NIT Tournament Betting – Cal State-Bakersfield Hopes Clock Doesn't Strike Twelve

  • In Charles Jay
  • Tue, Mar 28th, 2017 1:29:23 pm
  • By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA


The Cal State-Bakersfield Roadrunners don't come with a lot of size, but they come with a lot of determination and aggressiveness as they face off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for the right to go to the finals of the NIT.

You might say that the "Cinderella" of this National Invitation Tournament is the Cal State-Bakersfield Roadrunners, who started out as low as you can be – the eighth seed – in this 32-team field, and have risen to the point where they are among the final four teams to play it off for the championship. The first step is on Tuesday night, beginning at 7 PM ET on ESPN, as they face off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

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Bakersfield had some experiences "punching up" during the regular season. They were respectable in a defeat against Arizona, and they went through a genuine slog with SMU, another team that likes to slow the pace down, losing by a 49-43 margin. After having to go into four overtime sessions to beat Utah Valley in the WAC tournament, they lost the New Mexico State in the final, as admittedly they were a bit exhausted. But they have made the most of their NIT appearance, defeating California, Colorado State and Texas-Arlington, with all of those wins coming on the road. And they have surprised many people by their hot three-point shooting during the NIT, as they have hit 30 out of 59 attempts (51%). But will the clock strike twelve on that artistry? One thing to keep in mind is that CSU be shot just 33.5% from downtown prior to the beginning of this tournament.

In the NIT Tournament betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, Georgia Tech is the favorite, but not by much:

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -2
Cal State-Bakersfield Roadrunners +2

Over 123 points -110
Under 123 points -110

Georgia Tech had the benefit of a home floor as they beat Indiana and Belmont the first two rounds of this tournament, but they had a very tough assignment at Ole Miss last time out. For one thing, the Yellow Jackets did not perform very well as the visiting team this season, so their victory might have come as a bit of a surprise. But when you have defensive intimidator in the middle, you can alter whatever the opponent does on offense, and Georgia Tech has just that, in center Ben Lammers, who registered eight blocks. Ole Miss was also flustered on the outside, hitting only six of their 28 triples, so the Yellow Jackets were able to advance. While the best victory for the Roadrunners was probably over a California squad playing without its best performer, Jabari Bird, in the first round of this tourney, Georgia Tech has sprung upsets of North Carolina, Florida State and Notre Dame. Of course, they play in the ACC, which was considered the deepest conference in the country. And if you've noticed, North Carolina is still playing, in the NCAA Tournament Final Four.

Bakersfield has spread out the scoring, and players like Damiyne Durham, who shot just 32.6% from three-point range this season, have caught fire (he's 13-23 in his three-point attempts in the NIT). Shon Briggs has been a surprise contributor, with 51 points in the three games thus far, and of course, there is plenty of defense. In fact, these teams are alike in some ways, including the fact that they don't necessarily rely on the three-pointer all that much. Georgia Tech, for example, shoots the triple only 24.5% of the time, and only two teams in the entire country do it less frequently than that. Who knows if that turns out to be a good thing, as CSUB, statistically anyway, is the third-best team in the country at defending shots inside the three-point arc (allowing just 40.7%). In terms of NIT Tournament betting trends, Georgia Tech has played seven of its last games under the total, while Bakersfield has gone "over" in five straight games. We would have to afford the edge Georgia Tech, with a big size advantage and probably more ways to score from 15 feet on in.

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