College Knowledge
-- 2-6 Rhode Island won two of last three games; their last three losses are all by 5 or less points, or in OT; home team won seven of Rams' last eight games with Providence- URI lost last four visits here, by 13-1-29-7 points. 6-2 Friars have 7 scholarship guys; losses are vs teams ranked #94/131- they've won last four games, allowing 54.8 ppg.
-- 7-0 Cincinnati beat Alabama by hoop last game, now enters soft part of schedule; their four wins vs teams not in top 100 were by 23-42-54-19 points. Bearcat opponents are making 36% inside arc, 29.5% outside it. Ark-Little Rock is 0-2 on road, losing by 18 at Louisiana Tech, by 40 at Ole Miss. Sun Belt double digit road underdogs are 4-10 vs spread.
-- Inexperienced Vanderbilt lost four of last five games; their three losses vs top 100 teams are by 26-13-10 points. Xavier won 83-70 in OT LY at Vandy; Musketeers are surprising 6-1, winning by 6 at Purdue in last game. Vandy lost its only road game by 26 at Oregon. A-16 double digit home favorites are 6-11 vs spread. SEC road underdogs are 11-16.
-- Home teams won seven of last ten Creighton-Nebraska games, but the Bluejays lost last three visits here, by 5-2-12 points. First road game for Creighton, which beat Wisconsin/Arizona State on neutral floor, but also got beat at home by Boise State. Cornhuskers are 6-1, allowing 63 points or less in its wins, 74 in its loss. Big Dozen dogs are 10-9, 2-0 at home.
-- Long Beach State overschedules in pre-conference play every year; so far this year, they lost to North Carolina by 15, at Arizona by 22. Trip to central NY in December seems extreme for Long Beach- they get 34% of points behind arc- this is in a dome. 6-0 Syracuse leads country in steals, #3 in blocked shots. Big West double digit underdogs are 11-4.
-- Inexperienced (#329) UCSB is 0-3 vs top 100 teams, losing by 28-16-28 points; they lost 76-75ot to San Diego State LY, Aztecs' 4th straight series win, with 90-64/68-51 wins here. Gauchos are 0-3 on road, with a 14-point loss at LSU. Aztecs beat UCLA/USC in last three games, are off for nine days after this game, better not overlook well-coached foe.
-- Green Bay lost four of last five games, losing all three road games by 2-10-16 points; UWGB won both games vs teams not in top 200, with wins by 5-12 points. Tennessee Tech lost last three games vs D-I teams; they turn ball over 23.5% of time. Horizon League favorites are 6-9 vs spread, 2-8 if laying 5 or less points. OVC home underdogs are 2-4.
-- Idaho-Eastern Washington split last 10 meetings; Vandals lost twice in last three visits here. Idaho is 2-6, losing road games vs top 100 teams by 15-9 points. EWU allowed 84+ points in its five losses, 70-75 in its two wins. WAC road favorites are 5-0 vs spread. Big Sky underdogs of less than 5 points are 4-7 vs spread, 2-4 at home.
Armadillosports.com
Games to Watch
By David Schwab
VegasInsider.com
No. 11 Creighton vs. Nebraska
Creighton moved all the way to No. 11 in last AP poll, but could tumble a bit after losing to Boise State this past Wednesday 83-70 as a 13-point home favorite. The Bluejays bounced back with an 80-51 rout of St. Josephs as six-point home favorites on Saturday to improve to 7-1 SU and 5-1 ATS. They are ranked 12th in the nation in scoring with an average of 82.6 points a game.
Nebraska starts this week off with a Monday night tilt against USC as a two-point underdog at home. The Cornhuskers are currently 5-1 SU and 3-2 ATS with the total going OVER in two of its first three games with a posted line. They are only averaging 65.2 points a game but shooting a respectable 46 percent from the floor
CBB Thursday
By Dave Essler
Creighton-Nebraska: Tough spot for Creighton here as it's a sandwich road game between and win over St. Joes' and a home game Sunday against Akron. I watched most of the 'Huskers game against USC and Gallegos and Talley could not miss from deep. You're always going to pay a premium to bet on Creighton, and here I lean Nebraska. Since home teams usually dictate the pace, if Nebraska plays their pace they have enough experience to keep this game close in spite of the weak schedule to date.
URI-Providence: Friars stocks' pretty high right now which is why this line opened so high, and already bet down below one of the key numbers (7, when teams that are losing stop fouling because it's more than two possessions). CRIS opened it at 9 and with minutes it was a t 6.5 where most other books opened. Can't say I disagree at all with the move because Providence has lost to the only two decent teams they've play, UMass and Penn State. URI's numbers (stats) might be a bit skewed because they HAVE played a very good schedule, come in of a great win over Vermont and already proved they can win a road game at Auburn. Caveat here is that URI was crushed by Providence at home last year, but revenge on the road is a different animal. I don't like that Providence has turned the ball over so much against the aforementioned weaker schedule. Taking points or passing.
