Al DeMarco
Thursday's Pick 10 Dime - South Carolina
Tennessee barely got by Miss State at home (81-76 laying 8') and beat an average Florida team in Gainesville its owned over the years prior to arriving in Columbia tonight where the Gamecocks are 16-1 SU on the season and seeking their first undefeated SEC home campaign since 1997. The Volunteers have not won three straight conference games all season.
Prior to their mini two-game winning streak, Tennessee had gotten crushed at Kentucky (77-58) and at Ole Miss (81-65). That's the same Kentucky team South Carolina destroyed at home last Wednesday 77-59, and the same Ole Miss squad the Gamecocks beat in late January at home by 11.
The season's first meeting went to Tennessee 82-79, a game in which the Vols led by as many as 19 points in the first half and 17 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining before South Carolina woke up and nearly pulled off the furious comeback, taking advantage of Tennessee's careless ball-handling as it converted 22 turnovers into 25 points.
South Carolina is a big, physical team, the type that gives Tennessee match-up problems, and one that is coming off a 16 blocked-shot performance in its victory against Kentucky last week.
Tennessee is just 7-6 SU on the road this season - allowing 76 points an outing - heading into this near pick'em game, which is expected to be played before South Carolina's third sellout of the season and fourth in the past seven years overall.
b>Speaking of the line....</B> As I post this play late Thursday afternoon, South Caroina is between -1 1/2 and -2.
My advice: If you've got South Carolina at -1 1/2, buy down the 1/2 point, making the Gamecocks -1 so you get the win should they prevail by two or a push if they win by one.
At -2, don't do anything, but if the line goes to -2 1/2, even after shopping around, buy down the 1/2 point to make South Carolina -2 so you get a push should the Gamecocks only win by two.
With that being said above, don't for a minute think that I don't realize that I'm asking you to spend additional funds - over and above the purchase of this selection - to essentially buy insurance on this pick. Myself, to be honest, I feel that the breaks always even out over the course of the year and in such situations it's a 50-50 proposition. Obviously there are no guarantees in gambling, but again, when you have the chance to hedge the odds in your favor for a small cost, it's worth the investment