NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES, NEWS OPINIONS AND BEST BETS THRU MARCH MADNESS !

[Udog]

TEXAS are 17-32 ATS (-18.2 Units) after playing 2 consecutive games as favorite in the last 3 seasons.

HAMPTON is 0-9 ATS (-9.9 Units) in road games after a close loss by 3 points or less since 1997.

TEXAS TECH is 8-1 ATS (6.9 Units) in home games after scoring 80 points or more in the last 3 seasons.

TCU is 18-7 Over (10.3 Units) after playing a game as a road favorite since 1997.




NCAAB
Dunkel

Monday, January 1

NCAAB

Monday, January 1

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Trend Report
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Hampton @ Drexel
Hampton
No trends to report
Drexel
Drexel is 14-2 SU in its last 16 games at home

Texas-Arlington @ Texas
Texas-Arlington
Texas-Arlington is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Texas
Texas-Arlington is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Texas
Texas
Texas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Texas is 11-1 SU in its last 12 games when playing Texas-Arlington

North Alabama @ Texas Tech
North Alabama
No trends to report
Texas Tech
Texas Tech is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Texas Tech's last 7 games at home

Texas A&M-Commerce @ TCU
Texas A&M-Commerce
No trends to report
TCU
TCU is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games at home
TCU is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games at home


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[Udog]

NCAAB
Long Sheet

Monday, January 1

 

[CNOTES]

MONDAY, JANUARY 1​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
HAMP at DREX	12:00 PM	HAMP +13.5 U 140.0	+500 +500
NORAL at TTU	02:00 PM	TTU -18.0 O 144.0	+500 +500
UTA at TEX	02:00 PM	TEX -18.0 U 147.0	+500 +500
TAMCOM at TCU	04:00 PM	TAMCOM +26.0 O 150.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

COLLEGE BASKETBALL BEST BETS !

01/01/2024...........................1 - 4.....................20.00%......................- 17.00

TOTALS....................................1 - 4....................20.00%.......................- 17.00

 

[CNOTES]

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Most career wins amongst active NFL coaches:
333— Bill Belichick
279— Andy Reid
180— Mike Tomlin
180— Pete Carroll
177— Mike McCarthy
171— John Harbaugh

Quote of the Day
“Good night…..and good news!!”
Ted Baxter, from The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Tuesday’s quiz
Who played QB for the Baltimore Ravens, the first time they won a Super Bowl?

Monday’s quiz
Lane Kiffin went 5-15 coaching the Oakland Raiders in 2007-08.

Sunday’s quiz
Baker Mayfield played QB for the Cleveland Browns in their last playoff game, in 2020.

*********************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……..​

Michigan 27, Alabama 20 OT
Michigan drove 85 yards, scored TD with 1:34 left that forced overtime.
Total yardage: Michigan 351, Alabama 288
Teams combined to convert 5 of 24 third down plays.
This is only 2nd win for Michigan in their last six bowl games.
SEC went 4-2 against the Big 14 in bowl games this season.

Washington 37, Texas 31
Washington QB Penix was 29-38/430 passing, with two TD’s.
Game was 21-21 at half; Huskies outscored Texas 10-0 in 3rd quarter.
Texas had ball on the Washington 13-yard line when game ended.
Total yardage: Washington 532, Texas 498

— Second half of the Texas game started at 11:05 pm here in the East; doesn’t matter much to me, since I’m a night owl, but they have to lose lot of viewers in this part of the country.

— Early betting line on the college football national title game:
Michigan opened as a 4.5-point favorite vs Washington.

LSU 35, Wisconsin 31
LSU drove 98 yards, scored game-winning TD with 3:08 left.
Badgers led 14-0 in first quarter.
Wisconsin was 6-15 on third down, LSU 3-9
Total yardage: 506-492, Wisconsin

Tennessee 35, Iowa 0
Iowa was 9-4; in their losses, they scored 0-10-0-0 points.
Iowa WON four games that they scored 15 or fewer points in.
Total yardage: Tennessee 383, Iowa 173
Vols’ freshman QB Iamaleava was 12-19/151 passing in his first college start.

Oregon 45, Liberty 6
Liberty led 6-3 after the first quarter.
Oregon led 31-6 after the second quarter.
Total yardage: 584-294, Oregon
Oregon QB Nix, in his 61st college start, was 28-35/363 passing, with 5 TD’s.

Elsewhere………
— Tampa Bay Rays’ SS Wander Franco was arrested in the Dominican Republic Monday, for his failure to appear at a summons last week; Franco is the subject of an ongoing investigation into his alleged inappropriate relationships with multiple minors.
In November of 2021, Franco signed an 11-year contract extension worth $182M with Tampa Bay; he got paid all of last season, even though he didn’t play after August 12.

— Daily baseball trivia: Babe Ruth threw 29.2 consecutive scoreless innings for the Red Sox in 1918, an MLB record that stood until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961.

— Word of the Day– Ubitquitous- things that seem or encountered everywhere, whether they actually are or not.
For example, smartphones are now a ubiquitous technology; almost everyone has one.

