Date | Match Up | Rating | Score | Result | Profit | Lead Time | Analysis |
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01-14-21 | BYU +1 v. St. Mary's | 62-52 | Win | 100 | 12 h 36 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units BYU is 12-2 ATS in their last 14 games following a straight up loss, 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog, and 19-7-1 ATS in their last 27 Thursday games. While St. Mary's is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Thursday games, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. In addition, the underdog is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings. |
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01-14-21 | Arizona -8 v. Oregon State | Top | 98-64 | Win | 100 | 11 h 24 m | Show |
Rating: 4 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day The Wildcats’ Saturday game at Oregon has been postponed, so Sean Miller doesn’t have to play with an eye to Saturday. That wasn’t going to happen anyway, because Arizona is off two home losses and shooting guard Jemarl Baker, Jr. was lost for the season to injury in the most recent. Miller will shuffle the rotation some and Oregon State, forced to pause for seven days with seven players in isolation and back to practice only this Tuesday, can’t scout the shuffle. The Beavers have their own problems to worry about coming off the pause. |
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01-14-21 | San Diego State +1.5 v. Utah State | 45-57 | Loss | -110 | 9 h 27 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units CBS Sports Network televises the first of two between Mountain West contenders, with the re-hook coming Saturday. The host Aggies are covered in the loser-dust of six straight wins and covers against San Jose State, Air Force and New Mexico. You can’t fault ‘em for who they were scheduled to play, but the visiting Aztecs’ most recent games were: Arizona State, Saint Mary’s, two against Colorado State, two against Nevada. The home side has double-revenge but they also have something to prove, against a senior-laden side with class, while having no margin for error. This arena is known for a raucous, home-assisting crowd. But outside influences have turned 10,000 into 1,500. |
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01-14-21 | San Francisco v. Portland +13 | 79-63 | Loss | -109 | 9 h 28 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units San Francisco is 7-16 ATS in their last 23 games following a straight up loss, 8-20-1 ATS in their last 29 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss. While Portland is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a home underdog and home team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings. |
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01-14-21 | Northern Arizona v. Montana -12 | 56-67 | Loss | -110 | 2 h 35 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Montana is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games following a straight up win. While N. Arizona is 7-16 ATS in their last 23 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog. In addition, the favorite is 5-2-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings. |
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01-14-21 | Washington State v. UCLA -9 | Top | 61-91 | Win | 100 | 5 h 30 m | Show |
PAC-12 Play of the Day Washington State’s bigs have length, size and rebound well but they are butchers with the basketball. Head coach Kyle Smith is advertising starting four freshmen here. The loss of guard Chris Smith was supposed to hamper UCLA – according to others. Guess what? They’re 5-0 in the Pac 12, and have won all three games he hasn’t played. The last four wins by the Bruins have been close – by 2, 3, 6 in OT, 5 points. This doesn’t have to be |
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01-14-21 | California v. Colorado -15 | 60-89 | Win | 100 | 4 h 53 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units The Colorado Buffaloes were set for a Wednesday night matchup against Pac-12 rival Cal, but in what has become the new normal, the game was moved back 17 hours. So instead of a primetime slot, the Bears and Buffaloes now have a lunchtime game Thursday. The way Colorado has played of late, however, it doesn't matter that tipoff is at noon local time, this team is ready to go. The Buffaloes (9-3, 3-2 Pac-12) are coming off two impressive wins, the first over then-No. 17 Oregon a week ago followed by a road win at Utah on Monday. Colorado rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Utes, and they did it with leading scorer McKinley Wright IV having a so-so game. Consider California is 4-12 ATS in their last 16 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. |
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01-13-21 | Boise State v. Wyoming OVER 148.5 | 90-70 | Win | 100 | 5 h 43 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units The Over is 13-3 in Cowboys last 16 games following a ATS loss, 20-6 in Cowboys last 26 home games vs. a team with a winning road record, 16-5 in Cowboys last 21 games following a straight up loss, and 12-4 in Cowboys last 16 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600. In addition, the Over is 4-0 in Broncos last 4 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points. |
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01-13-21 | McNeese State -110 v. Incarnate Word | 61-83 | Loss | -110 | 11 h 13 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Incarnate Word is 5-13 ATS in their last 18 games following a ATS loss and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points |
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01-13-21 | Arkansas +2.5 v. LSU | 76-92 | Loss | -108 | 11 h 42 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units There are worse things to embrace than 10-2 road underdogs that can score (Arkansas, 97, 99 points in their two SEC wins). A headline tries to make Arkansas’ situation sound worse than it is: “Razorbacks saddled with injuries in early SEC ride.” They have nine healthy scholarship players available. That’s more than they need! Says head coach Eric Musselman:”No big deal, as long as we have seven, we’re good.” |
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01-13-21 | La Salle +4.5 v. George Mason | 42-75 | Loss | -105 | 11 h 36 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units La Salle is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up loss. In addition, the underdog is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings |
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01-13-21 | Rhode Island v. Massachusetts +2.5 | 78-80 | Win | 100 | 11 h 31 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units UMass is 20-6-1 ATS in their last 27 home games, 21-7 ATS in their last 28 games as a home underdog, and 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 games overall. In addition the underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings while the home team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings |
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01-13-21 | Mercer +1 v. Chattanooga | 80-83 | Loss | -115 | 10 h 17 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Mercer is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 Wednesday games. Chattanooga is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. In addition, the road team is 6-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings |
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01-13-21 | Auburn +1.5 v. Georgia | Top | 95-77 | Win | 100 | 11 h 47 m | Show |
Rating: 4 Unit SEC Play of the Day He’s still flying a little under the radar so may as well try to leverage him, him being Auburn freshman guard Sharife Cooper, who became eligible late last week and played his first game for the Tigers in the 94-90 loss vs. Alabama. How’d he do? In 36 minutes, Cooper scored 26 points, 9 assists, 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, against a pressure-oriented Alabama group. Yes, the Tigers are still looking for their first SEC win (0-4). But given that Georgia is 0-3 in the SEC, turning it over 18 times per game, and not suddenly introducing a high-scoring freshman guard of their own, it’s not unreasonable for them to be Auburn’s first victim. |
