CBB Betting - Cal-State Northridge vs. Cal-State Fullerton

While the State of California’s lesser-known college athletic programs don’t get a ton of attention or fanfare across the country, many of them are capable of competing at a high level, and they also have intense rivalries with similar schools from the state.

Cal-State Northridge and Cal-State Fullerton are two such teams that always seem to find themselves battling each other for local attention, and they will meet tonight in a Big West Conference Opening Round game in Anaheim, California with a chance to go to the big dance still up for grabs if either team can capture some momentum as we head deep into the NCAA Conference Tournament betting season.

Cal-State Northridge Matadors (11-20 SU, 10-16-1 ATS) vs. Cal-State Fullerton Titans (15-14 SU, 11-11-1 ATS)
9 p.m. ET

Northridge is coming off of a 2009 Big West tournament win, but they have fallen on hard times this year as they enter the tournament as the eighth seed and a slight betting underdog to their intra-state rivals.

The two teams split the season series with each team winning on the other’s home floor, which explains the close college basketball betting spread in this one.

Fullerton will attempt to win with a balanced scoring attack as they boast five guys who average double digits, while Northridge is led by star guard Kenny Daniels and his 15+ ppg scoring average on the season.

Lenny Daniel (no relation of course) is the leading rebounder at 7.8 per game from the forward position.
Those two might be the most talented guys on the court which factors big-time in tournament play, and the Matadors might be the team with the most potential of the two while the Titans are more of a middle-of-the-pack only type of team.

Northridge had a rough year, but if they play focused and call on last year’s tournament successes, they have a legitimate shot at winning this game outright. The college basketball spread in this one is two points and the Matadors have underachieved against the spread all year.

But they have flashed more potential and even beat league top dog UC-Santa Barbara by 7 points earlier in the year. If the Matadors come to play, they will score a college basketball betting upset here behind the play of Daniel and Daniels.

NCAA basketball pick: Cal-State Northridge (+2)