Monday's Best NCAAB Bet
Kansas Jayhawks at Kansas State Wildcats (4, 147.5)
No Josh Selby? No Thomas Robinson? No problem for the Jayhawks. Kansas didn’t miss a beat without two of its top players on Saturday, demolishing Iowa State by 33.
The decisive win was a chance for the team to show off its balance. Four starters scored in double figures and none played more than 30 minutes.
Kansas should be fine again on Monday even though Robinson won't play and Selby is questionable with a bum ankle.
“I believe you don’t become a team until you go through some stuff,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. ”I think at this point of the season, we’ve been through enough I can say we have kind of become a team. Hopefully we are not close to the team we can become, but I think we are much further along than we were three to four weeks ago.”
Meantime, the Wildcats are slowly coming around. The team is 3-2 SU and 2-3 ATS over its past five games, but it’s best win over that stretch is against a mediocre Baylor team. The Wildcats are better, but not good enough to cover the disparity witnessed in the Jayhawks 24-point beatdown of their rivals late last month.
Pick: Kansas
NCAA Betting: Syracuse hosts West Virginia
By: Willie Bee
Maybe the color orange has something to do with it. Then again, maybe not. Either way it's sure looking like this year's Syracuse Orange is a remake of last season's Texas Longhorns squad.
Syracuse dropped its sixth game in the last eight trips to the floor on Saturday, falling 73-69 at Louisville, setting the Orange up in must-win situations their final five games if they want a good shot of having a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament. The first of those must-wins comes Monday at home against the West Virginia Mountaineers who are in need of a strong closing run themselves.
ESPN will broadcast the tip a little past 4 p.m. (PT) from the Carrier Dome, leading into the Kansas, Kansas State contest at 6 p.m..
The latest defeat for Syracuse (20-6 straight up, 9-15 against the spread) marked the third week in the last four that that Orange have gone 0-2. The Orange opened the season 18-0, rising to No. 3 in both polls and even garnering some first-place votes. It's an eerily similar path that Texas took in the 2009-10 season, cranking off a 17-0 opening run to hit No. 1 in the polls only to see the season fall apart from that point on.
Favored by two at home, Louisville appeared to have a laugher on its hands when the Cardinals stretched their lead to 20 points in the second half. Syracuse fought back, however, before just falling short. Fifteen turnovers and four fewer three-pointers ultimately did the Orange in. Now we'll see if the furious and failed rally will prove a drain on Syracuse who has just one day of rest before Monday's tilt. Five players were on the court at least 30 minutes, led by Scoop Jardine and Brandon Tiche who scored 20 and 21 points respectively.
The recent 2-6 stretch – both SU and ATS – leaves the Orange 7-6 in conference play and one of five teams in a logjam for seventh place in the Big East, 4.5-games behind Pittsburgh.
West Virginia (16-8 SU, 9-12 ATS) hasn't been world beater itself the last month, going 4-4 straight up and 3-5 at the NCAA odds window. At 7-5 in the Big East, the Mountaineers are four games back of Pitt and tied with Villanova for fifth in the conference.
Bob Huggins' crew is coming off Saturday's 82-71 home win over DePaul, the victory snapping a two-game skid but leaving WVU 0-3 against the spread its last three games. John Flowers paced five Mountaineers in double-digits with 15 points, and the team was strong from the foul line making 20-of-25 free throws. West Virginia is shooting a tad less than 69 percent from the stripe on the season.
Syracuse backers looking for good news will find the Orange winning the last three meetings with West Virginia, all as underdogs. The lone meeting a season ago was a 72-71 Syracuse win as six-point underdogs on the road in Morgantown. The most recent matchup in Syracuse was Feb. 2009, a 74-61 triumph by the Orange.
Four of the last five battles between the two schools have gone 'under' the total. The one 'over' came in the 2009 Big East Tournament, a 74-69 Syracuse victory with the scoreboard number at 139.
Syracuse remains home following this game for Saturday's matchup with Rutgers. West Virginia returns home to host Notre Dame the same day.
Kansas and Kansas State top Monday NCAA betting
By: Willie Bee
A No. 1 team arrived at Bramlage Coliseum about 13 months ago and promptly left Manhattan with its tail between its legs. The Kansas State Wildcats hope to repeat that performance Monday night and grab at least a little bit of redemption for a disappointing season when they host the Kansas Jayhawks.
