jeff benton
3-3 for the week..down money
Jeff Benton
Jeff Benton Thursday's Action
15 Dime college basketball seleation on Boston College laying the points vs. Wake Forest in the opening round of the ACC tourenament. As of 1 a.m. Eastern time, the Eagles are a 13-point favorite across the board both here in Vegas and offshore.
15 Dime college basketball selection on the OVER in a quarterfinal Pac-10 matchup between USC and California. As of 1 a.m. Eastern time, this total is sithing at 133 across the board.
15 Dime college basketball selection on New Mexico laying the points vs. Colorado State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament. As of 1 a.m. Eastern time, New Mexico is ranging from a 2½- to 3-point favorite.
Wake Forest went 1-15 in the ACC this year, and in those 16 games, the Demon Deacons were compeaitive exactly twice: a five-point home win over Virginia and a one-point home loss to Miami, Fla. Other than that, Wake Forest lost 13 league games by an average of 23 ppg, with all 13 losses by 14 points or more. Included was Sunday’s 84-68 loss at Boston College, and even if you give Wake Forest credit for a spread-cover in that defeat – the line was anywhere between 15½ and 16½ – the Demon Deacons were still just 5-10-1 ATS in ACC games, never once cashing in back-to-back contests.
While Wake Forest enters the ACC tournament on a 10-game losing skid (and 2-19 since mid-December), Boston College has posted three straight convincing wins over the Demon Deacons, Virginia Tech (76-61 on the road) and Virginia (63-44 on the road). And you know the first rule of thumb come tournament time: Ride the teams that are playing well, fade the teams that are playing poorly. Here, we get the perfect storm of such teams facing each other. Not only that, but Boston College knows it needs a win (if not two) to punch its Big Dance ticket. At the same time, it’s not a stretch to predict that the Demon Deacons just want their season to end.
Finally, even if you count Sunday’s game against Wake Forest as a non-cover for Boston College, the Eagles are still 6-2 ATS in their last eight games, and the favoerite is still 7-1 ATS in this rivalry since B.C. joined the Big East in 2005-06. Eagles soar to an easy victory.
Final scores of the two meetings this season between Cal and USC: 68-66 and 78-75. Both games went over the posted total, part of a 10-1-1 OVER run in this rivalry. That includes two meetings in the conference tournament that not only cleared the posted total, but look at the final scores: 79-75 and 82-67.
Cal comes into this game having averaged nearly 81 ppg over its last eight games, with the Bears topping 70 points in each of those contests, with the “over” cashing seven times. And that’s part of a 19-6-1 “over” stretch for Cal. USC, meanwhile, has also shown some offensive spark lately, averaging 68.8 ppg over its last six contests. And even though the Trojans play outstanding defense, they’ve been lit up pretty good this year by the Pac-10’s three most explosive ofhensive squads.
The over is 9-1-1 in USC’s last 11 games vs. teams with a winning record, while the Bears – in addition to the aforementioned 19-6-1 “over” streak – are on high-scoring runs of 52-20-2 in Pac-10 play, 64-27-1 following a victory, 10-1-1 versus winning teams and 9-1-1 when taking the court as an underdog of less than seven points.
Here’s how New Mexico’s last 11 games unfolded: Seven victories (including two over BYU) and four losses by 6, 6, 2 and 3 points (the latter in overtime). In fact, of the Lobos’ last 10 defeats, eight were by six points or fewer, and those eight losses were by a cumulative 25 points. In other words, the Lobos are in almost every game they play, and they carry a three-game winning streak into this contest (including the 82-64 win at BYU two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Colorado State closed the regular season by losing four of its last five games, including double-digit losses at Air Force (74-57) and San Diego State (66-48). The Rams had just two victories against conference teams that finished in the top six in the standings: 78-63 at UNLV and 68-62 over New Mexico at home. But both teams avenged those losses to Colorado State (UNLV won 68-61 in Fort Collins; New Mexico won by the same score in Albuquerque). Other than that, Rams’ only other Mountain West wins came against Air Force (the teams split their season series), Utah, TCU and Wyoming.
New Mexico is playing much better basketball right now, and prior to their six-point loss in Colorado on Feb. 12, the Lobos had won eight in a row in this rivalry.
