jeff benton
after starting the week 0-6 he has hit his last 4 selections...4-0 in the tournament...4-6 for the week.
Jeff Benton Saturday's Action
50 Dime college basketball seleation on UConn as a favorite over Cincinnati as these Big East rivals meet under the lights in the Round of 32 in the West Regional. At the time I relecase this big winner, UConn is laying between 3 and 3 1/2 points both here in Vegas and offshore.
There’s no way I’m making the mistake again of stepping in front of the freight train that is UConn. With my Bonus Play on Thursday, I faded the Huskies under the premise that they were in a significant letdown situation after their five-wins-in-five-days run to the Big East tournament title. Letdown, shmet-down. All UConn did was come out and smoke a decent Bucknell team – one that had won 10 in a row and 23 of 25 – by a score of 81-52, covering easily as a 10-point chalk.
That’s now six straight wins and covers for Jim Calhoun’s squad, and those victories have come in a variety of ways: three blowouts over DePaul (by 26), Georgetown (by 17) and Bucknell (by 31), and three nail-biters over Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville by a total of 10 points. Kemba Walker (18 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds vs. Bucknell) continaes to show why he’s a player of the year candidate, averaging 25.5 ppg over the last eight contests. But Walker is hardly a one-man show. In fact, he was one of three players to score in double figures against Bucknell, and that doesn’t include Alex Oriakhi’s sensational 9-point, 12-rebound performance, as UConn owned the boards 43-21.
The Huskies not only have outrebounded all six opponents during their winning streak, but they’ve done so by a comcbined 219-158 margin – we’re talking plus-61 on the glass and an average of 36.5 rebounds in six games! To put that stat into perspective, note that Cincinnati is on a solid 7-2 SU and ATS run itself, but it is only plus-28 on the boards, averaging just 30.8 rebounds per game.
Back to Walker: When these teams met back on Feb. 27 at Cincinnati, he had a very average game (16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists). And yet the Huskies still rolled 67-59 as a 3½-point road underdog – one of Cincy’s two losses during its 9-2 ATS – and with that win the Huskies improved to 5-2 SU and ATS in seven series meetings since the Bearcats joined the Big East in 2005-06.
Finally, while Cincinnati hamhered Missouri 78-63 as a one-point chalk in Thursday’s tourney opener – and Missouri was wildly overrated, a team that doesn’t play any defense – the Bearcats are still just 2-5 ATS in their last seven Big Dance games. Conversely, the Huskies have now cashed in five of their last six Tournament outings. They’re also a stellar 17-5 ATS in their last 22 neutral-site games (in fact, they’re a perfect 9-0 SU and ATS on neutral courts this year, winning by an average of 11.7 ppg!).
Throw in the fact that UConn is red-hot from the free-throw line right now (82.1 percent) and way above average from the charity stripe in its nine neutral-site wins this year (79.7 percent), and I’m all over the hottest team in the country.
after starting the week 0-6 he has hit his last 4 selections...4-0 in the tournament...4-6 for the week.
Jeff Benton Saturday's Action
50 Dime college basketball seleation on UConn as a favorite over Cincinnati as these Big East rivals meet under the lights in the Round of 32 in the West Regional. At the time I relecase this big winner, UConn is laying between 3 and 3 1/2 points both here in Vegas and offshore.
ANALYSIS
There’s no way I’m making the mistake again of stepping in front of the freight train that is UConn. With my Bonus Play on Thursday, I faded the Huskies under the premise that they were in a significant letdown situation after their five-wins-in-five-days run to the Big East tournament title. Letdown, shmet-down. All UConn did was come out and smoke a decent Bucknell team – one that had won 10 in a row and 23 of 25 – by a score of 81-52, covering easily as a 10-point chalk.
That’s now six straight wins and covers for Jim Calhoun’s squad, and those victories have come in a variety of ways: three blowouts over DePaul (by 26), Georgetown (by 17) and Bucknell (by 31), and three nail-biters over Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville by a total of 10 points. Kemba Walker (18 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds vs. Bucknell) continaes to show why he’s a player of the year candidate, averaging 25.5 ppg over the last eight contests. But Walker is hardly a one-man show. In fact, he was one of three players to score in double figures against Bucknell, and that doesn’t include Alex Oriakhi’s sensational 9-point, 12-rebound performance, as UConn owned the boards 43-21.
The Huskies not only have outrebounded all six opponents during their winning streak, but they’ve done so by a comcbined 219-158 margin – we’re talking plus-61 on the glass and an average of 36.5 rebounds in six games! To put that stat into perspective, note that Cincinnati is on a solid 7-2 SU and ATS run itself, but it is only plus-28 on the boards, averaging just 30.8 rebounds per game.
Back to Walker: When these teams met back on Feb. 27 at Cincinnati, he had a very average game (16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists). And yet the Huskies still rolled 67-59 as a 3½-point road underdog – one of Cincy’s two losses during its 9-2 ATS – and with that win the Huskies improved to 5-2 SU and ATS in seven series meetings since the Bearcats joined the Big East in 2005-06.
Finally, while Cincinnati hamhered Missouri 78-63 as a one-point chalk in Thursday’s tourney opener – and Missouri was wildly overrated, a team that doesn’t play any defense – the Bearcats are still just 2-5 ATS in their last seven Big Dance games. Conversely, the Huskies have now cashed in five of their last six Tournament outings. They’re also a stellar 17-5 ATS in their last 22 neutral-site games (in fact, they’re a perfect 9-0 SU and ATS on neutral courts this year, winning by an average of 11.7 ppg!).
Throw in the fact that UConn is red-hot from the free-throw line right now (82.1 percent) and way above average from the charity stripe in its nine neutral-site wins this year (79.7 percent), and I’m all over the hottest team in the country.