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01-13-21 | NC State v. Florida State -3 | 73-105 | Win | 100 | 8 h 34 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Florida State (5-2, 1-1 ACC) will end its longest in-season layoff since a holiday break during the 1956-57 season when it plays host to North Carolina State (6-3, 2-2) in Tallahassee, Fla. One of Florida State's strengths is field-goal defense -- a category in which it ranks 45th nationally. The Seminoles have held opponents to under 70 points in four of their five wins but have allowed an average of 81.5 points in their two defeats. Their offense has come primarily from three guards: M.J. Walker (15.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists per game), Scottie Barnes (11.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists) and Anthony Polite (10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds). Forward Balsa Koprivica has contributed 9.9 points and 5.9 rebounds. Consider NC State is 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record. |
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01-13-21 | VCU -11 v. George Washington | 84-77 | Loss | -110 | 3 h 10 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units VCU is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall, and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games as a road favorite. While George Washington is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games overall. In addition, the favorite is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings. |
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01-12-21 | Providence +3.5 v. Marquette | 69-79 | Loss | -108 | 11 h 24 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units After Creighton's Christian Bishop dunked with 0.8 seconds left on Jan. 2 to beat Providence 67-65, Xavier's Colby Jones drained a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining Sunday for a 74-73 win. Instead of entering this one with a four-game winning streak and a possible top 25 ranking, the Friars are 7-5 overall and 3-3 in the conference. Sunday's difficult defeat wasted a great performance by David Duke, who canned 7 of 9 3-pointers and scored a game-high 30 points to go along with six assists. Nate Watson added 17 points and 14 rebounds. The duo continues to provide more than half of the Friars' offensive output, averaging 38.5 points per game between them. As for Marquette (6-6, 2-4), it's coming off perhaps its most bitter loss of the season, made worse by the fact it's had to sit on that defeat for a week. Ahead 43-25 with 15:39 left on Jan. 5 at home against Connecticut, the Golden Eagles completely collapsed. They were outscored 40-11 for the game's remainder and ate a 65-54 setback. Consider that Providence is 16-6 ATS in the last 22 meetings. |
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01-12-21 | Cal-Riverside +14 v. USC | 62-67 | Win | 100 | 4 h 17 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Big class difference here but one must consider the circumstances: USC had not won in Tucson since 2008, hadn’t swept the Arizona schools on the road since 1985. There is some quirky, on the fly scheduling taking place by which USC could be hosting Washington and Washington State on Thursday and Saturday. In the middle of what would be five games in eight days, with this the lone non-conference, expect USC head coach Andy Enfield to use his bench players much more in this game after four of his five starters played 32 minutes or more at Arizona State |
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01-12-21 | Alcorn State +8 v. Grambling State | 74-79 | Win | 100 | 11 h 47 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Grambling is 6-15 ATS in their last 21 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400 and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record. |
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01-12-21 | Kansas v. Oklahoma State +4 | Top | 70-75 | Win | 100 | 3 h 20 m | Show |
Rating: 4 Unit CBB Play of the Day 6’9” and 6’10” scorers on TCU, Texas and West Virginia did damage against OSU in the Cowboys’ three Big 12 losses so far. Although KU’s 6’10”, 265 David McCormack is coming off 20- and 17-point games he’s averaging 11 ppg. Need to see more. The worst OSU has done so far after 40 minutes in a Big 12 game is trail by 3 points. NBA-bound Cade Cunningham gets only one chance in his life to play against Kansas in a home game. |
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01-12-21 | Kent State -6 v. Central Michigan | 94-85 | Win | 100 | 7 h 59 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Kent is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall, 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games vs. a team with a losing straight up record, and 19-9 ATS in their last 28 games following a straight up win of more than 20 points. While Central Michigan is 5-11-3 ATS in their last 19 games overall, 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following a straight up loss of more than 20 points, and 10-28-2 ATS in their last 40 games as a home underdog |
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01-11-21 | Bradley +1 v. Northern Iowa | 75-73 | Win | 100 | 6 h 8 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Northern Iowa is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up win, 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games overall, and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games. Bradley is 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 road games vs. a team with a losing home record. In addition, the road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings. |
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01-11-21 | Connecticut -5 v. DePaul | 60-53 | Win | 100 | 7 h 48 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units UConn suffered its lone defeat this season 76-74 in overtime to now-No. 7 Creighton in the league opener back on Dec 20 but the Huskies have won three straight by an average of 14.7 PPG since. That run began with an 82-61 rout of DePaul on Dec 30, the Huskies ninth straight win over the Blue Demons. |
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01-10-21 | Maryland v. Illinois -10 | 66-63 | Loss | -105 | 12 h 33 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units According to STATS, Illinois (9-3, 5-1 Big Ten) became the first Division I team in the past 25 seasons to trail by at least 15 at halftime and come back to win by 20 or more. The Illini are also the first team to outscore a major conference opponent by at least 40 points in a single half since Kentucky outscored Vanderbilt by 43 in the second half of a 106-44 win on March 5, 2003. Cockburn, last season's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is averaging 17.0 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. He scored 13 of his 18 points and grabbed 10 of his 12 rebounds in the second half of the game as Illinois won its fourth in a row since a 91-88 loss at Rutgers on Dec. 20. The Terrapins (6-6, 1-5) have lost three in a row and have struggled mightily against strong post players including Iowa's Luka Garza, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis and Michigan's Hunter Dickinson - all of whom scored 22 or more points against them. |
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01-10-21 | Cincinnati v. Wichita State -2 | 76-82 | Win | 100 | 8 h 11 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Cincinnati is especially bad at shooting the 3 at 28% which is 320th in the nation. The Bearcats had lost five in a row before upsetting SMU in their game on Thursday. Cincy is just 2-11 ATS their last 13 games versus a team with a winning record. The Shockers are 43-11 SU at home since 2017 with an average winning margin of +11PPG. The Shockers have also won 20 of their last thirty-one games when coming off a loss. |
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01-10-21 | Morgan State +3 v. Norfolk State | 85-89 | Loss | -108 | 5 h 6 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Consider that Morgain State is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 7-0 ATS in their last 7 road games. Norfolk comes into this one 1-6 ATS in their last 7 Sunday games. In addition the underdoing is a perfect 4-0 ATS in the L4 meetings between these two. |
