Category Archives: NCAA
Texas Longhorns vs. Oklahoma Sooners Picks: 2011 College Basketball Picks
 Texas Longhorns (20-3, 14-4 ATS) |
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 Oklahoma Sooners (12-10, 8-8 ATS) |
The Texas Longhorns have been storming through Big XII betting action this year, but they might be in for a bit of a bump in the road on Wednesday night when they head to Norman to duke it out with the Oklahoma Sooners.
Is Texas a No. 1 seed right now in the NCAA Tournament? One would like to think so, and if that’s the case, it is probably on the fast track to a top seed. The Kansas Jayhawks are avoided on the slate from here on out, and the road games that are left aren’t all that tough. It’s believe to think that the Horns could enter the Big XII Tournament on a 16 game winning streak, something that would probably only have to be expanded by one more game or so to keep the men in burnt orange on the top line of the dance come Selection Sunday. Simply put, the “Big Five” for the Longhorns of Jordan Hamilton, Tristan Thompson, Gary Johnson, Cory Joseph, and J’Covan Brown make up one of the best tandems of five players in the land, and they and all of the rest of the role players on this team play some stifling defense to keep teams down. It doesn’t matter whether Texas is playing home or away or who the foe is, all of the games of late have looked exactly the same with some dominating efforts.
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Oklahoma is one of the hottest teams in the conference though, and a win in this one over the Horns might put it at least in the discussion for the NCAA Tournament all of a sudden. The road is going to be tough, as this is the second of seven straight very, very tough tussles, of which the Sooners probably have to win five to think about getting into the field of 68. At home this year, OU has played well, going 4-2 ATS, including a 3-0 ATS mark in conference play since losing to the Texas A&M Aggies on January 8th. Andrew Fitzgerald and Steven Pledger, both of which are just sophomores, are proving that the future might be now in Norman. These two are combining for 26.0 points per game this year. The team really revolves around senior leader Cade Davis, though. Davis, who was a youngster on the club when Blake Griffin was leading the charge, is now the man that is averaging a whopping 35.5 minutes per game this year, and he is the second leading scorer on the club at 12.9 points per game.
We’re not saying that the Longhorns are the team that is going to fall, but at least a couple of these big time foes are going to get picked off by the Sooners in this stretch. Oklahoma should keep this ATS cover streak going on Wednesday, as it should really be inspired by a huge crowd in a nationally televised battle.
NCAA Basketball Free Pick: Oklahoma Sooners
Marquette Golden Eagles vs. South Florida Bulls: NCAA Basketball Free Pick
 Marquette Golden Eagles (14-9, 11-6 ATS) |
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 South Florida Bulls (8-16, 11-10-1 ATS) |
The South Florida Bulls don’t end up on national television often, but on Wednesday night, they are going to have a pleasant exception to the rule, as they take on the Marquette Golden Eagles in college basketball betting action at the USF Sun Dome.
Things really aren’t going all that well right now for the Golden Eagles, as they only have a 14-9 record and have lost five of their last eight games to really put themselves behind the 8-Ball for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. These next two are on the road as well, and we are wondering whether there are really more than four or five more victories on this slate. One would like to think that getting to 20 wins would get the job done for Marquette, but you can never be so sure. The Eagles have no problems stroking the three ball, and virtually everyone on the team will step back and fire at will when given the chance. Darius Johnson-Odom is the team’s top scorer at 16.4 points per game, and he is also a 37.5 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Jimmy Butler and Dwight Buycks are the real assassins though, as they are both shooting 42.4 percent from long range. Jae Crowder is the top man on the inside at 13.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and if he can control the paint, USF is going to be in a ton of trouble.
On the contrary, the Bulls are just a horrendous three point shooting team, accounting for just 29.5 percent of their long range shots this year, ranking No. 328 in the land. The bottom line is that Head Coach Stan Heath just doesn’t have an offensive team to be proud of, and it’s a wonder how there are any wins in this conference to really speak of. Augustus Gilchrist and Jawanza Poland were both on last year’s team that nearly snuck into the field of 65 thanks to a respectable conference season, and they are the top two scorers on the team right now at 12.4 and 10.6 points per game respectively. However, they are the only double digit point scorers in the lineup, and neither one has really excelled in Big East play this year. Now to make matters worse, there are only three others scoring more than five points per game, something that just isn’t going to cut it in the deepest conference in America.
Still, South Florida does have its share of wins this year at home, beating both the Providence Friars and the DePaul Blue Demons here. No, Marquette isn’t as bad as either of these teams are, but the intensity should be up just a notch on Wednesday night. Don’t be all that shocked if there is an upset in the cards, as South Florida might just find enough offense to pull off the victory.
