indiancowboy
CBB (POD): 4 Unit Play. #710. Take Iowa -2 over Minnesota (Thursday @ 7:05pm).
Note, that each day there is a NBA POD and a CBB POD. Thus, I do an NBA POD and a CBB POD each day usually. So, if you see an NBA play and a CBB play, it is a POD by default given that I have followed this prototype for well over a month.
This Week: 7-1: (5-0 run)
2-0 Wednesday.
Magic +2 Outright over Hawks (W)
Indiana +7.5 over Michigan (W)
3-0 Tuesday.
Hornets +8 Outright over Lakers (W)
Tulsa PK over Ball State (W)
Ohio State +9.5 over Michigan State (W)
2-1 Monday.
11 of 15 Winning Days (11-4) and 6 of 7 (6-1) Winning Days in the NBA.
January NBA POD: 5-1.
January CBB POD: 5-2.
3-0 this Week in College Basketball.
Winning 4 of 5 Weeks in Football.
How often have we seen the ranked team actually as an underdog on the road? Whenever you see a ranked team as an underdog on the road, it is usually very good reason to be wary of the play. I have followed Big 10 Basketball for a long time. After all, there are only three conferences that I follow exclusively and that is the Big 10, Big East and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. I read the Bluebooks on these conferences each year, watch the recruiting class for each of these schools and note any changes in offense by the respective coaches. The Big10 in College Basketball has always been about holding serve at home. Why do you think we went with Indiana yesterday as they were showing improvement going back to Bloomington. Granted, we only covered by a bucket, but they were up by 17 at one point which goes to show that in a game of half-court offenses, shot selection, the presence of the crowd as the 6th man and getting to the free throw line make all the difference - and in particular, the defensive intensity of the home team is far greater. As per this game, note that Minnesota might be ranked 19th in the nation, but this team is 1-1 in conference play and has yet to go on the road for conference play. This is a young team for Tubby in many respects still. Yes, they have 13 wins. But, did you know that they have only played 1 true road game all year. That was against Colorado State a team they defeated by 1 point on the road. That's right, 1 point. Given that Colorado State is a top 175 team, this is not highly impressive. Remember, as well that although Iowa has four losses and are 11-4 this is misleading. After all, Iowa is a team that is ranked higher in many power rankings as a top 50 team while Minnesota is no better than a top 65 team. How can a team with four losses be rated higher in power rankings? Well, they have gone on the road to play many games while Minnesota has been playing their games at home. Remember, Iowa is road tested - at least far more road tested than Minny this year. This is the same Iowa team that went to Boston College and lost by 2 points. Did Minneosta do that? No, Minnesota played Colorado State. This is the same Iowa team that went on the road to Ohio State and lost by 3 points. Did Minny do that? No, they went on the road to play Colorado State. This is the same Iowa team that also played Drake on the road and even defeated a top 20 power ranking team in Kansas State in Las Vegas on neutral footing. Minny beat this team 63-50 last year and this time around Iowa hosts this team in their respective gym. This game is on ESPN2. So, in short, yes, Minnesota has 13 wins. But, only one of these wins was a true road game and they won that game by 1 point against a top 175 team. Now, Minny has a true road game, a true road conference game, against a team that has revenge, a team ranked higher in power rankings and a team that plays them on national television as the unranked team laying points which typically favors the unranked home team winning. Let's take the home team, in conference play in Big10 which is notorious for the home teams doing well, with revenge, who is far more tested this year playing much tougher competition such as Boston College, Drake, Ohio State and Kansas State as I see Iowa likely winning this by 4-7 points as FTs will come into play. Iowa is 9-0 at home and is 22nd in the nation in FT's shooting over 74% from the line. The Hawkeyes are 5-1 ATS at home when facing a team with a 60% winning or better at home. Iowa will pull through behind their crowd and the lack of road experience for Minnesota this year.