Sunday's Best NCAAB Bets
No. 24 Cincinnati Bearcats at No. 7 Villanova Wildcats
The Bearcats thing they are ready for their stiffest challenge of the season: a road game against a top-10 Big East foe.
"We know what we’ve got to do,” said senior forward Ibrahima Thomas. “It’s not like we beat Xavier and that’s the end of our season. We’ve got better goals than that. We don’t think we can lose. We’ve got that kind of confidence.”
The Bearcats are a perfect 15-0 with their wins coming by an average of 20.7 points per game, including a 20-point drubbing of cross-town rival Xavier. However, the team has just three true road victories this year and will try to snap Villanova’s 44-game win streak at The Pavilion, which also coincides with a 111-game sellout streak.
Cincinnati figures to counter by slowing the game down and playing its trademark defense. Villanova will look to do the same from the opening tip. The
Bearcats lead the league in scoring defense, allowing 53.8 points per game and is second in opponents field goal percentage (37.6). Villanova, meantime, is third in the Big East in points allowed (60.9) and first in opponents field goal percentage (37.5).
Overall, the past four meetings between these teams have fallen short of the total. This one should cash the under as well.
Pick: Under
No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks at Michigan Wolverines
Michigan coach John Beilein schedules one elite out of conference opponent for a home game each season. Just his luck, he’s beating them, too.
In 2008 he beat then-No. 4 Duke by 8. Last season, he beat then-No. 15 UConn by five. Both those games were scheduled by Beilein, who targeted a date the students would be on-campus, just like this matchup with the Jayhawks. The past two-plus seasons, the Wolverines are a solid, 35-11 at home. The team also is scheduling a “Maize Out” for the game, encouraging each fan to wear a yellow shirt to the game.
"Our kids are excited about every game, but this one I'm sure there's a little extra adrenaline that we're going to have to calm down getting ready for this game and more in the future as well," Beilein said. "One of our biggest obstacles is to channel that in the right direction."
Meantime, Kansas has played only one true road game – a 78-63 win against a mediocre Cal team just three days before Christmas when the majority of students were home for the holidays.
Look for Michigan to be a much less hospitable host at Crisler Arena.
Pick: Wolverines
Unbeaten Cincinnati visits Villanova
By: Joe Freda
The No. 25 Cincinnati Bearcats have a 15-game win streak to start the season, with a 6-1 spread record in their last seven ‘board’ battles. Mick Cronin’s crew looks to extend its run in Sunday’s road game against the No. 7 Villanova Wildcats, who are 2-0 ATS in Big East Conference play.
Cincinnati’s latest triumph came with Thursday’s 66-46 win as a nine-point home favorite against the Xavier Musketeers. The Bearcats hit 15-of-16 free throws, while holding Xavier to 39.1 percent field shooting.
Bearcats forward Yancy Gates logged season-highs of 22 points and 14 boards, notching his first double-double in 12 games. The junior hit 10-of-16 from the field, while adding two of his squad’s six blocks.
Gates’ mate Dion Dixon finished with 16 points and a season-high nine rebounds. The Bearcats’ leading scorer (12.9 PPG) finished without an assist for the first time in nine games.
The lopsided affair’s combined 112 points plunged below the ‘total’ of 130, bringing the ‘under’ to 5-0 in Cincinnati’s last five ‘board’ games. The Bearcats outrebounded Xavier, 34-24, while both squads united to drain 6-of-26 from three-point land.
Cincinnati is 4-0 ATS in its first four games away from home, with the ‘under’ going 3-1. The Bearcats defense has smothered foes in that span, allowing a stingy 46.2 PPG.
Villanova picked up its eighth straight win in Thursday’s 83-71 victory as a 7 ½-point road favorite against the South Florida Bulls. The Wildcats connected on 58.3 percent of their field buckets, including a stellar 9-of-12 from beyond the arc.
Wildcats guard Corey Stokes notched a team-high 22 points, improving his season average to 17.3 PPG. The New Jersey native went a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range.
Villanova’s Maalik Wayns logged 16 points and a team-high nine assists. The sophomore guard hit 10-of-12 from the foul line, while adding four boards.
The shootout’s combined 154 points flew above the ‘total’ of 128, making the ‘over’ 4-0-1 in the Wildcats’ last five ‘board’ duels. Villanova grabbed 11 steals, including five by guard Corey Fisher.
