Week 4 NCAA Basketball Betting Preview
By: Willie Bee
It was a bad week for Wildcats of which there were three in the most recent top 10 of the AP rankings. Kansas State, Villanova and Kentucky each took a notch in their loss columns, three of the AP's top-10 schools to suffer losses during the tournament-heavy Thanksgiving Week.
Big Ten entries Michigan State and Purdue joined the three Wildcat entries who took their first losses of the season.
Ranked No. 2 and No. 4 respectively, M-State and K-State aren't likely to fall from the next top 10. 'Nova (No. 7), Kentucky (No. 8) and Purdue (No. 10) may not be so lucky.
Connecticut won't be moving up to take any of those slots, but the Huskies do figure to make a giant leap into the college basketball polls after beginning the season among the unranked. They handed both Michigan State and Kentucky their defeats at the Maui Classic to open the campaign 5-0 straight up and a perfect 3-0 against the college basketball odds.
UConn opened that tourney by taking down a very good Wichita State team, 83-79, as two point favorites before taking down the Spartans in the semifinals and Wildcats in the championship game. The Huskies were six- and 5½-point underdogs in those two games. Junior guard Kemba Walker exploded for 90 points in the tournament, hitting 26-of-28 from the free throw line and currently averaging an even 30.0 per game for the season.
Monday's most competitive game involving a ranked school figures to be the Virginia Cavaliers traveling to No. 15 Minnesota to take on Tubby Smith's Golden Gophers. One of this year's Big Ten/ACC Challenge contests, it's a rematch of a battle that took place almost two years ago in Williams Arena with Minnesota taking a 66-56 win as eight-point chalk.
Here's a look at where last week's top 10 will be in action in the coming seven days.
1) Duke (6-0 SU, 4-1 ATS)
The Blue Devils will be involved in arguably the two biggest games of the week when they host Michigan State on Wednesday (Dec. 1) and then face Butler on Saturday (Dec. 4). The rematch of last year's NCAA Championship Game will be played at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ, as part of the Carquest Auto Parts Classic. Both Duke contests will be broadcast on ESPN.
2) Michigan State (4-1, 2-3)
After battling Duke on the road this Wednesday, the Spartans will return home for a Saturday contest against Bowling Green. State also has a huge matchup with Syracuse in New York City the following week.
3) Ohio State (5-0, 2-2)
Expected to rise to No. 2 in the polls, Thad Matta's Buckeyes travel to Tallahassee for a Tuesday (Nov. 30) meeting with Florida State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. OSU will then take eight days off before hosting IUPUI on Dec. 9.
4) Kansas State (5-1, 2-2)
The Wildcats will host the Division II Emporium State Hornets on Monday before traveling to Pullman on Friday (Dec. 3) to battle Washington State as part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.
5) Pittsburgh (7-0, 2-3)
Jamie Dixon's lads will move off campus just a tad for Wednesday's game against the Duquesne Dukes at Pittsburgh's new Consol Energy Center. The Panthers finish their week back on the familiar floor of Petersen Events Center with a Saturday date opposite Rider.
6) Kansas (6-0, 3-1)
The Jayhawks' current schedule stretch might lead one to believe they are the 11th team in the Pac-10. Kansas beat Arizona at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, 87-79, just failing to cover as nine-point favorites. Bill Self & Co. will next try their luck at home against UCLA on Thursday (Dec. 2) and have games versus USC (Nov. 18) and at California (Dec. 22) on the near horizon.
7) Villanova (5-1, 3-1)
After falling to Tennessee (plus six) in the finals of the NIT Season Tip-Off, 78-68, the Wildcats return to Philly this week for Holy War/Big 5 matchup with St. Joseph's. That game will tip at 5:30 p.m. PT this Friday from The Pavilion and broadcast on ESPNU.
8) Kentucky (4-1, 2-2)
John Calipari's crew hosts Boston on Tuesday before heading east to Chapel Hill for a Saturday battle with the North Carolina Tar Heels (9:30 a.m. PT, CBS).
9) Syracuse (6-0, 1-5)
Tuesday finds the Orange at home against the Cornell Big Red. ESPN2 will televise Saturday's home game versus North Carolina State (2:15 p.m. PT).
10) Purdue (5-1, 2-1)
The Boilermakers will be in Blacksburg on Wednesday to face the Virginia Tech Hokies, ESPN's lead-in for the big Duke, Michigan State contest. Purdue finishes the week at home on Saturday against Alabama.