Tip-off from the K-State campus comes a little past 6 p.m. (PT) with ESPN providing the telecast following the West Virginia, Syracuse matchup at the Carrier Dome.
Ohio State's loss at Wisconsin sets up Kansas, No. 2 according to last week's rankings, to assume the top spot on the college basketball totem pole. The irony is that it would not have been so unbelievable to think before the season started it could have been Kansas State (16-9 straight up, 9-13 against the spread) ranked No. 1 coming into this contest.
Ranked No. 3 by the coaches in the preseason, the 2010-11 Wildcats have been a miserable lot with early losses to Florida and UNLV plus the suspension of two key players setting the tone for their disappointing showing that includes an ugly 4-6 record in the Big 12.
A win on Monday could help make up for some of that. Kansas State proved a year ago it can take down a No. 1 when the Wildcats slapped Texas by a 71-62 count just a week after the Longhorns had moved up to the top slot in the polls. Even if Kansas is not on top of the rankings, this game will be a much tougher test for K-State who has lost its last seven to their rivals from Lawrence.
The Wildcats enter the week off Saturday's 58-56 defeat at Colorado that was a millisecond from being a 59-58 Kansas State victory. Rodney McGruder's successful three-point shot at the end of the game was ruled to have come after the game clock expired, and the Buffaloes had their first regular-season sweep of the Wildcats in seven years.
Saturday's loss came as a one-point underdog and snapped a modest two-game win streak for Kansas State, marking its third loss against the NCAA odds in four games. Both games against Colorado this campaign stayed 'under' the total, continuing that trend for the Wildcats who are 14-5 'under' this season, 3-1 below the number in conference home games.
Kansas (24-1 SU, 13-10 ATS) ran its winning stretch to six games with Saturday's easy 89-66 romp at home over Iowa State. Marcus and Markieff Morris each recorded double-doubles in the victory, Marcus scoring 16 points with 11 boards while Markieff added 14 points and the same rebound total.
All six games during the Jayhawks' win streak have gone 'over' the total leaving them 14-7 to the high side this season, 5-0 'over' in conference road tilts. Kansas is 5-1 ATS during the streak that started after their lone defeat of season Jan. 22 to Texas, 74-63.
The Jayhawks enjoyed an easy 90-66 home win on Jan. 29 over Kansas State, easily covering the 10-point spread NCAA oddsmakers laid on them. The Morris Brothers came up big in that game as well, combining for 30 points and 18 rebounds.
The January win was the seventh straight in the series for Kansas who is 5-2 ATS in the string, the 'over' also 5-2. Kansas State's last win over the Jayhawks was a Jan. 2008 home win, 84-75 as seven-point underdogs.
Kansas is back home for two after Monday's matchup, first taking on Colorado this Saturday followed by a quick turnaround to face Oklahoma State next Monday (Feb. 21). Kansas State will stay at home for Saturday's matchup with Oklahoma.
Game of the day: West Virginia at Syracuse
By Marc Lawrence
West Virginia Mountaineers at Syracuse Orange (-5, 133)
A big battle in the Big East tips off at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse Monday evening when the Orange (20-6, 7-6) host West Virginia (16-8, 7-5) on ESPN. Let see how they match up.
Slip Sliding Away
An 18-0 start to the season seems like a distant memory today to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and his troops.
Syracuse knew it was up against it when they took the floor at Louisville this past Saturday.
The Cardinals paid tribute to its last national championship, honoring the 25th anniversary of its 1986 national championship with several of its prominent players returning, including Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum.
Through it all the Orange couldn't quite erase a 20-point second-half deficit when it fell, 73-69.
Senior forward Rick Jackson, who entered the game averaging 13.1 points and 11.4 rebounds, managed just seven points and seven boards against the Cardinals.
"It's tough when you're down (20) on the road to come all the way back," Boeheim said. "We made a great effort and got our offense going and did some good things on the defensive end, but you can't get that far behind.”
Syracuse enters tonight’s fray just 2-6 SU and ATS in its last eight games.
Not So Melo
Freshman center Fab Melo, who had started in each of the Orange’s games this season, didn’t play in Syracuse’s loss to Louisville on Saturday.
According to Boeheim. Melo, who has been struggling all season, was held out of Saturday’s game after missing practice on Thursday.
Boeheim refused to offer an explanation for Melo’s absence at practice; or if Melo’s absence had been excused. The big man said he was struggling with family issues.
“I had some personal problems with my family,’’ Melo, a native of Brazil, said. “My head wasn’t for practice. So that’s why I didn’t practice.’’