— If you like college basketball, Highly recommend getting ESPN+; they have tons of games on from all over the country. Nothing like watching Big West games on the tube at 2am.

— NFL announced their Week 18 schedule Sunday night:
Saturday doubleheader is:
Steelers @ Baltimore, then Texans @ Indianapolis.
Sunday night game is Buffalo at Miami, with the AFC East title on the line.

— Bill Cowher said on TV Sunday that if he was coaching the Ravens, Lamar Jackson wouldn’t play this week- the game means nothing to Baltimore, it means everything to Pittsburgh, No sense risking an injury to your star QB.
Reader named Conquistador sent me a good note: Sunday was Jackson’s second NFL game with a perfect passing rating; the first one was in 2019, also against Miami.

— In case you were wondering, AFC beat the NFC 46-34 head-to-head this season. Every game in Week 18 in a divisional game, so the only inter-conference game left is the Super Bowl.

— Rams changed kickers again Monday; they brought back Brett Maher, who was 17-23 on field goals for the Rams earlier this season.

— If you’re a Lions’ fan, you have to love coach Dan Campbell; he led Detroit to its first division title in 30 years this season, but jeez, some of his game management decisions are interesting.
Saturday night, after the sketchy penalty call negated a Lions’ 2-point conversion, Detroit had the ball on the 8-yard line. Instead of just kicking the PAT to go to overtime, Campbell went for two from the 8 and the Lions lost the game, 20-19. Why?
Did Campbell not want his players playing an overtime, and risk injury? The game wasn’t life-or-death for Detroit, but it could’ve helped their seeding and given them home field for the second round of the playoffs, if they get that far.

— USFL/XFL have merged into an 8-team league called the UFL; their season begins March 30. San Antonio Brahmas announced Monday that Wade Phillips is their coach.

— QB DJ Uiagalelei started his college career at Clemson, he started for two years there, then transferred to Oregon State this year, but after the Beavers’ coach bolted to Michigan State, Uiagalelei packed his bags and will play next season at Florida State.

— UNLV freshman QB Jayden Maiava hit the transfer portal, really bad news for a UNLV program that played in its first bowl game in 10 years this season.
Maiava threw for 3,085 yards with 17 TD’s; he also ran for 277 yards and three TD’s. Big loss for the Rebels, who went 9-5 this season.

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NCAAB

Tuesday, January 2

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Trend Report
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[Udog]

NCAAB
Long Sheet

Tuesday, January 2

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NCAAB
Dunkel

Tuesday, January 2

 

[CNOTES]

TUESDAY, JANUARY 2( ALL BELOW ARE MY BEST BETS !​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
USU at AFA	04:00 PM	USU -6.5 O 137.0	+500 +500
DEP at CONN	06:30 PM	CONN -23.5	+500
TOL at OHIO	07:00 PM	OHIO -2.0	+500
UNC at PITT	07:00 PM	UNC -4.5	+500
WMU at M-OH	07:00 PM	M-OH -5.0	+500
PUR at MD	07:00 PM	PUR -6.0 O 141.5	+500 +500
ECU at FAU	07:00 PM	FAU -17.0 U 148.0	+500 +500
CREI at GTWN	07:00 PM	GTWN +12.0	+500
NORF at TENN	07:00 PM	O 138.0	+500
ALBY at HARV	07:00 PM	O 153.5	+500
WAKE at BC	07:00 PM	O 150.0	+500
UVM at BRWN	07:00 PM	UVM -4.0	+500
IOWA at WIS	07:00 PM	U 152.5	+500
COR at BAY	08:00 PM	O 170.0	+500
UIC at MURR	08:00 PM	MURR -4.0	+500
BEL at SIU	08:00 PM	O 147.0	+500
AKR at NIU	08:00 PM	AKR -6.0	+500
SJSU at WYO	08:30 PM	O 142.0	+500
SYR at DUKE	09:00 PM	O 151.0	+500
CHAR at SMU	09:00 PM	SMU -8.5	+500
UAB at UTSA	09:00 PM	UAB -6.5	+500
ILST at DRKE	09:00 PM	ILST +12.5	+500
UNM at CSU	10:30 PM	UNM +3.5 O 156.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

COLLEGE BASKETBALL BEST BETS !

01/02/2024......................19 - 14.....................57.57%.....................+ 18.00
01/01/2024...........................1 - 4.....................20.00%......................- 17.00

TOTALS..............................20 - 18....................52.63%.......................+ 1.00

 

[CNOTES]

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
NBA teams with the most triple-doubles (players/total):
— Lakers (28 players, 355 triple-doubles)
— Sacramento (30 players, 299 triple-doubles)
— Boston (27 players, 231 triple-doubles)
— Oklahoma City (23 players, 217 triple-doubles)
— Denver (18 players, 210 triple-doubles)
— Philadelphia (33 players, 197 triple-doubles)

Quote of the Day
“I am deeply passionate about this team and regret my behavior on Sunday. I should have let NFL stadium security handle any issues that arose. I respect the NFL’s code of conduct and accept the League’s discipline for my behavior.”
Carolina Panthers’ owner David Tepper, after he was fined $300,000 Tuesday

Wednesday’s quiz
Which Hall of Fame QB won a Super Bowl, when he was 6-7 passing for the whole game?

