Saturday January 14th College Hoops Action

dacoochiebets · Jan 14, 2023

HOOP DREAMS BABY.
West Virginia vs Oklahoma
WVU +3.5
I have West Virginia rated as the slightly better team overall, and after the start of the year of 2023 Huggins’ team has undergone, losing 4 on the bounce, I like backing the road team in a desperate battle. That’s especially the case of this game being played in Norman, where I’m really not placing much value on that advantage. In terms of home-court advantage for a power school, the Sooners own one of the more underwhelming ones per historical date.

Moreover, from a matchup perspective, Oklahoma will turn the rock over quite a bit, and although Porter Moser’s team has shown the ability to succeed against the press, turning the rock over the way they have will play right into the hands of West Virginia’s pressure. Also, offensively the Sooners aren’t really drawing too many fouls, which should provide some welcome relief for that Bob Huggins patented pressure defense. Any extra fouls will be used up surely, but not having them whistled when the pressure isn’t on should be key.

Lastly, in my estimation anyways the Sooners have enjoyed some poor shooting nights from their opponents, and I don’t see that continuing all season with the quality of shots they are allowing. So with all that said, this one should come down to the wire, and as such I’m happy and willing to grab the full field goal on the road with Huggy and the boys. If you enjoyed this pick/analysis, feel free to check out my daily newsletter for my full card of bets!
https://coochievsbookie.substack.com/p/saturday-is-for-the-bets-fc5

HacheMan · Jan 14, 2023

GL today

dacoochiebets · Jan 16, 2023

WEST VIRGINIA AT THE BUZZER.
The thread starts with a win, which is always nice --- looking to continue the good vibes today!

UAB vs Middle Tennessee
UAB ML -125
First and foremost the availability of Jordan “Jelly” Walker is something that is worth monitoring really closely because his absence is pretty clearly a big loss for the Blazers. The guy is amongst the best pure scorers in the country, that being said and I’m going to assume that having seen him pictured in a walking boot over the weekend means he’ll be missing —- and will gladly take the Blazers on the ML nonetheless. Because in his absence is another great lead guard in Eric Gaines, who can at the very least pick up some of the slack offensively, and while Jelly’s great on the offensive end, it’s hard to not notice how much of a liability he is at times defensively.

Which is to say with Walker out of the lineup, it’s not hard to imagine that the UAB defense is actually going to take a slight tick up from an already solid (if not spectacular) Top-100 rank in terms of adjusted defensive efficiency. And while we are speaking about defense, the reason the Blazers aren’t a higher-ranked team on that side of the ball is that they are allowing opponents to really burn mesh from the outside. Because honestly with the size and athleticism of the bigs for UAB, it’s really hard to score attacking the bucket.

Unfortunately for the fans of the Blue Raiders, that just ain’t what Middle Tennessee does. On the season they are shooting just above 30% from the perimeter, and since conference play has started the offense hasn’t been successful. Teams are really packing the paint against them knowing the scouting reports a little better, and so far the shots from outside haven’t gone down, leading to a team that failed to score 65+ in 4 of 5. That kinda offensive production isn’t enough to hang with the Blazers, so with or without Jelly, I’m riding with UAB.

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