Melo is averaging just 2.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. Baye Moussa Keita, a 6-foot-10 freshman, replaced Melo in the starting lineup. Keita had one point and seven rebounds against the Cardinals.
Melo said he would return to practice on Sunday, but his status for tonight’s games against West Virginia remains in doubt.
“He’s done playing,’’ said Boeheim, “for now.’’
Consistently Inconsistent
After averaging 58 points in its previous six games, West Virginia jettisoned past that figure midway through the second half in Saturday’s up-and-down 82-71 victory over DePaul.
It marked the first time in over a month, and only the second time in the last 16 games, that the Mountaineers scored more than 80 points in a game.
After its highest first-half output of the season (47 points), the WVU offense sputtered after halftime and didn't put away DePaul until the final minutes of the contest.
Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins blamed that on some of his players not helping complete plays on the offensive end.
"We don't do a very good job of getting easy baskets," he said. "We're just so undersized.”
Consequently, DePaul converted 62.5 percent of its field goal tries in the second half. It is the third straight game the Mountaineers have allowed an opponent to shoot better than 60 percent in the second half.
“Sixty two and a half percent we gave up in the second half,” said Huggins. “I don’t know what we’re doing. It’s not that they’re tired because we subbed. They didn’t play major minutes, but it’s like I told them in there, I’m not very happy about it.”
A loss to the Demons would have sent West Virginia tumbling to 11th place in the conference. Instead, the Mountaineers improved to sixth, a half game ahead of Syracuse.
West Virginia has now allowed 71 points in back-to-back games after opponents averaged 55 points in the five games before that.
Coaches Conundrum
Since 1990…
• Bob Huggins is 7-17-1 ATS when playing with revenge against an opponent off a loss.
• Jim Boeheim is 10-18-1 ATS as a conference home favorite off back-to-back losses.
In This Series
The Mountaineers are 5-16 SU and 8-13 ATS in head-to-head games versus the Orange since entering the Big East in 1996.
Inside those numbers against Syracuse, WVA is 1-6 SU and ATS when playing off a conference win and 2-15 SU and 4-13 ATS when West Virginia owns a winning record.
West Virginia has lost 11 of its last 12 to Syracuse and has won only once in the Dome in 1996. The Mountaineers’ only victory against the Orange since 2001 came in Morgantown in 2008, which was Huggins’ first season at WVU.
In setting the table for tonight’s game, Huggins said, “I would imagine they are not in a very good mood. I would think old Coach Boeheim had something to say to them on the plane ride back. They’re really, really talented.”
Tape Measure
According to college basketball statistics, here is a breakdown of how each team ranks among 345 others in three pivotal stat categories this season:
Offensive FG Percentage
Syracuse 46.8 – No. 35
West Virginia 43.9 – No. 146
Defensive FG Percentage
Syracuse 39.3 – No. 19
West Virginia 40.6 – No. 51
Rebound Margin
Syracuse +3.3 - No. 65
West Virginia +3.0 - No. 75
Chew On This
How deep is the Big East, you ask?
Syracuse has slipped to 11th in the Big East standings with a 7-6 record and was in the peculiar position of being ranked one spot ahead of its conference position in the national polls (10th) prior to its new standings in the rankings this week.
College Basketball Knowledge
Syracuse lost six of last eight games; they're 6-0 in Big East when they allow less than 60 points, 1-6 when they allow more. Orange is 2-4 as a home favorite, losing last three home games. West Virginia is 3-2 as Big East road dog, losing away games (3-3 SU) by 5-1-16 points. Single digit home favorites are 28-24 against the spread in Big East games.
Kansas State is 4-6 in Big 12, with last two games decided by total of 3 points; they hit GW 3-pointer Saturday at Colorado, but replay ruled it after buzzer; Wildcats (+10) lost 90-66 at Kansas Jan 29- they won last three home games. Kansas won last six games, covered last five; they're 3-2 as a road favorite. Big 12 home underdogs of 5 or less points are 8-5.
Third game in five nights for Tennessee Tech squad that lost 71-65 (+5) at Tennessee State Jan 22; Tech is 5-2 in last seven games, 1-3 as a home fave in OVC games. Favorites of 5 or less points are 19-12 vs spread in OVC games, 9-7 at home. State is 1-5 since beating Tech, with four of five losses by 7+ points- they're 3-3 against spread as OVC road dog.