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01-10-21 | South Carolina State v. Florida A&M -16.5 | 68-70 | Loss | -109 | 5 h 1 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Units Consider that South Carolina State is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games overall, 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400 and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games. While Floriday A&M is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 home games, 7-1 ATS in their last 8 home games vs. a team with a losing road record, and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall. |
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01-09-21 | UCLA v. Arizona -3 | 81-76 | Loss | -105 | 10 h 28 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units “In the Pac-12, it’s going to be hard for us to overcome 1–for-15 from our starting backcourt, 0 for 7 from 3,” said Arizona head coach Sean Miller after Thursday’s home loss to USC. He also noted that USC was 21-for-28 from the field in the second half. Two groups of “percentage things” went very much not Arizona’s way. On the bright side, they got 31 points from 6’11” Lithuanian freshman Azuolas Tubelis, so now they know they have a big scorer who, in this match-up, shouldn’t be eaten alive in the paint. |
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01-09-21 | Louisiana Tech v. Western Kentucky -6 | 63-58 | Loss | -110 | 9 h 31 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Stansbury is favored again after not covering last night. The guy is almost always outcoached in C-USA play. If 24 points, 17 boards by Bassey couldn’t get them scoreboard separation… La. Tech is tired of losing to these guys and the losses haven’t been by much. |
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01-09-21 | Georgia Southern +2.5 v. Appalachian State | 71-77 | Loss | -110 | 6 h 34 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units “Having the ability to play a lot of guys who are willing to sacrifice will definitely impact games, especially the second of the two game schedules,” said Georgia Southern head coach Brian Burg recently. “80 minutes of basketball in two days is a lot of basketball. The depth we have playing up to 10 or 11 guys is definitely going to benefit us in the Sun Belt Conference.” His GSU kids can’t shoot straight, but App State is no offensive juggernaut and has been missing guard Kendall Lewis for a few games, including last night’s 3-point win where four starters played 5 minutes more than their averages |
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01-09-21 | Missouri State -2 v. Valparaiso | 81-68 | Win | 100 | 4 h 37 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units This Valpo squad is shooting a mere 27.2% on three-pointers after eight games, and has had five straight postponed or canceled because of their virus issues and a program pause. They haven’t played since Dec. 19, a span in which Missouri State has won five of six games while scoring 79, 75, 84 and 70 in Missouri Valley action. Two players no longer with Valpo shot the lights out from three-point range to beat the Bears twice last season. |
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01-09-21 | Texas v. West Virginia -1.5 | Top | 72-70 | Loss | -107 | 3 h 41 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers began putting the new plan in place during their road trip to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State over the weekend. It took a while for them to get going with a four-guard lineup but they eventually got the hang of it with huge second halves each time in their 1-1 split. Their centerpiece Derek Culver had a horrible time of it vs. Oklahoma but rebounded with 22 points, 19 rebounds at Oklahoma State. Texas hits Morgantown, WV ranked #4 to West Virginia’s #14 and the Mountaineers are thinking, ‘Those ranks should be reversed!’ 6’9” senior Royce Hamm should still be in virus protocol for the Longhorns. |
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01-09-21 | Ohio State v. Rutgers -4 | Top | 79-68 | Loss | -106 | 2 h 46 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day The Scarlet Knights have revenge for a 80-68 road loss on Dec. 23. This is a program that was 2-16, 1-17, 3-15 in its first three Big Ten seasons, which beat the Buckeyes here in their fourth during a 7-13 conference season, went 11-9 in conference last year when they lost only 72-66 at Ohio State. Guess what we’re saying is that Rutgers belong now. Rutgers led the earlier meeting 38-28 at halftime, got out-scored 52-30 in the second half. “I needed to do a better job of getting this team ready for the two things this team (OSU) does well — rebounding and shooting free throws,” said Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell. And, if you’re thinking he was being sarcastic about the second thing, you’re right. “I just have to do a better job with the officials. They’re great. They do a great job.” Senior guard C.J. Walker – leader on the Buckeyes in minutes per game – suddenly out with an injury |
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01-09-21 | Hofstra v. Northeastern +2 | Top | 56-67 | Win | 100 | 2 h 44 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CAA Play of the Day A match-up so nice, they’re doing it twice. Hofstra is now 0-3 ATS in CAA play while their head coach Joe Mihalic is out on medical leave. There isn’t much of an adjustment they can make, as a team that plays 40 minutes of zone defense. They play a short rotation that can’t press for long stretches for fear of foul and fatigue. They’re not shooting the rock as well as they did last season. Northeastern head coach Bill Coen can tell his team, “Listen, if you slackers hadn’t come out and trailed 46-29 at halftime at their place on Thursday, you wouldn’t have had to make those fine Winning Points people worry and you wouldn’t have had to sweat overtime just to get out of there with a win. Now, let’s go! From the get-go! Those guys beat us three times last year and we still owe them! |
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01-08-21 | Dayton v. Davidson -7 | 89-78 | Loss | -109 | 4 h 36 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units After you lose outright as -12 chalk at lousy Fordham with only seven players plus a project 7-foot freshman playing, does it stand to reason that playing another road game, against a better Davidson team, would be grounds for improvement? Sounds like no! Dayton’s 55-54 loss to Fordham came six days after a 67-65 loss to La Salle. Fordham and Lasalle were picked to finish last and next-to-last in the 14-team Atlantic 10. If Fordham and Lasalle could shoot 50.0% and 43.5% on threes against them (they did), then the Wildcats should so as well or better |
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01-08-21 | Grand Canyon -9.5 v. Tarleton St | Top | 75-72 | Loss | -111 | 3 h 49 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day Tarleton State – located in the south of Utah -- moved up into Division 1 this season, has played only four games – none since Dec. 9 after eight straight postponements – and lost to Abilene Christian by 21 points in their most recent game against a D-1 foe. Off three straight losses to legit post-season tournament sides San Francisco, Colorado and Arizona State, in which they were undervalued going 3-0 ATS and out-rebounded all three, Bryce Drew seems to be in a Grand spot to right the ship and start WAC play A-OK. Since they last played, TSU assistant coach Steve Shields has resigned to become a parks department director in Arkansas |
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01-07-21 | UNLV v. Colorado State -9 | Top | 71-74 | Loss | -107 | 9 h 54 m | Show |
CBB Mismatch of the Day The host Rams were sharpening the saw at San Diego State earlier this week, “finishing” strongly in each second half of their two-game, back-to-back series (37-27 the first night in victory, 41-28 the second night in defeat.) Given that UNLV hasn’t played since Dec. 5 after a program pause, and is kind of a ratty team, anyway, for the Runnin’ Rebels to take the court after such a long break, to play at high altitude against an opponent that just finished strongly two nights in a row against a quality foe… |
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01-07-21 | Northeastern +4.5 v. Hofstra | 81-78 | Win | 100 | 6 h 60 m | Show | |
