INDIAN COWBOY
4 Unit Play. Take Oregon State +9 over UTEP
I suspect this line will go down as the day goes on, so if you are able to secure the +9 now, please go ahead and do it. How do we not take Oregon State here? The game they were supposed to struggle was in Game 2, and yet, this team continued to fight, crawl, scratch and hang in there. Of course, I expect the crowd to be going wild in this contest in favor of UTEP as they had a great crowd in Game 2, but although UTEP won in Game 2, they were not impressive in so many levels. They should have come out with incredible fire and tenacity after getting beat on the road in Game 1. Instead, they shot 58% from the free throw line, missing 15 free throws, and had far more trips to the foul line than Oregon State did. I expect the "reffing" to be about even in a Championship, "this game decides all" Game 3. The "reffing" was heavily in favor of Oregon State in Game 1 and heavily in favor of UTEP in Game 2 when you look at how many times these two teams went to the charity stripe. Expect this game to be called even and fair. But, in a game where Oregon State was supposed to get killed in Game 2, this team actually found itself up by 5 Outright at the half. Oregon State is by no means intimidated as they have played the likes of USC, Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State coming out of the Pac-10. Heck, they beat Stanford 3 of 4 times this year (swept them in the regular season and beat them in the CBI Tournament), beat Cal on the road, Washington State and USC at home as well. Oregon State clearly showed they can play sound defense and I expect them to do well today with a little bit of revenge, being agressive taking the ball to the basket and getting to the free throw line. In short, we like Underdogs that can win Outright - i.e. Wizards over Cavs yesterday. Why would we not take the points here in a game that Oregon State cuold win Outright. Is it all that impossible to imagine this team defeating a UTEP team that it was down to by just 3 in the waning minutes of Game 2 despite UTEP having revenge? Besides, Craig Robinson in my mind is a great motivator and a better coach than Tony Barbee and I expect coaching and game planning to be a key factor in this contest. Oregon State is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 contests as an Underdog and the Miners are 0-4 ATS against the Pac-10 of late. I wouldn't be surprised either to see the charismatic brother in-law of Barack Obama to get some calls to go his way down the stretch. I'm not saying...but I'm saying.