College Basketball Free Picks: UAB @ Virginia
Added on Dec 30, 2009 by Jack Thurman in
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The University of Alabama-Birmingham heads to Charlottesville to take on ACC entrant Virgina in Wednesday night college basketball betting action. The Cavs have gone 6-4 in Tony Bennett’s first season as head coach (no, not *that* Tony Bennett) and will have their hands full with a red hot Alabama-Birmingham team that has opened the season 11-1.
Alabama-Birmingham at Virginia
December 30, 4:00 PM Pacific
Virginia’s record of 6-4 SU/3-3 ATS looks a lot more impressive than it really is. They’ve been the beneficiary of some clever scheduling and have padded their numbers against some very weak opponents. For example, they’re currently on a two game winning streak with victories over ‘powerhouses’ Hampton and New Jersey Tech. The Cavs have struggled whenever they’ve stepped up in class and played a better team, and UAB definitely qualifies as a ‘better team’.
The Blazers, meanwhile, have gone 11-1 SU/7-3 ATS to start the season facing a solid slate of opponents. Their only SU loss so far was against a decent Kent State team. The Cavs may have superior size and athleticism in this matchup, but UAB is a much more fundamentally sound team and plays very tenacious defense. The Cavs have been weak defensively this season, so that’s a bad matchup for them. In theory, Virginia would like to ‘go small’ to compete with the Blazers’ slick playmakers but don’t really have the personnel to do that. They will get top rebounder Mike Scott back for this game (high ankle sprain) but his skill set doesn’t really do anything to help the Cavs with their matchup problem in this spot.
Virginia will have all sorts of problems with the UAB defense, which has held opponents to 38.5% shooting and 57 ppg. Against good defensive teams (defined as teams who allow an average of 60 PPG or less) Virginia has failed to cover in 11 of their last 14 spots. UAB is 5-1 ATS against teams with a winning record this season, and they’ll win outright here as a small priced underdog.