CBB Play of the Day Hofstra has won seven straight in the CAA dating back to last season. Northeastern has lost five straight road games. What’s it all mean? Hopefully not much. The Huskies’ five road losses were at UMass in their opener with UMass having games under the belt, Syracuse, Old Dominion, Georgia and West Virginia. They lost three times to Hofstra last season – hey, another losing streak! The three losses were by 2, 4, 9 points. You think they’re not jazzed up for this game? Hofstra pretty much plays 40 minutes of zone defense, which Northeastern saw at Syracuse when they lost by only 6 points taking 18. Hofstra has begun CAA season 0-2 ATS without head coach Joe Mihalic, who is on medical leave. |
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01-06-21 | Oklahoma v. Baylor -11.5 | Top | 61-76 | Win | 100 | 30 h 51 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit Big-12 Play of the Day The Sooners caught West Virginia in the Mountaineers’ first go-round without power forward Oscar Tshiebwe, working four guards around Derek Culver, who got them a big 2 points in 22 minutes, with 7 turnovers. D-oh! Wrapped up in working their new arrangement, WVU missed a lot of shots early, which messed up their transition defense, and they fell behind the Sooners by a considerable amount (38-20) at halftime. Oklahoma was able to weather a late charge by West Virginia to get the win. They travel to Waco, TX to face an opponent with no such transitional learning curve in their game on either end of the floor. The Bears have won five straight over the Sooners over the course of the prior three seasons, when they weren’t unbeaten and ranked #1. For all the bitcoins. |
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01-06-21 | Wake Forest v. Virginia -13 | 61-70 | Loss | -110 | 30 h 43 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Prospective road dog backers might be encouraged by the fact that Virginia needed overtime to dispose of the last Danny Manning-coached Wake Forest team last season. But that game came off a 2-point loss at Duke for the Cavs, and was played under hangover conditions. The Cavaliers are currently fresh and fit, seven games under their belt vs. only two for Wake Forest, and you know that Wake’s only real game was the 70-54 loss at Georgia Tech, our Sunday ***BEST BET. Steve Forbes can’t help but eventually coach them up beyond what Manning did, but at the moment he’s handicapped by the long pause in his first season after inheriting a not-so-hot spot. Forbes played nine kids for 10 to 30 minutes at Tech, got only 6 points from four players in 71 bench minutes. |
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01-06-21 | Arkansas v. Tennessee -7.5 | 74-79 | Loss | -126 | 6 h 26 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Angry Vols, off their first loss! (Also, angry Arkansas, off their first loss!) Arkansas couldn’t get Missouri’s rim protector, James Tillmon, in foul trouble. In fact, the 6’10” senior had himself a day with 25 points. Vols’ 6’9” John Fulkerson’s eyes light up. Arkansas is the St. John’s of the SEC – zips through non-conference season at home, doesn’t class up within conference play. Doubtful they can rebound with Tennessee. |
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01-05-21 | Kansas v. TCU +6 | 93-64 | Loss | -104 | 10 h 59 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Let’s see how the Jayhawks respond to the whuppin’ that Texas put on them in Lawrence. TCU’s Andrew Nembhard: “All these games are personal. We want to put the conference and the nation on notice that we’re legit.” Two road wins in the Big 12 already by TCU hint that he may have something there. Said Jamie Dixon after the Horned Frogs’ win at Kansas State: “This was the first time we’ve had our full team and I think we’ll get better and better. |
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01-05-21 | Connecticut v. Marquette +1 | Top | 65-54 | Loss | -110 | 9 h 3 m | Show |
Big East Play of the Day Welcome back to the Big East, UConn, Love, Marquette. This Huskies bunch was one of the nation’s worst long-trip travelers when it was in the American Athletic. They’ve been cuddled in their home-state bubble, and the confines of their friendly home floor, since the beginning of this season and have left the area for the first time. They shot only 35.8% when they lost by 2 points to an off-kilter Creighton team, then had the pleasure of facing pause-problem Depaul after that. Off a difficult stretch to open Big East season (at Creighton, Seton Hall, at Xavier, Villanova), Marquette got a reprieve at Georgetown and comes back home for what appears to be another. |
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01-05-21 | NC State +5 v. Clemson | 70-74 | Win | 100 | 6 h 5 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Kevin Keatts has readjusted the Wolfpack to take advantage of its big frontline and look into the paint on most of its halfcourt sets, and got good news when 6-10 F.J. Funderburk returned from a recent absence to score 21 in last Wednesday’s win over Boston College. With 6-5 sr. wing Devon Daniels (16.3 ppg) now handily assuming more of the scoring burden following the departures of last year’s stalwart backcourt tandem of C.J. Bryce and Markell Johnson, Keatts has other attack-end options. This one stays real close at Littlejohn and an outright Wolfpack success would be no surprise. |
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01-05-21 | Northern Illinois v. Ohio -14 | 73-76 | Loss | -110 | 6 h 8 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Nobody has stepped into the Northern Illinois void left by the program’s all-time leading scorer, departed Eugene German. He scored 20.8 ppg last season when nobody else averaged more than 8.5. The Huskies’ low-lights so far this season include 57.1 ppg, 9.1 to 15.5 Assist/Turnover, 21.2% on three-pointers. Ohio surrounds 6’8”, 250 senior Dwight Wilson (15.3 ppg, 8.4 reb) with a lot of guys who aren’t shy about shootin’ it, and Wilson isn’t the leading scorer. 6’4” guard Jason Preston, with his 48.3% three-point shooting, is |
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01-05-21 | Toledo v. Kent State -2.5 | 84-82 | Loss | -110 | 2 h 12 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Toledo comes in hot – five straight wins, four straight covers – and has double-revenge in this 2 pm, ET matinee. But Kent State regained the services of 6’7”, 230 senior forward Tervel Beck in their most recent game on Jan. 1, a 66-62 road loss at Akron. They’re toughened up to protect home floor following the rivalry road loss |
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01-03-21 | Wake Forest v. Georgia Tech -9.5 | Top | 54-70 | Win | 100 | 8 h 12 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day Wake played down in class on Nov. 25 and 27 vs. Delaware State and Longwood. Then, they paused for a while. They came back on Thursday to beat Division 2 Catawba, 70-62, without Ian Dubose (senior grad transfer guard) and Tariq Ingraham (6’9”, 255 freshman), each of whom led the team in scoring the first two games. Both will miss the rest of the season. “We had to find a game, at least one. It would have been nice to play four or five of those,” said first-season head coach Steve Forbes. How many times in the history of college basketball has a team played a couple games around Thanksgiving then not being to play or practice again until New Year’s Eve? That’s difficult. I don’t know the right answer for that one, but I know for us it’s been a tough and difficult path… We’re so far behind, it’s scary.” |
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01-03-21 | St. Joe's v. Rhode Island UNDER 152.5 | 77-85 | Loss | -110 | 7 h 50 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Offensive production is off a bit this season for David Cox’s Rams, especially top scorer G Fatts Russell, one of the most-potent A-10 weapons a year ago down from 18.8 points per game to 13.8 points per game, and Rhode Island ranks well up the track (302 out of 329) in the telling assist- per-game category (only 10.4). The Rams should win, probably comfortably, but more intrigued by this 150s “total” that seems too high, especially considering these matchups landed on 132 and 128, respectively, a year ago |