College Basketball Free Pick: South Florida Bulls
College Basketball Betting: Georgetown Hoyas vs. Syracuse Orange Pick
 Georgetown Hoyas (18-5, 13-9 ATS) |
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 Syracuse Orange (20-4, 9-13 ATS) |
Seeding in the upcoming Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament will be on the line on Wednesday night in a busy night of college basketball betting action, as the Syracuse Orange face the Georgetown Hoyas.
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The Hoyas had every excuse to get beaten by Marshon Brooks and the Providence Friars on Saturday at home, as the big man came up with 43 points and 10 boards on the day for the visitors. However, a well balanced scoring effort proved once again that the Hoya Destroya can withstand a lot, even in the tremendous Big East. No, the 83-81 win wasn’t nearly good enough to beat the college basketball odds, but wins in this conference are wins and cannot be overlooked. It was the first time in quite some time that the four big stars for Georgetown really came together on one fantastic night. Austin Freeman scored 23 points, while Jason Clark, Chris Wright, and Julian Vaughn combined for 48 more. Vaughn had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and he is proving that he is a load on the inside to deal with, even against some of the best big guys in the best conference in the country. Head Coach John Thompson III has a team that has now won six straight games and is a rock solid 5-3 ATS on the road this year. With a win already over the Villanova Wildcats on this winning run, there is no doubting that an upset in the Carrier Dome is a possibility.
The ‘Cuse have finally gotten back on track as well, and believe it or not, it took getting away from the Dome to get the job done. Head Coach Jim Boeheim’s team pulled off dominating victories at the Connecticut Huskies and South Florida Bulls last week to move to 7-4 in conference play heading into this key week with games against the Hoyas and the Louisville Cardinals. Rick Jackson just continues to be a dominating force on the inside. The man wearing the big, fat ’0′ on his back has logged back to back double doubles, putting together a very impressive 21 points and 12 boards against the South Florida Bulls on Saturday in one of his best games of the year. Boeheim’s team plays some great defense as well, holding teams to 62.4 points per game, and that average is a lot closer to 60.0 points if you take out that four game losing streak that the team endured a few weeks ago.
Don’t be shocked if G’Town is good enough to come out of the Carrier Dome with a ‘W’ on the college basketball odds. This one should be touch and go the whole way, and even if a win doesn’t happen, we know that the percentages are on our side.
College Basketball Free Pick: Georgetown Hoyas
Utah State Aggies vs. Idaho Vandals Preview and Pick
 Utah State Aggies (22-2, 12-10 ATS) |
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 Idaho Vandals (13-10, 12-7-1 ATS) |
One of the few teams in the WAC that has a record above .500 both SU and ATS takes to the hardwood at home on Wednesday night, in the last college basketball betting affair of the day against the Utah State Aggies.
The Aggies just continue to move up in the rankings in the AP and USA Today polls, but even a team that wins 28 games isn’t going to be guaranteed much come Selection Sunday if it doesn’t win its conference. Sure, if the Aggies win out, they are likely to be on the No. 7 or so line for the dance, but any more losses against any of these teams with RPI rankings below 100 would be very costly. For now though, this is clearly a club that is head and shoulders above the rest of the conference. A 77-49 win marked the second straight game in which USU held a foe to fewer than 50 points, and it was the fourth time since January 15th that that happened. The Aggies have the No. 8 ranked ‘D’ in the land at 58.2 points per game, and when you combine that with an offense that has a slew of options, it’s really, really hard to beat this squad. They have one of the best field goal shooting percentages in the land at 47.2 percent, and are holding teams to just 38.5 percent on the other end of the court.
Idaho’s four game losing streak came to a close against the Hawaii Warriors on Saturday in a 75-61 win, but we know that a significantly better effort is going to have to be in store to pull off this NCAA basketball betting upset. The good news is that there are six scorers that are capable of putting up great efforts, and odds have it, at least three of the six are going to really have to shine to beat the Aggies. Jeff Ledbetter is the top man at 11.4 points per game, while Kyle Barone is averaging 11.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per night. Luiz Toledo has had some big time games, and he is capable of being a 20+ point scorer, but he is only at 10.0 per game on the campaign. The Vandals have a defense that is alright at 66.3 points per game this year, but this is a unit that definitely has to be at the top of its game to have any shot of a shocker as well, even here in Moscow.
