College Hoops Betting News and Notes
By Steve Merril
Covers.com
ACC
Miami received some more bad news from the NCAA last Sunday. The Hurricanes’ best player, center Reggie Johnson, was suspended for “impermissible travel benefits” allegedly given to Johnson’s family by a member of its former basketball coaching staff.
Current Missouri head coach Frank Haith was the coach at Miami during the time that this allegedly happened. Haith is also being probed by the NCAA after an allegation by former Miami booster and convicted felon Nevin Shapiro that Haith knew about a $10,000 payment made to an unidentified member of current Miami player DeQuan Jones' family. Jones was suspended to start this season before being reinstated.
Miami beat Florida State without Johnson Sunday, but the Hurricanes need the big man. Johnson missed nine games to start the season because of injury and the Hurricanes went just 3-4 SU and 2-4-1 ATS versus Div. I opponents in those games.
Big Ten
Ohio State lost at home to Wisconsin 63-60 Sunday. That loss dropped the Buckeyes out of the Top 10, and it leaves the Big Ten with just one team, No. 5 Michigan State, ranked in the single digits.
After going 21-3 SU over its first 24 games, Ohio State has gone just 2-3 over its last five outings. Two of its three losses have come on its home floor as the offense was unable to get much going against the strong defenses of Michigan State and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes scored just a total of 108 points in those two losses while shooting an ugly 36.3 percent (37 for 102) from the field and an abysmal 23.1 percent (6 for 26) 3-point land.
Ohio State is just 1-3 ATS in its last four home games and on a 2-4 ATS slide over its last six games overall.
Big 12
Kansas’ 70-58 win at Oklahoma State on Monday night gave the Jayhawks their eighth consecutive Big 12 conference title. Kansas was in a position to win the outright conference title after its impressive comeback win over Missouri Saturday.
The Jayhawks trailed that game by 19 points in the second half before winning in overtime, 87-86. Head coach Bill Self owns more conference championships than home losses in conference play, which is just incredible.
However, Kansas isn't a money-maker against the pointspread. The Jayhawks are just 15-13-1 ATS this season, including a 1-2-1 ATS record as underdogs.
Big East
West Virginia’s season has spiraled out of control since the end of January. Prior to their game at St. John’s on Jan. 25, the Mountaineers were 15-5 SU and 11-6 ATS. Since then, West Virginia is a terrible 3-7 SU and a bankroll busting 3-7 ATS.
Things hit rock bottom last Friday night when the Mountaineers blew a 15-point second-half lead at home against Marquette - a team that suspended four players including three starters for the first half of that game.
The lone bright spot for West Virginia is senior Kevin Jones, who is closing in on the Big East scoring and rebounding titles. Jones is averaging 20 points and 11.2 rebounds per game this season.
Pac-12
Washington can clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 title with a win in either of its last two games of the season - at USC Thursday or at UCLA Saturday. The Huskies can win the regular season championship outright by sweeping L.A., which they’ve only done three times since Pac-10 play began in 1979.
Washington is in tremendous form as it’s won 15 of its last 18 games, including five of its last six games on the road. The Huskies have been favored in 14 of their last 18 games, going 8-6 ATS. As an underdog, Washington is 2-1 ATS during its recent stretch. Overall, the Huskies are 4-2 ATS as underdogs.
SEC
Tennessee can finish as high as second in the SEC standings or fail to make any postseason tournament, depending on how the Vols finish the season.
Head coach Cuonzo Martin has done a fantastic job with this team, considering he brought in an opposite style of basketball while only getting one player with starting experience.
“We're in a good place right now as a team because we continue to get better, and that's a good sign,” said Martin. “We didn't have the luxury with a new coach of getting out of the gates with some confidence, getting your head up. We had to have some tough losses, and eventually we started to learn from it.”
Tennessee is 10-4 ATS in conference play, including a perfect 6-0 ATS as a favorite.