CBI Tournament Final
By Brad Young
Just in case the NCAA Tournament hasn’t cured your college basketball cravings, the College Basketball Invitational begins its inaugural championship series Monday night. Tulsa and Bradley meet in a best-of-three series while the rest of the sports world will be focusing on the start of Major League Baseball, the Final Four and pro basketball.
Caesars Palace installed Tulsa as a 5½-point home ‘chalk’ over Bradley, with the total set at 140½. This contest is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Bradley (20-15 straight up, 18-14 against the spread) knocked off Virginia Wednesday as a 6½-point road underdog, 96-85. The combined 181 points soared ‘over’ the 151½-point closing total, helping the ‘over’ go 11-1 its last 12 outings. That marked the second game in a row that the Braves covered. Bradley has already beaten Cincinnati and Ohio this postseason.
The Braves won the rebounding battle, 40-35, while shooting 48 percent (32-of-67) from the field. All five of their scorers reached double digits, led by Jeremy Crouch’s game-high 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
Bradley sports an 8-9 SU and 10-7 ATS road record, dropping those affairs by an average score of 75-74.
Tulsa (23-13 SU, 18-11 ATS) beat Houston Wednesday as a 3½-point home favorite, 73-69. The combined 142 points slithered ‘under’ the 143-point closing total, enabling the ‘under’ to improve to 4-1 the past five games.
The Golden Hurricane dominated the Cougars in rebounding, 49-26, while shooting 40 percent (24-of-60) from the field. Guard Ben Uzoh paced the offense with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Tulsa is now 16-2 SU and 11-3 ATS on its home court, covering all three contests during the CBI Tournament.
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL
Bradley (20-15, 18-14-1 ATS) at Tulsa (23-13, 19-11 ATS)
The inaugural College Basketball Invitational championship series tips off at the Reynolds Center Tulsa, as the Golden Hurricane host Bradley in the first of a best-of-three set.
Tulsa enters this series on a 13-3 SU run (13-2 ATS in lined games). The Golden Hurricane won three home games to get to this point, besting Miami (Ohio) 61-45 as a 4½-point favorite, topping Utah 69-60 as a 2½-point chalk, then knocking out Houston 73-69 as a 3½-point choice on Wednesday. The straight-up winner has cashed in each of Tulsa’s last 10 contests and 15 of the last 16.
Bradley lost three straight games entering the CBI, but has since caught fire in posting wins over Cincinnati (70-67), Ohio (79-73) and Virginia (96-85) to reach this series. The Braves cashed in two of the three contests, and they’re on a 6-3 ATS roll coming into tonight’s contest (3-1 ATS on the highway). The winner is 13-3 ATS in Bradley’s past 16 contests.
Tulsa is 16-2 at home (11-3 ATS in lined contests), and going back to last year, the Golden Hurricane are on a 14-3 ATS roll on their home floor. Furthermore, Tulsa is on ATS hot streaks of 17-4 as a favorite, 8-0 as a chalk of less than seven points and 5-0 in non-conference contests.
Bradley is on positive pointspread runs of 12-4 overall, 7-2 on the road, 10-2 as a road underdog of less than seven points and 37-16-2 after a SU win.
Bradley has been all about offense of late, averaging 85 points per game on 45.8 percent shooting in its last five, while allowing 82 ppg on 47.1 percent shooting. On the other hand, the Golden Hurricane have been very defensive-oriented of late, putting up 63.6 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting while surrendering 62.6 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting.
For the Braves, the over is on runs of 17-5 overall, 6-0 on the road, 18-8-1 in non-league play, 11-1 as a road underdog and 5-0 on Mondays. Conversely, Tulsa is on under streaks of 5-2-1 overall, 5-2-1 at home and 4-1-1 as a favorite.
ATS ADVANTAGE: NONE
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