NCAAB Preview
Georgia Tech beat Georgia last two years, 62-54/68-56, after losing to Dawgs the two years before that; Dawgs never led in LY's game, going 2-17 from arc. Tech shot 27% inside arc and won. Georgia beat Wofford by 20 in its opener (39-20 at half). Tech beat two stiffs by 31-18 points. ACC teams are just 7-11 vs spread this month; SEC teams are 6-4.
Arkansas lost three starters from 19-13/10-8 team; they're picked to be in middle of SEC. Hogs forced 23 turnovers (+10) in 99-85 opening win over SIU-E, a lower level OVC team. UL-Lafayette hammered McNeese State by 26 in its opener- they've got all five starters back from LY, but they were 13-20. Sun Belt road underdogs are 3-4 against the spread.
South Florida beat Bowling Green in triple OT LY, after trailing by 7 in last 1:07 of regulation; USF had 23 offensive rebounds- they won first two games this year by 10-26 points; Bulls have four starters back from 12-19/3-15 team, are picked last in AAC. Bowling Green opened with a D-3 team; why? MAC teams are 10-6 vs spread so far this month.
Cleveland State came back from down 15 at half to beat Iona in opener, then lost 91-82 at San Francisco Wednesday, after they led by 9 with 8:40 left. Vikings have four starters back from LY, are picked third in the Horizon League. Tex-Arlington lost by 29 at Boise, then beat Samford by 13 Tuesday. C-USA teams are 4-8 against spread, 0-4 at home.
Texas A&M won its first two games, both by 24 points, holding foes to 31.4% inside arc; Aggies lost 65-58 to Rice in teams' last meeting couple years ago. Owls lost at home to SE Louisiana after winning by 9 over an NAIA team- thats not good. Rice was 5-26 LY, has lot of freshmen this year. SEC home favorites are 4-2 against the spread so far this month.
Nevada split pair of 2-point decisions to start season, beating Pacific at home, losing at Cal Poly; Wolf Pack beat San Francisco 59-51 LY in a brickfest where teams combined to shoot 4-38 from arc. Dons rallied to beat Cleveland State 91-82 two nights ago, after trailing by 9 with 8:40 left. WCC teams are 15-3 vs spread; Mountain West underdogs are 4-3.
Cal-Davis lost opener by 17 at Portland despite making 10-24 from arc; Aggies have three starters back from 14-17 team that lost at Stanford by 23 LY, in its only game vs Pac-12 team. Utah opened by blasting school named Evergreen State; they lost at home to Northridge LY, in its only game vs Big West team. Big West road underdogs are 4-5 vs spread.
Oakland paid some bills by losing at North Carolina by 23, UCLA by 31 to open season; Grizzlies are awful defensive team- they're in Michigan, not California, so they're long way from home facing Cal squad that beat Denver 77-50 Tuesday (was 35-18 at half). Oakland was 1-13 from arc at UCLA, other than sharpshooter Bader, who made 5-12 behind arc.
San Jose State lost opener 89-77 at Santa Clara Tuesday, would've been worse if Broncos had been better than 27-40 on foul line. Spartans have eight new players/new coach after LY's 9-20/3-14 disaster. Milwaukee split pair of 4-point decisions to open season, losing to Loyola, beating Davidson 81-77, after being down by as many as 11 in second half.
James Madison lost 61-41 in its opener at Virginia; they were down 18 at half. Dukes have three starters back from 21-15/11-7 team, are picked #7 in CAA. Northern Illinois was 10-51 combined last two years, lost at home 68-66 to Omaha in this year's opener, going 15-28 from foul line, 3-16 on arc. Huskies led by 12 points in second half-- thats a bad loss.
Elon won by 27 at Marist in its D-I opener Sunday; they were up 31 at half, shooting 10-27 from arc, 61% inside arc- they've got five starters back from 21-12/13-5 team- they're picked to win SoCon. Charlotte was up 11 at half at Charleston Tuesday, lost 83-82, missing 14-37 on foul line, while Charleston made 12-28 3's. SoCon road underdogs are 1-4.
Murray State lost PG Jackson (knee) in preseason; they lost 77-74 at Valparaiso in opener, a foulfest (77 FTs combined). Racers shot 39.0% inside arc; lack of veteran PG showed. Murray beat Old Dominion by 7 at home LY, as Canaan had 30. ODU has new coach- they split first two games, losing in OT to Missouri State, shooting 14-25 on foul line.
Northern Arizona split first two games, winning by 11 at UTSA, losing by 20 at Texas Tech; Lumberjacks turned ball over 21% of time, made only 26.2% behind arc. Big Sky road dogs are 3-5 vs spread. USC split its first two games, beating Northridge by 16. Matadors got to line 37 times, but USC shot 62% inside arc. Pac-12 home favorites are 8-7.
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College Basketball: Streaks, Tips, Notes
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Florida Atlantic at Duke
Duke at the wrong end of a 94-83 decision vs Kansas in the Champions Classic marking just the second November loss in six plus years (41-2, 25-14-2 ATS) look to bounce back when they take on Florida Atlantic of the CUSA. Duke takes each defeat seriously and are not to be messed with off a loss. Friday, the Blue Devils hit the hardwood a sparkling 16-0 (11-5 ATS) following a regular season loss. With Blue Devils 3-0 (2-1 ATS) vs a CUSA foes and Owls 0-9 (4-5 ATS) vs the ACC the choice is Duke.