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Is there a number that the oddsmakers could put up in this one that would scare us away from the Aggies? Probably not. There’s just no reason to believe that the odds aren’t going to be in favor of USU in this one, and it should once again roll to another easy ‘W’. Eventually the college basketball odds will catch up to this team, but that time probably isn’t quite yet.
NCAA Basketball Free Pick: Utah State Aggies
College Basketball Betting: Cincinnati Bearcats vs. DePaul Blue Demons Pick
 Cincinnati Bearcats (18-5, 9-9 ATS) |
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 DePaul Blue Demons (6-16, 10-11 ATS) |
It’s not often that we spend that much time thinking about the DePaul Blue Demons, easily the worst team in the Big East, but we know that on Tuesday night, they are playing host to a Cincinnati Bearcats team that badly cannot afford a loss, or it will probably slip out of the field of 68 for the time being.
This game is all about Cincinnati, which might have 18 wins, but very few of them are of substance. No, this win isn’t going to put the Bearcats on the map either, as it is a game that they really should win. However, they have lost two in a row and only have one win in conference on the road all year, and there aren’t a lot of RPI Top 100 wins on this slate to fall back on either. We could absolutely see the U of C being left home with 22 wins this year, something that would just be unheard of from a team in the Big East. Missing Yancy Gates is really going to hurt the team’s efforts. He violated team rules and has been suspended, and it is unlike that he will be back in the fold for Tuesday’s tussle with the Blue Demons. Now, there is only one double digit point scorer on the team in Dion Dixon, and there isn’t a player on the squad that is averaging even 6.0 boards per game. The good news is that the Bearcats play some great defense and do legitimately go eight or nine players deep on a regular basis, so that should help withstand a DePaul team that really would love just to scratch a win or two together in conference this year.
At 0-10 in conference, this is likely the last game that the Blue Demons really have a chance to win until February 26th and March 3rd when the South Florida Bulls and Rutgers Scarlet Knights come to town. If all of these games are lost though, don’t be shocked an 0-19 conference campaign is completed for DePaul, which would love to avoid that embarrassment. Thus far in Big East play, the Demons are just 4-6 ATS as well, but they did snap their six game ATS skid with a 61-57 loss at the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. There just isn’t enough offense to make this team go in this conference. There is only one game with more than 67 points scored, which really makes this already iffy scoring average of 67.7 points per game look overblown. The scoring average is at just 61.8 points per game this year in the Big East, and that already includes a bad 16 point loss to this Cincinnati side on the road. DePaul only has one cover in conference at home, a 67-65 loss in the closest game of the year in the Big East.
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Call us crazy, but we tend to believe that DePaul has the right stuff to ruin the entire season for the Bearcats. We don’t think Cincinnati will be able to get off the mat without Gates in the fold, and DePaul should be able to pick up that elusive first win of the campaign.
NCAA Basketball Expert Pick: DePaul Blue Demons
Indiana Hoosiers vs. Purdue Boilermakers: NCAA Basketball Free Pick
 Indiana Hoosiers (12-12, 9-9 ATS) |
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 Purdue Boilermakers (18-5, 12-8 ATS) |
A pair of schools from the great state of Indiana go at it on Tuesday night in a nationally televised college basketball betting affair, as the Indiana Hoosiers travel to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers.
Head Coach Tom Crean knows that there is still a lot of work to be done for his Hoosiers, but this is a year in which they can get back to a postseason tournament, though the NCAA Tournament is out of the question. IU does have great wins at home against the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and a few near misses on the road like the OT loss to the Michigan State Spartans and the 67-63 loss to the previously mentioned Gophers. However, for every great showing, there is one like we saw on Saturday, the second loss of the season to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Leading scorer Christian Watford is stuck on the bench with a hand injury, while Verdell Jones III has been hit and miss since he has been coming off of the bench in games, which really leaves the team’s starting point guard, Jordan Hulls to do a lot of the scoring. He put up 24 on Saturday, raising his average up to 11.2 points per game. We know that Hulls is a great shooter, as he is nailing 52.6 percent of his shots and 46.5 percent from downtown, but he really needs more chances to shine brightly.
Purdue had a rare weekend off this past week after suffering the setback at the Wisconsin Badgers last Tuesday, which gives it a full week to prepare for this tussle against its instate rivals. The Boilers have to be very, very careful not to be looking ahead to the stretch of games against the Illinois Fighting Illini, Wisconsin Badgers, and Ohio State Buckeyes over the course of the next week and a half, or they might get shocked at Mackey Arena. Head Coach Matt Painter would love a game this week in which he really doesn’t have to use E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson for the mass majority of the 40 minutes. These two played all but three minutes between them in the loss to the Badgers, and they accounted for 38 of the team’s 59 points. This is nothing new though, as Moore and Johnson are putting up an average of 38.3 points of the 73.7 points per game for the men in black and gold. Purdue’s defense, which is allowing right at 61.0 points per game this year, should be able to shine against this undermanned IU team.