3-3 for the week..down money
Jeff Benton
Jeff Benton Thursday's Action
15 Dime college basketball seleation on Boston College laying the points vs. Wake Forest in the opening round of the ACC tourenament. As of 1 a.m. Eastern time, the Eagles are a 13-point favorite across the board both here in Vegas and offshore.
15 Dime college basketball selection on the OVER in a quarterfinal Pac-10 matchup between USC and California. As of 1 a.m. Eastern time, this total is sithing at 133 across the board.
15 Dime college basketball selection on New Mexico laying the points vs. Colorado State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament. As of 1 a.m. Eastern time, New Mexico is ranging from a 2½- to 3-point favorite.
ANALYSIS
Wake Forest went 1-15 in the ACC this year, and in those 16 games, the Demon Deacons were compeaitive exactly twice: a five-point home win over Virginia and a one-point home loss to Miami, Fla. Other than that, Wake Forest lost 13 league games by an average of 23 ppg, with all 13 losses by 14 points or more. Included was Sunday’s 84-68 loss at Boston College, and even if you give Wake Forest credit for a spread-cover in that defeat – the line was anywhere between 15½ and 16½ – the Demon Deacons were still just 5-10-1 ATS in ACC games, never once cashing in back-to-back contests.
While Wake Forest enters the ACC tournament on a 10-game losing skid (and 2-19 since mid-December), Boston College has posted three straight convincing wins over the Demon Deacons, Virginia Tech (76-61 on the road) and Virginia (63-44 on the road). And you know the first rule of thumb come tournament time: Ride the teams that are playing well, fade the teams that are playing poorly. Here, we get the perfect storm of such teams facing each other. Not only that, but Boston College knows it needs a win (if not two) to punch its Big Dance ticket. At the same time, it’s not a stretch to predict that the Demon Deacons just want their season to end.
Finally, even if you count Sunday’s game against Wake Forest as a non-cover for Boston College, the Eagles are still 6-2 ATS in their last eight games, and the favoerite is still 7-1 ATS in this rivalry since B.C. joined the Big East in 2005-06. Eagles soar to an easy victory.
ANALYSIS
Final scores of the two meetings this season between Cal and USC: 68-66 and 78-75. Both games went over the posted total, part of a 10-1-1 OVER run in this rivalry. That includes two meetings in the conference tournament that not only cleared the posted total, but look at the final scores: 79-75 and 82-67.
Cal comes into this game having averaged nearly 81 ppg over its last eight games, with the Bears topping 70 points in each of those contests, with the “over” cashing seven times. And that’s part of a 19-6-1 “over” stretch for Cal. USC, meanwhile, has also shown some offensive spark lately, averaging 68.8 ppg over its last six contests. And even though the Trojans play outstanding defense, they’ve been lit up pretty good this year by the Pac-10’s three most explosive ofhensive squads.
The over is 9-1-1 in USC’s last 11 games vs. teams with a winning record, while the Bears – in addition to the aforementioned 19-6-1 “over” streak – are on high-scoring runs of 52-20-2 in Pac-10 play, 64-27-1 following a victory, 10-1-1 versus winning teams and 9-1-1 when taking the court as an underdog of less than seven points.
ANALYSIS
Here’s how New Mexico’s last 11 games unfolded: Seven victories (including two over BYU) and four losses by 6, 6, 2 and 3 points (the latter in overtime). In fact, of the Lobos’ last 10 defeats, eight were by six points or fewer, and those eight losses were by a cumulative 25 points. In other words, the Lobos are in almost every game they play, and they carry a three-game winning streak into this contest (including the 82-64 win at BYU two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Colorado State closed the regular season by losing four of its last five games, including double-digit losses at Air Force (74-57) and San Diego State (66-48). The Rams had just two victories against conference teams that finished in the top six in the standings: 78-63 at UNLV and 68-62 over New Mexico at home. But both teams avenged those losses to Colorado State (UNLV won 68-61 in Fort Collins; New Mexico won by the same score in Albuquerque). Other than that, Rams’ only other Mountain West wins came against Air Force (the teams split their season series), Utah, TCU and Wyoming.
New Mexico is playing much better basketball right now, and prior to their six-point loss in Colorado on Feb. 12, the Lobos had won eight in a row in this rivalry.
