Villanova Holds Slight Spread Betting Edge over Seton Hall

The latest college basketball betting lines show the Marquette Golden Eagles as -6 ½-point favorites over the St. John’s Red Storm as the two teams countdown to their Big East showdown on Tuesday night at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

St. John’s (15-9, 7-5 Big East) at Marquette (15-10, 6-6 Big East)

Date/Time: Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 9:00 PM EST

Venue: The Bradley Center in Milwaukee, WI.

Broadcast: ESPN U

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Money Line: St. John’s (+215) Marquette (-260)

Spread: Marquette -6 ½      

Over/Under: 141

Marquette hasn’t won more than two games since early December, and since a three-game win streak following losses to No. 5 Duke and Gonzaga, the Eagles have gone on a wild up and down ride, putting themselves in serious danger of missing the Big Dance all together.

However, they have showed some fight, playing some very tight games with 10 losses coming by way of single digits with a nine-point loss at No. 11 Georgetown in their last effort to get off the bubble. Now the Eagles 12-2 at home will get another shot at punching their pass to this year’s tourney.  

Meanwhile, St. John’s, who has played well overall but has struggled a bit in conference action, knocked  off  UConn late last week at home and then avoided avoid falling to .500 in the  conference by edging out a 59-57 win at 6-6 Cincinnati over the weekend.

The Red Storm need to add to their already impressive NCAA resume package, and a win on the road at Marquette could seal their fate as an at-large candidate, but they will need to defy the latest college basketball lines. The Storm who is 3-6 on the road, have three more tries to grab another win over a Big East foe.  Against the Bearcats on Sunday, St. John’s got big contributions from Dwight Hardy (18 points) and Justin Brownlee (16 points), denying Cincinnati the regular-season sweep. 

The Johnnies has been relentless on the defensive end while draining a ton of three-pointers.

They will need to continue that trend on Tuesday if they want to stop the Golden Eagles who despite outrebounding the Hoyas, only hit 18-of-27 from the stripe in a 69-60 loss at No. 11 Georgetown on Sunday. Daris Johnson-Odom led the way with 20 points as Davante Gardner and Jimmy Butler added 12 and 10 off the bench.

The Eagles are the latest college basketball line favorite in this one, but will have to put an end to the win-loss pattern they have been trapped in the last two months. With only one game against a ranked foe remaining, if the Eagles are unable to get rolling in the win column, they might possibly start preparing for the NIT where the Red Storm are hoping not to go.

St. John’s has played better ball recently and seem to be the safer pick, even on the road.