Syracuse Orange at Cincinnati Bearcats Betting Preview

Opening Line: Syracuse -4.5 / Cincinnati +4.5 O/U 141.5

Time: 2 PM EST Sunday February 7, 2010 on ESPN360

Today in a Big East match up the Cincinnati Bearcats host the 4th ranked Syracuse Orange. The Bearcats have lost 2 of their last 3 games and are only at .500 in Bog East play. The Orange have won 9 straight and with Villanova's recent loss Syracuse is tied with Nova atop the Big East and will be all alone in 1st if they win today. This game is very important to Cincy, as they are a bubble team, probably on the outside of the bubble, and they need to start winning to get an invite to the Big Dance.

This season the Bearcats are 11-1 at home and 5-10-2 ATS and the Orange are 6-0 on the road and 14-5 ATS.

In their last games Syracuse crushed Providence 85-68 on Tuesday night while Cincy lost to Notre Dame 83-65 on Thursday night.

Syracuse F Wes Johnson (16.7 ppg 9 rpg), who leads the Orange in both scoring and rebounding and is projected to be a top pick the next NBA draft, should play in this game, but is banged up after crashing to the floor in a hard foul in the last game.

The Orange are 4-2 against the Bearcats since Cincy joined the Big East conference.

The Bearcats will have to win this game on defense, as they are only averaging 71.3 ppg and their leading scorer is only averaging 12 ppg. That will not be easy against an Orange team that is averaging 82.5 ppg.

The Bearcats have to put some pressure on the Orange guards and in 4 of their last 5 games Cincy has forced fewer than 10 turnovers.

The Orange like to get out and run and the Bearcats have to slow down the tempo if they will be in trouble.

The Bearcats forwards of Lance Stephenson (12 ppg 5.1 rpg) and Yancy Gates (10.5 ppg 6.6 rpg) have to play well on both ends of the floor and they especially cannot allow Johnson to score easy buckets inside and dominate the glass.

The Bearcats are glad they are at home, as they have only dropped one game there all season.

Syracuse is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 road games, 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as a road favorite of 0.5-6.5, and has an under record of 5-0 in their last 5 road games.

Cincinnati is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a home underdog, 0-6 ATS in their last 6 home games, and has an Over record of 4-1 in their last 5 home games.

Syracuse is 1-3-1 ATS in the last 5 games against Cincy and in the last games between these 2 teams the total has gone Over in 4 of the last 5 games.

Our Selection : This is opne of those games where the public is on one side of the game and the sharps are on the other. The line opened with Cincinnati a 5 point underdog at home but has fallen to 4.5 at most offshore books even though the public is betting Syracuse with both fists. The Bearcats are 11-1 at home this season losing only to Pittsburgh by 3. We think that Cincy can stay in this game throughout and may pull off an outright win. Take the Bearcats +4.5