College Hoops Betting News and Notes
By Steve Merril
Covers.com
Steve Merrill takes a look at the best college basketball betting notes making waves in the major conferences:
ACC
Miami is a talented team provided they have all of their pieces on the court, but unfortunately for new head coach Jim Larranaga (George Mason), the U scandal cost him DeQuan Jones before the season and senior forward Julian Gamble tore his ACL over the summer. The Hurricanes are also without center Reggie Johnson until January after having knee surgery.
“We put it into these categories, past, future and present,” Larranaga told reporters. “The past is history, the future is a mystery. The present is the only thing we can control. Let’s deal with it and have the best season we can possibly have.”
Big Ten
Michigan State is battling a lot of nagging injuries right now. Freshman guard Branden Dawson twisted his right knee in the season opener and he has lost his explosiveness.
“I didn't want to hurt it a little more than I hurt it before. So I've just been kind of like treating it just like a baby or something like that.”
Senior forward Draymond Green twisted his left knee on Sunday, and woke up “very sore” on Monday. Senior guard Austin Thornton left the Spartans last game with an apparent broken jaw. X-rays showed no break, but Thornton will be playing in pain.
Big 12
Oklahoma’s second-leading scorer, Calvin Newell, has decided to leave the team. Newell was averaging 13 points off the bench for the Sooners.
“We'll definitely miss Calvin,” Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger said. “He's been a key contributor this season, a guy who's scored the basketball for us.”
Newell cited family issues as his reasoning for wanting to transfer and play closer to home.
“I met with Coach Kruger this morning and told him I've been dealing with issues regarding my family the past few months and I've felt distracted lately,” Newell said. “I feel I need to get back closer to home. That's why I made this decision.”
Big East
St. John’s is a very young team, playing with nine newcomers including seven freshmen. Unfortunately, for the Red Storm, they’ve also had to play games without head coach Steve Lavin.
He is recovering from prostate cancer surgery and he just doesn’t have enough strength to coach games right now. Lavin’s absence has been an issue for St. John’s this season, and it will continue to be as long as he is not on the sidelines.
“I had a setback after coming back,” Lavin told reporters. “The conditioning, the stamina, the energy level was just not there yet.”
Pac-12
Southern Cal will be without one of their best players for at least four to six weeks. Dewayne Dedmon, a 7-foot sophomore center, has a stress injury in his right foot. Head coach Kevin O'Neill said the Trojans would "greatly" miss Dedmon, who the coach "has touted as a future NBA lottery pick.
“You can't replace 7-foot, 250 pounds, especially in the situation when we have so many inexperienced guys,” O'Neill said.
Dedmon hopes to return to the court in time for conference play which begins on December 29.
SEC
The Florida Gators got some good news from the doctors recently. It was thought that forward Erik Murphy suffered a season-ending torn meniscus, but his knee injury was not as severe as originally thought.
Head coach Billy Donovan said the swelling in Murphy’s right knee is due to a bone bruise. The tear that showed up in an MRI and X-rays was from a prior injury Murphy suffered as a sophomore in high school.
Donovan said Murphy will not have to undergo surgery and that it should take him 10-14 days to recover from his injury.