UALR-Cincinnati: Certainly C-Dogs backyard, but I have to wonder how seriously Cincinnati takes this team after playing Iowa State, Oregon, and Alabama in the last week-plus. The downside to taking all those points is that the Bearcats pressure defense goes against one of the youngest teams in the nation in UALR, and UALR gave up over 70 points to South Carolina, and that's hard to do. Not sure if it shows up in this game, but what will concern me going forward trying to back the 'Cats is their inability to hit free throws. Probably better games (although not many) but the Bearcats play MDES (almost THE worst team in the nation) on Saturday before next weeks games against Marshall and Xavier, so I could make the case for them sleepwalking, but I simply cannot back UALR's youth on the road.
Vanderbilt-Xavier: People are finally finding out how much Vanderbilt really did lose this season (the entire starting five) and I'd love to take the points, but looking back at Vandy's only true road game we see they lost by 26 at Oregon, and lost outright to Marist. They did show a little better recently against Villanova, but I am of the opinion that Villanova is over rated. Xaviers' stock is high and the move from -10.5 to -11.5 is actually significant in that you don't have all the sharp bettors grabbing the generous points. If it were me (it is) I will wait and see what that line does. I COULD make a case for Vanderbilt coming in the back door here since Xaviers' bench is fairly short and they've got a game Sunday against Kent State. The Musketeers beat the GOOD Vanderbilt team in Tennessee last year in OT, but not sure that has too much here other than to think PERHAPS Xavier doesn't take them seriously enough. Bottom line here is that if Vandy can hit their three's (a HUGE % of their scoring YTD) they can keep this close. I do think this game goes over the total of 129 because Xavier doesn't turn the ball over (no wasted possessions), they hit a 76% of their FT's (big for totals), neither team does well with offensive rebounds (fast break points) and Xavier is not the best a defending three's.
Wisconsin GB-T-Tech: I'd almost always look to play a home dog, but only three might suggest otherwise. Let's see. T-Tech's only home win was by two over Coastal Carolina (a much worse team). They play fairly up-tempo but cannot play defense and have turned the ball over a ton. Wisc GB plays fast as well, so the speed of the game won't be an issue for them here, but this is the second of three straight road games. They lost at UVA and play Wisconsin next Wednesday, so that's not REALLY a string of tough games in four or five days. I'd almost expect Wisc-GB to HAVE to win this game. They are MUCH bigger and get to the FT line a ton, AND make 76% from the line as a team. The downside to taking the road favorite is that they DO NOt guard the perimeter all that well and T-Tech DOES shoot a ton from outside. If they;re going to have "one of those games" this could be it. They'll have to hit their shots, because they NEVER get to the FT line. Very slight lean to the home team, if for no other reason that Wisc GB hasn't shown they can win a road game yet.
College Basketball Point Spreads and Trends
By: The Linemakers
Sportingnews.com
There are four college basketball games involving top 25 teams on Thursday night. Here’s a look at point spreads, totals and trends.
The lines below are from the LVH SuperBook as of about 10:30 a.m. PT.
Long Beach State vs. No. 4 Syracuse – 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Syracuse -21, Total: 143
Trends:
• 49ers are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games following an ATS loss.
• 49ers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games.
• 49ers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
• Orange are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 non-conference games.
• Orange are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall.
• Under is 7-2 in 49ers’ last 9 overall.
• Under is 5-2 in 49ers’ last 7 non-conference games.
• Over is 4-1 in Orange last 5 overall.
• Over is 4-1 in Orange last 5 non-conference games.
Arkansas-Little Rock vs. No. 11 Cincinnati –7:00 p.m. ET
Line: Cincinnati -20.5, Total: N/A
Trends:
• Trojans are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 non-conference games
• Bearcats are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games following a S.U. win.
• Bearcats are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games overall.
• Over is 8-2 in Trojans’ last 10 overall.
• Under is 12-4 in Bearcats’ last 16 home games.
• Under is 5-2 in Bearcats’ last 7 overall.
No. 16 Creighton vs. Nebraska – 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Creighton -7.5, Total: N/A
Trends:
• Bluejays are 5-0 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
• Bluejays are 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings in Nebraska.
• Home team is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings between these teams.
• Bluejays are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 vs. Big Ten.
• Bluejays are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall.
• Cornhuskers are 5-11 ATS in their last 16 games overall.
UC-Santa Barbara vs No. 17 San Diego State – 10:00 p.m. ET
Line: San Diego St -15.5, Total: N/A
Trends:
• Favorite is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings between these teams.
• Gauchos are 0-6 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
• Gauchos are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 non-conference games.
• Gauchos are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
• Aztecs are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 non-conference games.
• Aztecs are 4-10-1 ATS in their last 15 Thursday games.
• Over is 6-1 in Gauchos’ last 7 road games.
• Over is 14-3 in Gauchos’ last 17 non-conference games.
• Over is 5-0 in Aztecs’ last 5 vs. Big West.
• Under is 6-1 in Aztecs’ last 7 Thursday games.
• Over is 5-2 in Aztecs’ last 7 non-conference games.