Wunderdog
Columbus +120
Montreal -120
Pittsburgh -130
San Jose +105
Calgary -145
RAS
Hofstra / Evansville Over 139
Fairfield / Colorado State Over 127.5
Austin Peay / Boise State Over 140.5
Dayton / Charleston Over 140.5
James Madison / Davidson Over 141
KELSO
50 Units Colorado St
10 Units NY Knicks
5 Units NC Asheville
5 Units Cleveland St
3 Units New Mexico St
3 Units UAB
PPP
4% Colorado St
3% Coll of Charleston
3% NC Asheville
3% UAB
3% Boston College
3% UTEP
Jeff Benton
20 Dime UAB
10 Dime Harvard
UAB
So put yourself in a UAB basketball jersey. All you’ve heard for the last 48 hours is how you don’t belong in the Big Dance, that you didn’t beat anybody, that your 22-8 record is more or less the result of facing a bunch of non-conference patsies and playing in a weak conference. How do you think you’d feel? I’ll tell you how you’d feel: You’d be pissed off and highly motivated to come out and prove your doubters wrong. And that’s just what the Blazers are going to do tonight against a Clemson team that was no more deserving of a bid than UAB.
Seriously, look at Clemson’s results: It went 0-3 against North Carolina and also lost its only meeting against Duke – clearly the top two teams in what was a very weak ACC this season. The Tigers also lost their three “toughest” non-conferecnce games (at South Carolina, Michigan at home, vs. Old Dominion at a neutral site). That means Clemson’s best victory came against … uh, Miami, Fla.? Virginia Tech? Florida State (which avenged that loss in a second meeting with the Tigers)? In other words, Clemson is a fraud. And note this about the Tigers, too: They went just 6-9 in road/neutral-site games.
True, UAB went one-and-done in the Conference USA tournament, losing 75-70 in overtime to East Carolina after winning the regular-season league title. However, what few have mentioned is the Blazers second-leading scorer and leading rebounder – forward Cameron Moore – played just 14 minutes in the loss to East Carolina before leaving with an injury (and he had five rebounds in those 14 minutes). Moore is back healthy for this one, and he will be a difference-maker against an opponent that’s not at all dominant on the boards.
Finally, while Clemson strughled away from home this year, UAB was 9-6 SU and – here’s the kicker – 11-3-1 ATS in road/neutral-site games. Additionally, the Blazers are 3-0-1 ATS in their last four games as an underdog, 15-7 ATS in their last 22 as a neutral-site underdog and 9-3 ATS in their last 12 non-conference games. By comparison, the Tigers are in ATS funks of 1-5 in non-conference action, 2-4 as a favorite, 3-11-1 at neutral sites and 8-20 when laying points at neutral venues.
Bottom line: The pundits are indeed correct in claiming that one of these teams didn’t belong in the Big Dance … but that team is Clemson, not UAB.
Harvard
Harvard went 23-6 in the regular season and came within six points of a perfect Ivy League record and within nine points of a 27-2 record. That’s right, four of the Crimson’s six losses were by a total of nine points. Check it out: They lost Ivy League games to Princeton 65-61 on the road, Yale 70-69 on the road and Princeton 63-62 in Saturday’s winner-take-all neutral-site contest at Yale (a game Harvard led until a leaning jumper at the buzzer gave Princeton the win, the Ivy League crown and the Big Dance berth). The fourth narrow defeat was back on Dec. 4, when Harvard went to Michigan and fell 65-62 as an 8½-point underdog.
That means just two teams – George Mason (66-53 season-opening home win) and UConn (81-52 home win) – manhandled Harvard this year. And believe me when I tell you that Oklahoma State is NOT George Mason or UConn. The Cowboys went 19-13 in the regular season, including 7-11 in the Big 12. One of OSU’s conference losses came against Colorado, and I mention that because the Buffaloes got destroyed at Harvard this year. And even though the Cowboys had a decent showing in the Big 12 tournament, upsetting Nebraska 53-52 as a four-point underdog and nearly shocking top-seeded Kansas before falling 63-62 as a 14½-point pup, they’re still just 5-9 SU and 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games, including 1-5 ATS as a favorite.
Despite playing in the up-tempo Big 12, OSU scored more than 66 points just twice in its last nine games. At the same time, Harvard averaged nearly 72 ppg this season (shooting 47.6 percent overall, including better than 51 percent in the last five games. And if this thing comes down to a foul-shooting contest, I like my chances with Harvard, whose 81.2 percent free-throw percentage ranks second in the entire country.
Helmut
College of Charleston Over 142
Cleveland State Over 131
Colorado State Over 129
East Carolina Over 131.5
EZWinners
UAB
Executive
300 Evansville
Wayne Root
Millionaire - Harvard
Billionaire - Portland U
No Limit - UAB
Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons
8* Dallas Stars -110
For a number of different reasons I believe the value in this contest is on the home side:
The Sharks are 39-23-4-4 this year; last night they lost 6-3 at Chicago, which was their third straight loss.
San Jose is just 1-4 its last five vs. the Stars.
On the other side of the rink: The Stars are 37-24-3-5 this year, including 19-10-2-4 in front of the home town crowd; on Sunday they lost 3-2 to the Kings, after beating the Wild 4-0 on Friday.
Dallas is 22-18 (+7.5 units) when playing against teams with winning records.
Bottom line: An important game for both sides, but more so for the Stars who are change the Sharks in the standings.
A victory here would pull Dallas within two points of San Jose.
An extremely tough spot for the Sharks in the second game of the back to back here; look for the home side to take advantage of this situation and play with desperation; 8* play on the DALLAS STARS!
California Sports
4* McNeese St.
4* San Jose St
3* Missouri St
Marc Lawrence
New Mexico -6
When the Lobos host the Miners in opening round action of this year's NIT card Tuesday night New Mexico will take the court in a terrific winning situation. That occurs whenever a team opens on the road in this tourney after having lost in the championship game of its conference tourney as they are just 4-29 SU and 10-20-3 ATS in these letdown affairs. If the deeply disappointed road team owns a win percentage of .720 or greater they are 0-6 SU and ATS in these games. With the Lobos looking to avenge a straight up home favorite loss suffered against UTEP in their most recent meeting two years ago, we'll stat at home in the Pit here tonight. We recommend a 3-unit play on New Mexico.