Don’t be all that sure that the Hoosiers won’t be able to beat the NCAA basketball odds, though. IU still has a lot of talent, and if Crean can find a way to just contain either Moore or Johnson, this could become a much closer game than the expert college basketball handicappers think.
College Basketball Free Pick: Indiana Hoosiers
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Kentucky Wildcats Picks: 2011 College Basketball Picks
 Tennessee Volunteers (15-8, 11-11 ATS) |
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 Kentucky Wildcats (16-6, 8-9 ATS) |
Neither the Tennessee Volunteers nor the Kentucky Wildcats really should have all that much problem getting into the NCAA Tournament this year, but both will be sweating a little bit harder on Tuesday night if they don’t figure out how to pick up an NCAA basketball betting victory at Rupp Arena.
Tennessee is clearly the team that is in a little bit more trouble right now, though it does have some big time wins out of conference to fall back on if need be. Losing at home to another bubble dweller, the Alabama Crimson Tide in OT was a bad, bad loss for the Vols. Head Coach Bruce Pearl will be back on the sidelines after his eight game SEC suspension for this one, but these first two games against the Cats and the Florida Gators, both of which are on the road, could leave the men in white and orange in some trouble. That trouble could be compounded if the team’s leading scorer, Scotty Hopson is out of the fold once again. Hopson has now missed back to back games against the Auburn Tigers and the Tide, and the team has just really struggled offensively without him in there. Tobias Harris has done all he can do, but even with 19 points and 11 boards against Alabama, it wasn’t enough. The Volunteers badly need someone else to step up above his scoring average to keep this train going if they are really going to be without Hopson on Tuesday night.
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Kentucky was probably gunning for a Top 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament until this past week, as it was defeated on the road both by the Gators and the Mississippi Rebels. Flashes of inconsistency are still all over the place for the Cats, and if they happen to lose this game, there is a good chance that they will be dropped to a dreadful 4-6 in the SEC, as their next game is at the Vanderbilt Commodores. What we’re really starting to see is a lack of depth, something that Head Coach John Calipari has never had to really deal with before in his time at Kentucky. The loss of Enes Kanter for the season due to NCAA violations has really hurt, and Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight are really the only two men that are stepping up on a night basis to get the job done. Doron Lamb only came off the bench and contributed five points against the Gators, and for the team’s third leading scorer and the only man that really does much off of the bench on a regular basis, this is recipe for disaster.
Both of these teams are in bad shape right now, but we tend to believe that getting Pearl back in the fold is going to help out the Vols, who haven’t seen their coach on the sidelines full time in over a month. We’re not so sure that the boys from Rocky Top are going to pull off the upset, but we are definitely taking the points with them for our college basketball picks.
NCAA Basketball Free Pick: Tennessee Volunteers
Missouri Tigers vs. Kansas Jayhawks Preview and Pick
 Missouri Tigers (18-5, 9-9 ATS) |
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 Kansas Jayhawks (22-1, 11-10 ATS) |
Contenders for the NCAA Championship duke it out at Phog Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night as a part of a huge two pack of college basketball betting action, as the Kansas Jayhawks play host to the Missouri Tigers.
For as great as Mizzou is as a Top 25 team in the country, we have to remember that this is nothing more than a .500 team in the Big XII this year, and all four losses have come on the road. An 89-73 win over the Colorado Buffaloes got some revenge for the trip out to Boulder that didn’t go so well for the ‘Zou, but there is still a lot of work to do to get ready for this trip to Lawrence. The Tigers are just 1-4 ATS this year outside of Columbia, and it’s largely because the team just can’t ratchet up the same type of defensive intensity on the road as it can with the hometown crowd working at Mizzou Arena. Offense is no problem for the black and gold, as they are averaging 83.3 points per game on the campaign. Marcus Denmon is the team’s leading scorer at 16.7 points per game, but four others are averaging at least 10.4 points per game, and three others beyond that are over 6.0 points per game.