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01-02-21 | CS-Fullerton v. UC-Santa Barbara -15.5 | Top | 61-65 | Loss | -110 | 10 h 6 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day A match-up so nice, they’ll give it to us twice! UCSB didn’t even play with its real rotation last night, managed to win by 18 points. Head coach Joe Pasternack will probably take this second of back-to-backs more seriously, to complete a sweep and reverse what happened to them last weekend at Irvine. |
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01-02-21 | Fordham v. La Salle -6 | 52-89 | Win | 100 | 9 h 46 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units In 2016, for reasons that made less sense than hiring Tom Pecora before him, Fordham gave head coach Jeff Neubauer a contract extension through 2020-21. Therefore, this season will more than likely be a death march through the A-10. They’ve played one game, losing by 24 points to a George Washington team they beat three times last season. Fordham normally begins a season playing down-down-down in class in games they win. This season, they start at their own level – which is a bad way to describe it because it’s a level at which they don’t belong |
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01-02-21 | Utah State v. Air Force +14.5 | 72-53 | Loss | -105 | 8 h 10 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units If Thursday night’s match-up between these two had been a fight, it would have been stopped at the end of the 22-6 run by Utah State early in the second half to take a 70-36 lead. But Air Force shot the ball okay, 47.2%. The 26 turnovers (vs. Utah State’s 9) hurt some, ya’ think? One of their senior forwards turned it over 7 times. Get him off the floor, Joe Scott! “They got 45 points off those 26 turnovers. That’s a great place to start right there,” Scott said afterwards. With a day between games, Scott has an opportunity to watch tape with the players and prepare for better execution. |
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01-02-21 | Purdue v. Illinois -8 | Top | 58-66 | Push | 0 | 8 h 13 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day Not sure how sustainable Illinois’ 42.6% three-point shooting is. But this should be a good day to be Kofi Cockburn, with Purdue opponents hitting 71.7% of their shots at the rim. Purdue is 0-2 ATS on the Big Ten road so far and lost both meetings vs. Illinois last season, by 26 and 17 points. “Purdue basketball still looking to build defensive foundation,” said a local headline yesterday. Look to Salt Lake City, where Haarms transferred. |
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01-02-21 | Mercer v. Furman -10.5 | 80-83 | Loss | -110 | 4 h 20 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Mercer has double-revenge, but after promising beginnings vs. non-conference strangers, they’ve had some postponements and cancellations, and a performance decline with exposure that continued in Tuesday night’s 13-point home loss vs. Wofford that tipped off SoCon season. Furman’s season has been uninterrupted and the Paladins tested themselves with narrow, power-conference losses at Cincinnati and Alabama before winning at Chattanooga on Wednesday night to begin SoCon season |
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01-02-21 | Chattanooga v. VMI +4.5 | 79-84 | Win | 100 | 3 h 23 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Down 56-37 at the half at Samford earlier this week, VMI held it together and “won” the second half in defeat. They come home off three straight road losses to play with double-revenge against the Mocs, whose 9-0 season got its first loss as soon as they faced a SoCon opponent Wednesday night. Not easy to lose when you sink 13 of 26 treys and the other side makes only 4 of them, but that’s what they did |
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01-02-21 | Missouri +7 v. Arkansas | Top | 81-68 | Win | 100 | 2 h 26 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit SEC Play of the Day Tell me can you, off a 20-point home loss vs. undefeated Tennessee, win a road game against a 9-0 Arkansas team that just scored 97 points on the road at Auburn? Tell me, Cuonzo, Cuonzo, Cuonzo!’ He didn’t seem too concerned about the Tennessee game, giving all the credit to the highly ranked Vols, who are probably the best defensive squad in the nation. Telling talk, perhaps, from Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman after the 97-85 win vs. Auburn, a team still being molded by Bruce Pearl (compared to a pretty set Missouri squad): “To be honest with you, this game tonight, knowing that we had two ranked teams in the top 15 in our next two games, since I’ve been at Arkansas, for a regular season game, this was by far the most important game that I have been a part of with this team.” |
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01-01-21 | CS-Fullerton v. UC-Santa Barbara -16 | Top | 63-81 | Win | 100 | 10 h 25 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day Off losses on back-to-back nights at Cal-Irvine, the Barbarians – who’ve beaten Loyola Marymount by 11 points and Pepperdine by 12, on the road -- return home ready to take it to whomever they’ve had all week to prepare against. It happens to be the Fullertons, who have a grand total of one game under their belt so far, played against San Diego Christian of D-2 on Dec. 13, in which ten players got 11-24 minutes of court time. You know how to proceed. |
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01-01-21 | St. Peter's -5 v. Canisius | 58-70 | Loss | -108 | 3 h 27 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units The 6-3 Peacocks wake up in Buffalo, NY on New Year’s Day (Happy, Happy, Everyone!) for the first of back-to-backs vs. the locals, who they beat by 1 point on this floor last season (the other game was a 4-point home loss). Saint Peter’s is 11-1 SU, last 12 MAAC games. Canisius is shooting 38.7% from the field (a woeful number, in case you weren’t aware) and is off back-to-back 16- and 28-point losses at Monmouth. Who do ya’ like |
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12-31-20 | Colorado v. USC -1.5 | Top | 72-62 | Loss | -114 | 11 h 60 m | Show |
PAC-12 Play of the Day The Trojans four games postponed or canceled, hadn’t played since Dec. 8 before beating Santa Clara 86-63 Tuesday night. The tall Mobley brothers are combining to average 27.5 ppg, 17.6 rebounds, 4 blocks per game. The team has the best field goal percentage among Pac 12 squads (49.2%). Tad Boyle doesn’t coach his Buffs to experience lop-sided halves against themselves on the road, but he has yet to prove that he can coach them to avoid having lots of them. Let’s have another, bud. |
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12-31-20 | Minnesota +8.5 v. Wisconsin | 59-71 | Loss | -109 | 6 h 33 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units We did not buy Wisconsin’s high ranking against what had been an underperforming Maryland team earlier this week and we’ll stay on that track for this match-up against the Gophers, with Marcus Carr a tough guard and Liam Robbins a nuisance guarding the rim |
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12-30-20 | Western Carolina +3 v. East Tennessee State | 78-86 | Loss | -110 | 27 h 24 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Revenge! WCU doesn’t care who’s in the uniforms for ETSU. They only care about having lost to them three times last season, twice the season before, twice the season before that, twice the season before that, twice the season before that. But now they’ve got five double-digit scorers, having added one of them in the most recent game – 6’7” junior transfer Cory Hightower. ETSU’s Assist/Turnover rate of 12.5 to 16.4 is a far cry from last season’s 14.0 to 12.1. |
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12-30-20 | George Mason v. Massachusetts -6 | Top | 93-92 | Loss | -105 | 26 h 27 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day UMass has beaten A-10 foe Lasalle by 19 points. George Mason is off a class-drop loss at home vs. Norfolk State, and had beaten Towson – who hadn’t played in a month – by only 5 points before that. Five double-digit scorers – four of them around 6’9”, 245 Tre Mitchell (21.5 ppg) is probably too much for GMU to guard and then match on the other end. |