Tuesday’s quiz
Trent Dilfer played QB for the Baltimore Ravens the first time they won a Super Bowl, back in 2001.

Monday’s quiz
Lane Kiffin went 5-15 coaching the Oakland Raiders in 2007-08.

****************************************

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….​

— College basketball refs travel a lot, and they bank a lot of $$$.
Ref named Keith Kimble worked a game five of the last six nights:
Dec 28- UCLA @ Oregon State
Dec 29- Arizona @ California
Dec 30- Ohio State vs West Virginia, in Cleveland
Dec 31- Washington State @ Colorado
Jan 2- Chicago State @ Kansas State
Lot of NBA players don’t like playing games on back/back nights, but refs who are twice their age work five games in six nights, in five different states.
Go figure.

— Colorado State 76, New Mexico 68
Two of the four best teams in the Mountain West met in the conference opener.
New Mexico star House was in foul trouble, only scored 14 points.
Colorado State was 18-21 on foul line, Lobos were 4-11.

— St John’s 86, Butler 70
Red Storm is off to a 10-4 start under Hall of Famer Rick Pitino.
St John’s has made the NCAA’s three times in the last 20 years (last time in 2019).
St John’s starts four seniors; they shot 59.6% inside the arc.

— Purdue 67, Maryland 53
Purdue is 13-1 against schedule #9, but they’re suspect until they win in March.
Boilermakers are shooting 38.9% on the arc (#14)
In last year’s NCAA’s loss to #16-seed FDU, Purdue was 5-26 on the arc.

— North Carolina 70, Pitt 57
This was first time in 70 years that UNC’s first true road game came in January.
Tar Heels have played a tough schedule (#18), but had five neutral court games.
Pitt was 5-29 on the arc; they’re 0-3 in the ACC, 0-5 vs top 100 teams.

— Wyoming 75, San Jose State 73
Visiting Spartans led by 17 in first half, 47-35 at halftime.
Wyoming was 23-25 on foul line, San Jose 9-12.
Wyoming is 8-0 giving up 73 or less points; they gave up 78+ points in all six losses.

— Bowling Green 92, Eastern Michigan 90 OT
EMU led by 14 points in first half.
Bowling Green star Hill was 13-17 on foul line; EMU’s whole team was 9-14.
Eastern Michigan only played seven guys, in an overtime game.

— Daily baseball trivia: Zack Greinke was the last pitcher to bat in a World Series but not hit 9th in the batting order; he hit 8th in Game 4 of the 2021 World Series. Greinke went 1-2- he was taken out after the 4th inning.

— Word of the Day– Precarious- dependent on chance circumstances, unknown conditions, or uncertain developments.
The fates of most NFL teams are precarious; there’s a fine line between winning/losing.

— Summit League/Big Sky Conference are having a basketball challenge this weekend; best game of the lot appears to be South Dakota State at Weber State. Good mid-major basketball, will be interesting to see which league comes out on top.

— When ESPN first started up 40+ years ago, one of the first leagues that let them show their games was the Sun Belt Conference. These days, the Sun Belt is still a decent league; they are the #17 league this year, partially because they have 14 teams now and the bottom teams have been dragging the league’s rating down some- they were the #14 league three of the last five years.
ESPN would be wise to set aside two hours a week to show a weekly Sun Belt game; their games are on ESPN+, but putting them on ESPNU would thank the league for helping ESPN get off their feet 40 years ago.

— Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper was fined $300,000 by the NFL after he threw a drink at Jaguar fans after the Panthers lost 26-0 in Jacksonville Sunday.
Tepper is the wealthiest owner in the NFL, worth over $16B; fining hm $300,000 is like fining me $3.

— 2024 NFL Draft has lot of interesting quarterbacks in it; one of the TV networks needs to get Jon Gruden out of retirement to do those pre-draft interviews he did with the QB prospects- he is he best at that kind of stuff.

— Hard to believe that in lot of states, high school basketball still doesn’t have a shot clock; five starts are adding the shot clock next season. Basketball without a shot clock is a totally different game, often a lot less fun to watch.

— They drew 47,313 fans in Seattle Monday for the outdoor hockey game between the Kraken and the Vegas Golden Knights. NHL has struck gold with its stadium series games.

— In the college football national title game Monday night, Michigan is favored by 4.5 points over Washington, with a total of 55.5.

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NCAAB

Wednesday, January 3

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Trend Report
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[Udog]

NCAAB
Long Sheet

Wednesday, January 3

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NCAAB
Dunkel

Wednesday, January 3

 

[CNOTES]

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
FRES at SDSU	10:30 PM	FRES +15.5 O 137.0	+500 +500