Kansas Jayhawks, Memphis Tigers Wins Make for Happy Bookies

The Kansas Jayhawks outright win was music to the online bookies ears as they had much of the betting action going towards North Carolina.  In fact, by game time, nearly 75 percent of the point spread action was on North Carolina -3 and more than 70 percent of the moneyline action was on the Tarheels to win outright. 

There was also slightly more betting action on UCLA to cover the spread against Memphis.

The gamblers won with the Memphis/UCLA OVER, which had a line of 134 points.  Nearly 90 percent of the Totals action was on the OVER in this game, which featured a total score of 141.

Pat Forde of ESPN.com writes that the winner of Monday's National Championship will depend on which Kansas Jayhawks team inevitably shows up - Good Kansas or Bad Kansas:

If Good Kansas shows up to play the Tigers, the River Walk will belong to Rock Chalk. Good Kansas made a 23-minute appearance at the Alamodome on Saturday night -- the first 15 minutes and the last eight -- looking like the Celtics. Good Kansas outscored Carolina by the staggering sum of 66-25. Good Kansas took the No. 1 team in the nation and slapped it silly.

Good Kansas is Brandon Rush slashing to the basket over and over, on his way to 25 points and seven rebounds. Good Kansas gets 10 steals. Good Kansas bludgeons the nation's best rebounding team by nine on the glass. Good Kansas holds the nation's No. 2 scoring team to 23 points below its average.

Bad Kansas allowed Wayne Ellington to shoot the Tar Heels back into the game late in the first half and early in the second half.

Good Kansas was so good out of the gate that it looked like fiction. Good Kansas led 40-12, overwhelming the tournament's overall No. 1 seed. Good Kansas treated the lordly Heels as if they were Nebraska.

"To start the game, it didn't feel like we had 10 hands out there," coach Self said. "It felt like we had 14 or 15."

The oddsmakers at BetUS.com think that "Bad Kansas" will likely show up as they've made the Jayhawks a +1  1/2 underdog against Memphis.

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Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com

Originally published April 6, 2008 1:30 pm EST