Simply put, Kansas has been a really angry looking side since getting beaten down by the Texas Longhorns here at Allen Fieldhouse on January 22nd. It is 4-0 and is 3-1 ATS, and since that 82-78 escape from the aforementioned Buffs, all three of the wins have come by at least 20 points. Saturday’s victory, an 86-66 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, was particularly impressive due to the fact that Big Red nearly knocked off the Jayhawks in a 63-60 loss here at home just two games before the loss to the Horns. The game was a romp in Lincoln in spite of the fact that freshman phenom Josh Selby was left out of the lineup due to an ankle injury. Still, four of the five starters logged at least 14 points, while Thomas Robinson had a big night off of the bench to help lead KU to the victory. The Jayhawks are the most efficient team in the country on offense, shooting 52.0 percent from the floor, and this is why they are averaging a whopping 82.9 points per game. Defensively, giving up 63.0 points per game is almost as impressive.
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There’s just nothing that is going to stop these Jayhawks from rolling to victory once again on Monday, with or without Selby in the fold. Sure, it would be crucial for the point guard to be able to handle taking the ball up the court against this press, but this is an experienced Kansas team that knows how to deal with this type of adversity. Especially at home, this should be another double digit runaway.
NCAA Basketball Free Pick: Kansas Jayhawks
College Basketball Betting: Pittsburgh Panthers vs. West Virginia Mountaineers Pick
 Pittsburgh Panthers (21-2, 9-9 ATS) |
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 West Virginia Mountaineers (15-7, 9-10 ATS) |
The Backyard Brawl is always one of the most brutal games of the season on the collegiate gridiron, and you can bet that Monday’s NCAA basketball betting affair between the Pitt Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers will be just as bloody.
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A mini two game skid for college basketball betting fans came to a close for the Panthers on Saturday, as they took down the Cincinnati Bearcats 71-59 at the Petersen Events Center. Unfortunately, that was the last relatively easy game in at least a week for the top team in the Big East, as U-Pitt has to travel both to Morgantown and to the City of Brotherly Love this week to take on the Villanova Wildcats. Head Coach Jamie Dixon will tell you that a split in these two games would be just fine with him at this point just to keep the Panthers in the running for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Ashton Gibbs has been on fire offensive for the men in blue and gold of late, as he has scored 25 and 24 points respectively in his last two battles to raise his scoring average up to a team high 16.3 points per game. Gary McGhee has played well of late in limited minutes, averaging 9.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game since December 27th.
Dealing with the U-Pitt bigs is going to potentially be a problem for West Virginia, which was really outdone by the aforementioned Wildcats in Saturday afternoon’s NCAA basketball wagering war. The ‘Neers didn’t get a single point out of Joe Mazzulla or leading scorer Casey Mitchell, though Mitchell only played 13 minutes in his first game played in two weeks thanks to a suspension for violation of team rules. It appears as though Head Coach Bob Huggins is ready to put his sophomore standout back into the fold this coming week after using him off of the bench for 13 minutes on Saturday. However, Mitchell, who is averaging 15.7 points per game this year, has only been good for an average of 9.3 points per game since January 16th. Kevin Jones and John Flowers, who played a total of 77 out of a possible 80 minutes between them on Saturday, have to be huge on Monday for WVU to be able to pull off this upset. The two are dynamos on the glass, but they only had seven boards in spite of the fact that they had a healthy 31 points between them at Villanova.
West Virginia is certainly going to be up against it in this one, but we tend to believe that this is the day that Mitchell is going to be back and ready to shine in the spotlight of a nationally televised college basketball betting battle. Don’t be shocked if the big dogs in the Big East get bounced on Monday.
College Basketball Free Pick: West Virginia Mountaineers
Indiana Hoosiers Vs. Ohio State Buckeyes: NCAA Football
Indiana Hoosiers Vs. No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, Week 6 NCAA Football, 12:00 p.m. EST, Saturday, October 9, 2010, Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio.
After surviving a mild scare in the form of one of the Big Ten Conference’s I-teams last weekend, Illinois, the No. 2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will host another one of the conference’s I-teams when the Indiana Hoosiers invade the Horseshoe of Ohio Stadium this Saturday.
Ohio State was held to just 290 yards of total offense and actually trailed at one point before halftime in their 24-13 victory of Illinois last week. But thanks to a powerful running game (213 yards, 5.1 ypc) the Buckeyes were able to add a late score in the final minutes to put some distance between them and the Illini on the final scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Indiana gave the Michigan Wolverines all they could handle in their conference opener last weekend, rallying to tie the game at 35-35 with just over a minute to play in the game. But Michigan’s Denard Robinson drove the Wolverines down the field quickly and scored the game-winning touchdown with just 17 seconds remaining to break the hearts and backs of the Hoosiers, 42-35.
With a moral victory and a little bit of respect on their side, now the Hoosiers will try and do the unthinkable and pull off the major shocker by toppling the mighty Buckeyes in front of the home crowd at the Shoe.