening in favor of the Bulls is their margin of defeat in league play. Yes, USF has lost 14 conference games. But in easily the toughest conference in basketball, eight of those 14 losses have been by single digits. A bright spot for South Florida has been the play of Augustus Gilchrist, averaging 13.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest, leading the Bulls in both categories.

Still, despite not playing on the big stage in Manhattan, the Johnnies are the smart choice for sportsbook betting action this weekend, if they are off-Broadway.