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12-30-20 | SMU -8 v. Temple | Top | 79-71 | Push | 0 | 23 h 31 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day Temple has played two games. You’ll remember that we had Houston as a BEST BET against them in the second, laying a lot and winning by more (76-50). The Temple program seems like it’s been on the way down and still has a ways to go. As we noted Dec. 22, they haven’t had consistently accurate shooters for several seasons. One 50-point game at Houston doesn’t mean they can’t bounce back with many more in the next, but the capabilities haven’t shown, they haven’t played since, the Houston game was their seventh straight AAC defeat, SMU is 5-0 and allowing only 63 ppg |
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12-29-20 | Houston v. Tulsa +8.5 | 64-65 | Win | 100 | 7 h 27 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units 7-0, #5-ranked Houston lays 8+ to an opponent they beat by 23 points at home in February as they come off a 9-point win at UCF. Margins of those sizes are difficult to sustain in conference play. Tulsa lost a home game to Wichita State earlier this month, but has since won at Memphis. “We learned a lot from that [Wichita State] game because I don’t think we were quite right in the first half, coming from the break,” head coach Haith said. “We got better in the second half, but we needed practice time.” Alrighty, then. They stay true to their defensive system, which is a good trait to have against a Houston bunch that keys on offensive rebounding |
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12-29-20 | Ole Miss v. Alabama -130 | Top | 64-82 | Win | 100 | 8 h 33 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day John Petty and James Rojas return for Alabama after being suspended for their win vs. ETSU a week ago. The Tide hasn’t looked as sharp as they did last season but they beat Ole Miss 103-78 on the road and it’s not like Ole Miss, en route to being 5-1, has beaten anybody that gives you the shivers. The number is just too short to pass up. |
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12-28-20 | Maryland +9.5 v. Wisconsin | 70-64 | Win | 100 | 10 h 33 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units The Terps are getting their sea legs under them. They’re a tough athletic match for the Badgers in man-to-man. They turned it over only 5 times losing 73-70 at Purdue and should battle all the way attempting to avoid an 0-3 start in the Big Ten. They lost by only two points, 56-54, on this floor last season |
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12-27-20 | Evansville v. Southern Illinois -7.5 | 57-63 | Loss | -117 | 7 h 35 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Evansville’s two true road games were a 35-point loss at Louisville and an overtime loss at a Tennessee-Martin team in disarray. They struggle to score, don’t rebound strongly. They lost by 17 points on this floor last season, when they went 0-18 in Missouri Valley play |
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12-27-20 | Drake v. Indiana State +3.5 | 81-63 | Loss | -105 | 4 h 37 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Drake concluded non-conference play 9-0 and although Liam Robbins, who deserted them, is helping Minnesota (and us, Friday!), they haven’t missed him. Yet. Perhaps in their first Missouri Valley game, an opponent like Indiana State will know how to exploit them? Interesting, eh? This is hardly a reach. Drake beat Indiana State by 4 points home last season, lost 58-56 on this floor |
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12-26-20 | Green Bay v. Wright State -15 | 53-67 | Loss | -117 | 6 h 16 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Green Bay had two cracks at Milwaukee at home, went 0-2 to fall to 0-6 in the first season of young Ryan as head coach. They shot 38.9% and 39.1% from the field in those losses. Hey, at least they’re consistent! But shooting in that range ain’t gonna get it done against a Wright State side shooting 51% from the field overall after five games, unless the Raiders have a bad shooting day in their own gym |
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12-26-20 | Indiana v. Illinois -7.5 | Top | 60-69 | Win | 100 | 6 h 13 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day The Hoosiers have failed two serious tests already. Losing by 22 to Texas, falling behind badly at home vs. Northwestern. Illinois is the best foe they’ll have faced in nine games, and the reverse is not true for Illinois, who has played four of their last five games away from home vs. Duke, Missouri, Minnesota, Rutgers and Penn State. |
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12-25-20 | Iowa v. Minnesota +7 | 95-102 | Win | 100 | 32 h 57 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Little Pitino no doubt swayed the transfer of Liam Robbins from Drake with Iowa’s Luke Garza in mind – somebody a little taller than Garza to help keep him in check inside and perhaps make him spend more time on the perimeter taking lower-percentage shots and rebounding less. The Gophers shot just 35.6% from the field when they lost just 58-55 to Iowa on this floor last season so they know they can do a defensive job on an offensive-minded visitor. The Total of 162.5 seems too high, doesn’t it? We shall see |
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12-23-20 | Northwestern v. Indiana -7.5 | Top | 74-67 | Loss | -113 | 11 h 3 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day What happens to Northwestern one game after they destroyed Michigan State in the Big Ten opener? How about a crash at Indiana? Izzo is infamous for failing to prepare Michigan State early in conference season, which then gives him an opportunity to remind his players that they are terrible and need to listen to him in order to improve. It’s all part of the master plan of peaking later on, because he is Mr. March, not Mr. December. Northwestern is mostly a five-out offense, the type that in the Big Ten, would figure to be the most volatile night in and night out, meaning much variance in performance. |
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12-23-20 | UMKC v. St. Louis -23.5 | 46-62 | Loss | -104 | 11 h 38 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units This visitor lost by 29 points at Minnesota, getting dominated by the Gophers’ 7’0” Liam Robbins. The home favorite lost by 8 points at Minnesota, playing well but running into a sixth man on the floor – Big Ten referees who sent Minnesota to the free-throw line 41 times to 17 for the Billikens. Three Saint Louis starters got fouled out. Saint Louis was also done in by 32 points (14 on free throws) by Gophers’ goto guy Marcus Carr, and 9 blocked shots – 4 by Robbins, 3 by 6’9” Isaiah Ihnen. The aggression that was thwarted should zip through unimpeded in this match-up |
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12-22-20 | Temple v. Houston -16.5 | Top | 50-76 | Win | 100 | 8 h 38 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Units CBB Play of the Day Temple has played one game, three days ago, against NJIT. They won it 72-60, shooting 40% from the field on their home floor, with a 30-12 disparity in free throw attempts. They haven’t shot well for four years and should shoot it worse on this long road trip with a class rise into conference play against a ranked, unbeaten opponent that allows 55.6 points per game, had some virus issues, didn’t play for 15 days, but got players cleared recently and returned for a good tune-up win vs. Alcorn State on Sunday |
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12-22-20 | East Tennessee State v. Alabama -14.5 | 69-85 | Win | 100 | 9 h 39 m | Show | |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day Class drop for the Crimson Tide, off a loss. Good spot to get back on track. ETSU is still attempting to discover an identity with a new head coach and many new players on a team who won 30 games last season with different kids in these uniforms. They are coming off three games against non-Division 1 opponents you’ve never heard of and have been scoring mostly in the 60s or less against them, and better foes. Alabama will be the best team they’ve played in this, their eighth game. They way they’ve been turning the ball over suggests that Alabama will thrive in transition. |