The Wildcats are 3-2-1 ATS in their first six home ‘board’ games, with the ‘over’ also going 3-2-1. Jay Wright’s troops have put up 79 PPG in that stretch.
Villanova is 3-1 ATS in its last four meetings against the Bearcats, with the ‘under’ collecting at 4-0. The Wildcats covered double-digit pointspreads in their two home contests of that span, defeating Cincy by an average margin of 18.5 PPG.
Villanova escaped with a 77-73 win as a 3 ½-point road favorite in last March’s battle between the foes. Stokes drained 3-of-6 from beyond the arc en route to finishing with 14 points for the Wildcats. Gates went a perfect 7-for-7 at the foul line for Cincy, who was held to 39.4 percent field shooting.
Sunday’s tip is scheduled for 9 a.m. (PT), with ESPN3.com providing online televised coverage.
Both squads will have two days off before resuming action as part of Wednesday’s college hoops schedule. Villanova remains home to face the No. 23 Louisville Cardinals, while Cincinnati hosts South Florida.
Maryland battles NCAA odds at No. 1 Duke
By: Willie Bee
A rare down season in the ACC finds just one team in either set of rankings nearly nine full weeks into the 2010-11 college basketball schedule. Granted, that team is the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils who will put their No. 1 title and 14-0 record on the line Sunday evening (5 p.m. PT) at home against the Maryland Terrapins.
The defending champions have done nothing so far that would suggest they were anything but the No. 1 team in the country. Duke's 14-0 straight-up mark includes an 8-5 record against the spread, spreads that are no doubt fattened up a bit with the Blue Devils' public following. The 96 voters combined in the AP and coaches polls all agree on who the top team is. While the pollsters aren't all-knowing, it's still a strong statement even if it is a case of voters simply saying that until someone knocks them off, the Blue Devils are No. 1.
Still, at some point this season playing a far weaker conference slate should eventually crack the unanimity in the polls, especially if the Buckeyes, Jayhawks and Orange continue to win their tougher conference assignments.
The Ken Pomeroy rankings suggest that could be very soon. Duke sat just 0.0002 percentage points ahead of No. 2 Ohio State in the Pomeroy Ratings before Saturday's action. Kansas was 0.0023 south of the Blue Devils in third.
Duke continues to simply outshoot and outscore their opponents. The Blue Devils' 89.0 scoring average is second in the country and their 50.1 field goal rate ranks seventh. Senior co-captains Nolan Smith (19.6 PPG) and Kyle Singler (17.4 PPG) are each hitting 53 percent of their shots, better than 40 percent from long range and taking care of business from the charity stripe with a combined mark just under 80 percent.
It was Smith who led the way in Duke's latest triumph, a resounding 85-64 romp as 17½-point chalk over UAB. The 6-foot-2 guard posted a career-best 33 and dished five assists while he continues to direct the Blue Devils offense in place of freshman phenom Kyrie Irving who missed his sixth-straight game.
Irving hasn't played since the Dec. 4 National Championship rematch against Butler when he injured his right foot. A recent Eamonn Brennan blog at ESPN called the frosh's injury "super-evil turf toe," and there's still no date for his possible return.
Sunday's game marks the second conference contest for both Duke and Maryland (10-4 SU, 4-5 ATS). The Terrapins popped their ACC cherry several weeks ago with a 79-75 home loss to Boston College. Gary Williams' club coughed that one up for Maryland backers who had the Terps minus-7½.
They've since reeled off three consecutive wins, but all were unlined games against New Jersey Tech, North Florida and Colgate. The Colgate victory came Tuesday, a 95-40 laugher that found the Terrapins holding an early 22-2 lead over the Raiders. Suffice to say, Duke will be a step up in talent level for Maryland.
Sophomore Jordan Williams is the main man for the Terrapins, leading the team with a 17.6 scoring average and 11.8 boards per game. He brings an eight-game streak of double-doubles into Sunday's matchup, and without a ninth straight Maryland will be hard-pressed to stay within the number.
The two schools split their meetings last season, each winning and covering on their own floors. Duke crushed the Terps by a 77-56 count a Cameron in mid-February as nine-point chalk; Maryland got its revenge two weeks later with a 79-72 win as one-point home pups.
Both teams next hit the court next Wednesday as they continue their ACC schedules on the road. Maryland treks to Winston-Salem to meet Wake Forest while Duke heads to Duke travels to Tallahassee to take on Florida State. The Terps and Blue Devils will meet again this year, Feb. 2 in College Park, MD.