College Hoops Betting News and Notes
By Steve Merril
Covers.com
ACC
Virginia’s roster is becoming extremely thin. The Cavaliers had been playing with just eight scholarship players when another injury hit them at North Carolina last Saturday.
Second-leading scorer Joe Harris (12.5 points per game) broke his non-shooting hand versus the Tar Heels. He somehow played through the pain before learning of the fracture after the game was over. Harris is an integral part of Virginia’s offense, with Mike Scott (17.1 ppg) being the only other player who averages double digits. Harris, who has started all 24 of Virginia’s games this season, may try to play with a soft cast on his broken hand.
“There's obviously some swelling, and we're waiting for that to go down,” head coach Tony Bennett told reporters. “It's not an ideal situation.”
Virginia is just 2-4 ATS as a conference favorite, and if Harris is unable to play, we don’t anticipate those numbers getting any better.
Big Ten
Iowa’s play on the court has been dreadful at times this season. The Hawkeyes do have a winning record, although barely, at 13-12. Four of their seven conference losses have come by 14 points or more and they’ve been underdogs in 10 of their 12 conference games - going 7-5 ATS.
Iowa hasn’t made any headlines because of their on-court play, but the Hawkeyes were a national story because of head coach Fran McCaffery’s antics. During their 34-point loss at Michigan State, McCaffery lost his cool and slammed a bench chair down on the Breslin Center court.
Somehow Iowa retained the chair and sold it in an auction for their baseball team. The chair was autographed by McCaffery and inscribed with “Go Hawks!” and “Coach with passion!” It sold for a whopping $2,100.
Big 12
Texas Tech notched its first conference win when it beat Oklahoma 65-47 last Saturday night. The Red Raiders now own an 8-16 overall record and an embarrassing 1-11 record in Big 12 play. Texas Tech is 6-6 ATS in those 12 games, but before Saturday it was 0-2 ATS versus single-digit lines.
Head coach Billy Gillispie took on a monumental rebuilding project in Lubbock this season, but we’ve always respected his coaching abilities while at other schools like UTEP and Texas A&M. His time at Kentucky didn't go well, but maybe another Texas school can rejuvenate Gillispie’s career. Texas Tech has a long ways to go, but we’ve seen Gillispie turn things around twice before.
Big East
Louisville went into Monday night’s showdown game with Syracuse on a roll. The Cardinals had won and covered in six consecutive games after losing five of their previous seven outings.
A major reason for their turnaround is the fact that Louisville is finally healthy after it was ravished by injuries for the majority of December and January. Louisville is an extremely deep basketball team, with the Cardinals playing eight to nine guys regularly.
Louisville plays suffocating defense at home, where the Cardinals allow just 60 points per game on 36.7 percent shooting from the field. Louisville has held 15 of its 18 home opponents to less than 70 points this season. The Cardinals are 7-0 ATS over their last seven games and 8-1 ATS over their last nine games.
Pac-12
Oregon State is a much better team than its 15-10 record indicates. The Beavers have lost a lot of close games, with five of their 10 losses coming by eight points or less, including a pair of overtime losses.
The impressive part of this Oregon State team is that it always plays the good teams tough. The Beavers beat California and Oregon, took Arizona to overtime, and gave Washington all it could handle in a three-point loss to the Huskies.
Oregon State is only 5-8 ATS in conference play, but this team may be a sleeper in the Pac-12 tournament, especially against the spread.
SEC
Alabama has some major personnel issues going on right now. Prior to the Crimson Tide’s 67-58 loss at LSU last Saturday, head coach Anthony Grant suspended four starters for unspecified reasons.
Tony Mitchell, Andrew Steele, Trevor Releford, and JaMychal Green were all sent home on Saturday morning by Grant in a car driven by a grad assistant. Grant has since reinstated Steele and Releford, but Alabama is still missing 27.2 points per game from Mitchell and Green - the team’s top two scorers.
Alabama’s play was on the decline before these disciplinary actions. The Crimson Tide were just 3-4 SU and 2-5 ATS in their previous seven games heading into the SU and ATS loss at LSU on the weekend. Alabama fell 61-52 to Florida Tuesday night, falling short as a 3-point home underdog.