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12-21-20 | New Mexico v. Boise State -10 | Top | 53-77 | Win | 100 | 7 h 14 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day The Lobos have some catching up to do after playing only three games so far, two of them way down in class against Our Lady of the Lake (NAIA) and Le Tourneau (Division III), we kid you not. They lost 11 of their last 15 Mountain West games last season. Boise has looked quite good against real opposition – Houston and BYU, to name a few. East Tennessee State transfer Mladen Armus gives them a 6’10”, 232 rebounding stabilizer they’ve lacked. |
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12-20-20 | St. Louis -2.5 v. Minnesota | Top | 82-90 | Loss | -107 | 11 h 59 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day The visitor is 6-0 SU and 6-0 ATS, but playing its first true road game. “True road” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing this year as in the past, given the lack of crowd enthusiasm for home teams. There are still Big Ten referees for the A-10 squad to overcome but otherwise, they have the scoring, the rebounding, the experienced depth, and the coaching to pull this off. Illinois helped expose Minnesota earlier in the week. |
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12-20-20 | Marquette +3 v. Xavier | 88-91 | Push | 0 | 5 h 34 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 units The host Musketeers are 7-0 but were forced to pause for a while. They’ll probably introduce recently eligible Hampton transfer Big Ben Stanley to Big East ball here, but head coach Travis Steele will be forced to juggle minutes off the interruption. Fresh off double-avenging Creighton, Marquette seeks to take a fifth straight from the Musketeers. |
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12-19-20 | Miami-OH v. Bradley -11 | Top | 68-69 | Loss | -110 | 9 h 13 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day Off 24- and 28-point losses to Wright State and Buffalo, teams that contended for Mid-Major conference championships last season, Miami-OH doesn’t appear to be in a good spot on the road against the Missouri Valley’s back-to-back post-season tournament winner. Bradley had a 10-day break end on Thursday night with a cushy, 23-point win here vs. Jackson State in which everybody got to play, a nice tune-up for this, in which a better effort is needed before they go to Missouri on Tuesday for a class test. |
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12-19-20 | Eastern Washington -9.5 v. Northern Arizona | 80-64 | Win | 100 | 7 h 28 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units We’ll repeat the forecast from yesterday’s game that was postponed due to ongoing insanity, although there’s a chance this, too, won’t be played: The 0-4 Eagles of EW have been playing their butts off, very competitive in hastily scheduled true road games vs. three Pac 12 foes and Saint Mary’s. They lost to Arizona by 3 points. Northern Arizona lost to Arizona by 43, also to Cal-Riverside by 24, Colorado State by 39… NAU hasn’t had a winning conference season in the Big Sky since 2014 and has lost six straight to EW. |
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12-19-20 | Youngstown State +2.5 v. Northern Kentucky | 64-79 | Loss | -107 | 3 h 24 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units YSU seeks to end an eight-game losing streak to the host. Their current leading scorer, Naz Bohannon (22 ppg), fouled out of last year’s 2-point loss here trying to guard since-departed Dantez Walton. The visiting Penguins have only three games under their belts but their starting group has played a lot of ball together. |
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12-19-20 | Western Kentucky +5 v. Alabama | 73-71 | Win | 100 | 3 h 16 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Although Alabama is a tad taller this season, they still lack a player who can prevent 6’11”, 235 senior center Charles Bassey from doing harm. With Alabama barely cracking 40% field goal shooting overall and less than 30% from three-point range, the Tide is in tough because you know former SEC head coach Stansbury is pointing for a pelt in SEC territory with a favorable style match-up. Alabama’s 6’8”, 210 Herbert Jones had a 17-and-12 game vs. Furman but Furman’s forwards go 6’7”, 6’8” and Alabama won the game by only 3 points. |
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12-19-20 | Marist v. Manhattan -3 | Top | 61-39 | Loss | -102 | 3 h 19 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day Seton Hall transfer Anthony Nelson, a 6’4” junior guard and New York, NY-er, stepped into the MAAC with 19 and 23 points for Manhattan in his first two games last week, which were also the team’s first two games. Marist has somebody top 20 points for them about once every three weeks. Actually, it hasn’t happened yet in four games this season. |
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12-19-20 | Indiana -7 v. Butler | 68-60 | Win | 100 | 1 h 3 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Zero (0) steals, 5 offensive rebounds, 24 fouls by Butler in their loss at Villanova. This is only their third game. They still need work. The Hoosiers have beaten Butler’s Big East cousin Providence by 21 points, played well vs. what appears to be more imposing defense on Florida State. Bo Hodges, ETSU transfer, may debut for the Bulldogs but it’s probably a reach to call him an instant difference-maker. |
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12-18-20 | Iowa State v. West Virginia -15.5 | Top | 65-70 | Loss | -100 | 28 h 50 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day “Iowa State searches for answers after a sloppy start to Big 12 play,” said Wednesday morning’s headline. Normally, you look in the last place you left something. Instead, the skidding Cyclones are forced to travel all the way to Morgantown, WV to face a 6-1, #8-ranked opponent after losing the rivalry game 105-77 to Iowa, following up with a 75-65 home loss to fellow flounderer Kansas State – who shot only 17.4% from three-point range but never trailed after the 10:00 mark of the first half. Keep searchin’ fellas. Jackson State and Chicago State await, in your place, after this. Ya’ might find some some answers then and there. Here and now, rebounding and shooting issues are magnified in this match-up. |
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12-18-20 | St. Peter's -1.5 v. Monmouth | 76-78 | Loss | -108 | 24 h 53 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Monmouth debuted on Tuesday night, sending Hofstra to the free-throw line 32 times (vs. only 13 FTs for themselves). That’s a sign that their defense isn’t there yet and why should it be? Six games into its season -- including a sweep of Niagara here last weekend and two power-conference match-ups plus Lasalle -- St. Peter’s has all the momentum and foundation beneath them here. |
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12-17-20 | Nebraska-Omaha v. Wyoming -10.5 | 78-82 | Loss | -106 | 10 h 23 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Omaha will be playing at altitude two nights in a row – moving up from 5,000 feet in Boulder, CO to 7,100 feet in Laramie, WY. It was only a 137-mile drive to escape the Buffs and get to Cowboy Country but this still seems like a magical mystery tour for a visitor that is struggling to score (in the 40s, again, last night, thank you!). Wyoming averaged a mere 67.2 points per game last season, had a 3-7 non-conference record. They hired Jeff Linder (Northern Colorado) as head coach and now they’re 5-1, averaging 86.2 points per game with a 16.3 to 10.5 Assist/Turnover ratio |
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12-17-20 | Kansas v. Texas Tech -3 | Top | 58-57 | Loss | -110 | 8 h 28 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day Georgetown transfer Mac McClung is leading Texas Tech in scoring at 14.1 ppg and his longer-than-average range helps the Red Raiders’ offense space the floor for dribble penetration by #2 and #2 scorers Terrence Shannon and Kyler Edwards. VCU transfer Marcos Santos-Silva, at 6’7”, needs to prove he can finish as strongly at the rim in the Big 12 as he did in the A-10. But Kansas lacks rim protection this season. So, in this match-up, Santos-Silva may very well get it done. Gonzaga and Creighton both exposed some interior defense weaknesses that Kansas will either live with, or improve upon. But the personnel isn’t really there to improve upon it |
