Cashing In

Your "Bad Beat" for Friday is on:

Michigan (Moneyline, plus 320) vs. Ohio State.

There were a ton of "Bad Beats" on Friday. For one Dayton blowing a 15 point lead, when getting 3 1/2 and losing by 5 thanks in part to a technical foul in the waning seconds is almost as bad as it gets.

Also anybody who had Michigan plus 4 1/2 in the first half got absolutely screwed because they were leading 19-10 after a Stu Douglass three midway through the half and then watched Evan Turner and Ohio State end the half on an amazing 25-6 run for the easy first half cover.

The beat of the day though comes from that same game where anybody who had Michigan on the moneyline plus a boatload has got to be beyond steaming.

The Wolverines played a great second half and took a 68-66 lead on a Manny Harris jumper with two seconds remaining. With the Buckeyes having to inbound from under their own basket things were extremely bleak for the 8 1/2 point favorite just winning the game.

Turner caught the ball fairly deep in the backcourt, took two dribbles and from just inside mid-court leapt, squared up and drained the 35 plus footer for the buzzer beating 69-68 victory.



Your winners for Saturday are on:

5* Miami (plus 11) vs. Duke.

3* UTEP (minus 7) vs. Houston.

Another winning Friday as the 4* on Illinois won outright offsetting the 3* loser on Kentucky.



I am very very anti Duke as I just do not think they are that good. Coach K's boys can shoot and when on at Cameron Indoor are a total juggernaut but in any other gym can be sketchy. This team just lost at Maryland as the offense didn't do all that much last week, were blown out at Georgetown and NC State and all in all are nothing better than very good. This is not a true road game and is in their home state of North Carolina but it's not the same as on their cozy campus with this team.

Scheyer, Singler and Smith can be a devastating three-some when on but as we saw yesterday against a terrible Virginia team things are not totally hunky dory right now. The boys from Duke got away with it because Tony Bennett's team is awful but things better improve for them here if they want to beat Miami. For the Devils to be laying almost a dozen points even against a well inferior foe is just too much.

The Hurricanes will be a little tired playing a third game in three days but I do expect adrenaline to take over here, at least enough to compete and grab that cash. Asking this dog to win another game against a far fresher Duke team is a bit much to fathom but in terms of the points I'm all about the 'Canes.



UTEP is awesome right now and probably a top 10-12 team in the country. The Minors have great guard play led by Randy Culpepper and a transfer from Louisville in Derrick Caracter who is awesome. Throw in Arnett Moultrie and a few others and these guys are primed and ready to go to the Elite Eight or so.

Houston has been a nice little story but they really do not scare me all that much. Olajuwon and Drexler aren't coming through that door and even with a real solid second win this season over Memphis and other quality efforts the Cougars are good but nothing more. Aubrey Coleman is certainly one of the best scorers in the nation but this overall Houston team is just outmanned today at 11:30 EST.

The Minors already won the regular season title and are about to win the conference tournament title and roll into the Big Dance with a whole lot of momentum.