College Hoops Betting News and Notes
By Steve Merril
Covers.com
ACC
North Carolina State was involved in an embarrassing game last Saturday. Not only was the Wolfpack’s on-court performance terrible in a 76-62 home loss to Florida State, but what happened in the stands was also ugly.
Prior to the game, N.C. State honored two former standouts, Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani. But when ref Karl Hess called an unwarranted foul, Gugliotta and Corchiani let their displeasure be known. Hess then ejected both guys in what was a surreal moment. The ACC has since publicly reprimanded Hess for failing to follow procedure and protocol.
Prior to that ugly performance, the Wolfpack had won three of their previous four games. But North Carolina State has been struggling recently against the pointspread, going just 2-6 ATS over its last eight games following Tuesday's loss to rival North Carolina.
Big Ten
Northwestern has its best shot at making the NCAA tournament for the first time ever. But the Wildcats still have a lot of work to do. They have just 16 wins after their overtime loss to Michigan Tuesday night.
Northwestern doesn’t own a bad loss and it beat Michigan State, Seton Hall, LSU, and Illinois, all of which own decent RPIs. Overall, Northwestern was just 5-10 against the RPI Top 100 entering this week.
“Like Parcells said: 'You are what your record says you are.',” head coach Bill Carmody told reporters. “In two weeks we'll know what we are and where we are."
Northwestern was on a pointspread tear entering this week, covering in five of its last six games before blowing that streak with a poor effort in overtime against the Wolverines.
Big 12
Texas A&M has suffered through an injury-plagued season. The Aggies have played the majority of the schedule without two of their better players in point guard Dash Harris (foot) and forward Khris Middleton (knee).
“We've battled through so much adversity, it'll be great to get some of our key guys back,” said leading scorer Elston Turner. “We're going to fight to the end. We're not going to give up on this season.”
Middleton has since returned to the starting lineup, but Harris remains out. The Aggies have a .500 record (13-13), but they’ve produced profits ATS. After opening the season at just 1-5 ATS, the Aggies have gone a money-making 10-4 ATS.
Big East
Cincinnati is another bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats own 19 wins and their 80 RPI is high. With the experience and talent on this team, they should own a much better record. But they’ve lost a lot of close games. In fact, six of their eight losses have come by seven points or less, including two overtime losses.
“We let a lot of games slip away from us that we know we could have won,” Dion Dixon said. “This is it right here. It’s do or die right now. When our backs are against the wall, we play great. Right now we know our backs are against the wall so I feel that everybody’s going to be locked in.”
Despite playing close games, Cincinnati has not been good ATS lately, going just 2-5 ATS over its last seven games.
Pac-12
Arizona lost a critical game at Washington last Saturday, snapping a five-game winning streak. That game will likely cost the Wildcats a chance at the Pac-12 regular season title. But to even be in such a position is a credit to the coaching job of Sean Miller.
Arizona lost two key players in forward Kevin Parrom and point guard Jordin Mayes to injury. A trio of freshman - center Angelo Chol and guards Josiah Turner and Nick Johnson - has been leading the way for Arizona.
“You get into February, the experience of those three players, especially Nick and Josiah, you want them to settle in and play their best basketball near the end of their freshman year, when they have more experience now than ever before,” Miller told reporters. “I think they’re all improving.”
Amazingly, Arizona is 6-2 ATS on the road in conference play despite relying heavily on its three freshmen.
SEC
Mississippi has leaned on its two inside guys this season. Reggie Buckner and Murphy Holloway have logged heavy minutes with Buckner averaging 27.5 minutes per game and Holloway averaging 31.3 minutes an outing.
Buckner has stayed fresh because he doesn’t practice due to a season-long knee issue. Holloway is as fresh and as healthy as he's been since spraining his ankle in late-December. However, if the Rebels were to win and advance in the upcoming SEC tournament, Buckner’s and Holloway’s minutes will have to be carefully managed by head coach Andy Kennedy.
The Rebels are on a 3-1 ATS run as road underdogs in conference play with their lone loss coming by 10 points as 8-point dogs at rival Mississippi State.