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12-16-20 | Butler v. Villanova -12.5 | Top | 66-85 | Win | 100 | 8 h 58 m | Show |
CBB Play of the Day Butler is in a bad spot. They’ve played only one game, on November 25. They were life and death to get past Western Michigan at home, scoring only 66 points. WMU hasn’t beaten a Division I team in three tries since, averaging 61 ppg. Butler was/is replacing 90% of its three-point production from last season and their 5-for-20 performance on threes in the lone game makes it seem like they won’t be getting 50% of it back. Jay Wright and the Wildcats, highly ranked, will fiddle a sad tune for the Bulldogs while maintaining that ranking. |
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12-16-20 | Nebraska-Omaha v. Colorado -21.5 | 49-91 | Win | 100 | 6 h 3 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units The manner in which Colorado dispatched of Northern Colorado the other night suggests that Omaha is similar fodder. We went against this visitor last week against Kansas when they were taking 25, called it by 35, and they lost by 45. Life is short. Patsies are few. Go against them when you can |
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12-16-20 | Northeastern +18.5 v. Syracuse | 56-62 | Win | 100 | 4 h 7 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units 100+ points plus at Boston College the other night for Syracuse, eh? That’s a little ridiculous. Their shooters figure to come down to Earth. Syracuse is not a strong rebounding team. Their tallest starter, Marek Dolezaj, plays out on the perimeter. They don’t crash the offensive glass. Northeastern is not outsized in this match-up unless Boeheim puts his bench full of inexperienced, offensively challenged 6’10’’ and 6’11’’ stringbeans out there, in which case he’d be sacrificing offense. Northeastern gave up 30+ points in their season debut to a 6’10” UMass center who can score inside but came back two nights later and neutralized him in a revenge win. There’s nobody like that for them to guard tonight. They’re happy to guard the perimeter, rebound, and let the chips fall where they may. |
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12-15-20 | Appalachian State v. Tennessee -18.5 | 38-79 | Win | 100 | 8 h 33 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units The Vols have been warming up against real opponents who had more games under their belt. Two games, 2-0 SU and ATS as the less-than-sharp favorite vs. Colorado and Cincinnati. Not bad. The offense they couldn’t find in those games should get a little bit better against a Sun Belt also ran. The defense should continue to do its job against an outclassed foe that scored only 69 points in regulation vs. Bowling Green, 61 vs. Charlotte. |
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12-15-20 | Wichita State v. Tulsa | Top | 69-65 | Loss | -110 | 8 h 43 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day The Shockers of Wichita played nice defense in the 3-point home loss to Oklahoma State, covering by 1 as a home dog. But they still have yet to shoot better than 37.5% overall for a game. That’s not a good sign as they head out on the road to face a good conference foe that plays good defense with the added benefit of knowing them pretty well. Senior guards Brandon Rachal and Elijah Joiner should be chomping at the bit to get after the Shockers, who ended Tulsa’s 2019-20 by beating them by 22 points in Wichita. |
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12-14-20 | Rutgers v. Maryland -2.5 | 74-60 | Loss | -107 | 10 h 56 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Clemson ambushed the Terps in one of those typically unprepared Mark Turgeon road games. He now has their attention, and the obligation to coach the heck out of them, for the Big Ten conference and home opener against a Rutgers bunch that had it all over Syracuse in the match-ups, and available personnel |
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12-13-20 | Mercer -5 v. Georgia Southern | 77-75 | Loss | -110 | 23 h 5 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units We all enjoyed Georgia Southern being mercy-ruled at Davidson Friday night. Revitalized Mercer has already beaten Georgia Tech and Georgia State by 10 and 17 points, scoring 80+ against an ACC school and a perennial Sun Belt contender. Like Davidson, they are shooting better than 40% from three-point range. May as well go right back to the well. |
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12-12-20 | Alabama -120 v. Clemson | 56-64 | Loss | -120 | 10 h 43 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Alabama’s Nate Oats is our new favorite coach in the world (see his recent putdown of Duke’s Coach K). It seems like a style contrast: Clemson slow, Alabama quick. Oats knows what needs to happen: “We’ve got to buckle down on the defensive end, force misses, get the ball and break off the misses. If we can do that, then I think we can get going up and down.” Not such a big if, considering that they’ve already made his vision happen against Providence |
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12-12-20 | Auburn v. Memphis -6.5 | 74-71 | Loss | -110 | 8 h 57 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Adding Va. Tech transfer Landers Nolley to the four sophomores who played a lot as freshmen make Memphis a formidable invader against an Auburn team still in flux for Bruce Pearl. “You want to talk about getting exposed, this’ll be the best defensive team that we’ve played,” he says. Considering that Auburn is giving up 81 ppg after four, scoring points isn’t all Pearl needs to be concerned about |
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12-12-20 | UAB -3.5 v. East Tennessee State | Top | 65-61 | Win | 100 | 6 h 50 m | Show |
Rating: 4 Unit CBB Game of the Week ETSU is down 20 points from last season’s per game scoring average of 76. Their Assist/Turnover Ratio is 8.7 to 19.3. This is not good. But this is what happens when the head coach of a 30-4 team times his move for greener pastures off a season like that, takes assistants with him, and his move is followed by transfers, graduations, and the new coach must mold freshmen and transfers in an immediate rebuild. UAB’s Andy Kennedy – not one of our favorite coaches but he managed to snag an experienced scoring guard from Georgia Southern (Quan Jackson), another experienced scoring guard from UL-Monroe (Michael Ertel) and a 7’, 260 center from Clemson. So far, nobody’s beaten them and nobody’s come close. It’ll all come crashing down, of course, but not just yet. |
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12-12-20 | Notre Dame +8 v. Kentucky | Top | 64-63 | Win | 100 | 2 h 60 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Mismatch of the Day The Irish have been straddling spreads in losses against quality Big Ten opponents Michigan State and Ohio State. Kentucky hasn’t shown that they can score like those other two, with 64, 62, 62 points in three straight losses to Richmond, Kansas and Georgia Tech. Unfriendly road whistle against short-rotation visitor notwithstanding, because ya’ gotta get ’em while they’re down |
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12-11-20 | Iowa State v. Iowa -13 | Top | 77-105 | Win | 100 | 28 h 59 m | Show |
Rating: 3 Unit CBB Play of the Day The kid we told you about on Iowa – 6’10" Jack Nunge – wasted their time with 0-for-5 three-point shooting and only 3 rebounds, 0 blocks in 22 minutes vs. North Carolina. But the Hawkeyes still won the game by 13 points! Iowa State’s low rebounding numbers (only 30 per game) and low-percentage three-point shooting (29.1%) do not bode well for a match-up with the nation’s #3, which has too good an inside-outside game |
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12-11-20 | Georgia Southern v. Davidson -14 | 45-77 | Win | 100 | 26 h 58 m | Show | |
Rating: 2 Units Ike, Tookie, Quan Jackson, all gone for Georgia Southern, who beat still-winless South Carolina Upstate by 3 points after beating two NAIA schools. In the 72-69 win, they shot 2-for-17 from three-point range. Uh-oh. Now, they get to truly measure themselves against an Atlantic 10 title contender dropping down in class and returning home after three games against Texas, Providence and UNLV and shooting 49.5% from the field. |