Cashing In

Your "Bad Beat" for Thursday is on:

Florida (plus 5) vs. BYU.

A consolation prize to any Florida Panthers backers who watched their 3-0 lead become a 4-3 shootout loss thanks in part to the tying goal coming with a minute to play.

Also a late consolation prize to any Texas moneyline backers who watched the Longhorns squander an 8 point lead in overtime by missing four huge free throws in the final minute and allow Wake to hit the game winning shot with a second remaining.

Now to the "Bad Beat" of the day and it's nothing too complicated here at all. Billy Donovan's Gators were a five point underdog, went to double overtime, and lost by 7.

That's a Bad Beat, not dreadful, not horrendous, but bad enough for sure.



Your winners for Friday are on:

3* Vermont (plus 16) vs. Syracuse.

3* Temple (minus 4) vs. Cornell.

2* Georgia Tech (plus 1) vs. Oklahoma State.

A disgusting 0-3 on Thursday, certainly not the way to start the tournament.



Syracuse was an 18 or so point favorite and it seems like this number has dropped to about 16. The question is, is that sharp money or square money. I really think it's the sharpies checking on the boys from Verrmont and I'm willing to roll with it.

Of course the Orangemen are the better team and are going to win the game but the Catamounts year after year are a stellar program and one that waits for a situation such as this one. About five years ago they picked off Jim Boeheim's boys with Taylor Coppenrath leading the way.

Vermont's current team is not as talented as that one but these guys are solid and I truly believe good enough to compete here.

Arinze Onuaku is banged up and if the three's don't fall than this thing could get very interesting. I'm not a moron and don't see Vermont winning again as Johnson, Joseph, Jackson, Jardine and Rautins are awesome but things have not been nearly as great of late with losses in two straight games and three of the last seven so I'm all about the points.



Everybody is saying Cornell this and Cornell that and the Big Red are going to win this game and be a sleeper and blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong Ryan Wittman is awesome and it wasn't a total fluke that these guys were winning at Kansas with a minute to go in the game earlier in the season. Also Steve Donahue is a quality coach and has one of the best teams ever in the Ivy League.

But with the above said this Temple team is rolling right now and deserved at worst a three seed in the tournament. Getting a five was a joke. Fran Fraschilla's Owls are as dangerous as can be as these guys bomb away from three with the best of them and are a complete team. Earlier in the season they upset Villanova when the Wildcats were great and just ran through the A-10 tournament with relative ease.

Nobody has given John Chaney's former team the respect they deserve and in the end today will prevail going away.



Both the Yellow Jackets and Cowboys are quality young talented teams that are dangerous. James Anderson is a stud leading Oklahoma State but I do think that Paul Hewitt's boys are too good in the end.

Derrick Favors is going to be a lottery pick in a few months and Gani Lawal may be as well. Throw in other high quality athletes like Shumpert and Peacock and Oliver and Rice among others and we should see the Tech team that finally lived up to its billing in the ACC Tournament.

The Jackets were certainly disappointing for a lot of the season and losing at home by a bunch a few weeks back to Virginia Tech was terrible. A loss in the first round of the conference tourney to North Carolina, and it almost happened, may have prevented a bid at all, but right now things are looking up and I think G Tech takes care of business in the end today.

Your "Bad Beat" for Saturday is on:

Illinois (plus 7) vs. Ohio State.

I will admit that some Fighting Illini backers got 7 1/2 and the line by gametime even went as high as 8 but this thing did open up as low as 6 1/2 and 7 in some places.

Demetri McCamey and the Illini led for much of this game and by a decent amount. They then allowed a whopping 20-0 Ohio State run as the Buckeyes took the 9 point lead. Bruce Weber's squad though rallied and showed a ton of Heart in reclaiming the lead.

Evan Turner though kept driving the lane and scoring. He did it with about five seconds to go in regulation and this thing went into overtime.

Illinois was clearly once again the better looking team in the first five minutes but Turner and his mates made that one late score once again to even the game.

In double overtime Jon Diebler nailed a three right off the bat and that set the tone for the seven point Ohio State victory.

I will say though that with the margin on seven and just eight seconds remaining the Illini committed a foul sending the Bucks to the line for the clear cover. Both shots were missed though, and this thing landed on seven. So that was definitely a little lucky for Illinois backers but 99% of this beat was bad on the Fighting Illini and that is why it is the "Bad Beat" of the day.

Plus 7 and lose by 7 in double overtime? That's freakin bad!



Your winners for Sunday are on:

5* Georgia Tech (plus 9 1/2) vs. Duke.

2* Minnesota (plus 4) vs. Ohio State.

Another winning day on Saturday as the huge 5* on Miami, Florida came through. The 3* on UTEP certainly didn't but all in all another positive day!



Duke once again showed on Saturday that they are not a great team and to be honest with you are a little overated. There is no doubting Coach K is a Hall of Famer and as good of a coach as there is out there but his team has not been great for awhile now and is not great right now.

Jon Schyer is scary at times because when this kid is on he is unstoppable. You can say the same thing at times for Kyle Singler but all in all the Blue Devils are just not that good.

Duke was not much of anything yesterday, save about a nine minute span and these guys were fairly brutal offensively in the opener against a bad Virginia squad.

Georgia Tech meanwhile has been really good and playing under some intense pressure as they were on that bubble before rallying past North Carolina and Maryland. Derrick Favors is an NBA player in a few weeks and others like Gani Lawal, Iman Sumpert, Moe Miller and Zach Peacock have a high ceiling and are a confident group right now that will give Duke a run for their money.

I expect the Devils to hold up the trophy but I can't see it being by double digits!



Why not roll with the Golden Gophers? Tubby Smith's team probably has been the most impressive teamn in the country this weekend. They are 3-0 in the past 72 or so hours after blowing out Penn State, outplaying Michigan State and then absolutely blitzkrieging Purude yesterday in an embarassment for Matt Painter's Boilermakers.

The Gophers have not had a great year but right now that means nothing. With a potential automatic bid on the line just in case they are not in the Big Dance yet I can't see UM just all of a sudden pull a 180 and regress. Everything has gone right so far this week and even with Evan Turner and a top notch Ohio State team on the other end I can see Minnesota continue their winning ways.

The Buckeyes, like Duke above, have been very unimpressive this weekend. They imploded against Michigan and were lucky in the end and just got outplayed in the double overtime win against Illinois.

OSU is very good and definitely can bring Minnesota back down to Earth as Turner, Diebler, Lauderdale and others are solid but I'm rolling with a good thing and that is these "Golden" Gophers.

Your "Bad Beat" for Wednesday is on:

Weber State (minus 3 1/2) vs. Montana.

Weber State was the small favorite and had doubled up Montana at the half 40-20. Now let's be honest here this game was over.

Or not.

Anthony Johnson went ballistic and poured in 34 of his game high 42 points for the Grizzlies in the final 20 minutes and the impossible happened. Montana came all the way back and won the game 66-65 to capture the Big Sky title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Oh and by the way Johnson netted his team's final 21 points of the game and broke the tournament record with the 42 points.

Up 20 freakin points, are you kidding me!?!?!?



Your winners for Thursday are on:

4* Georgia Tech (minus 3 1/2) vs. North Carolina.

3* Memphis (minus 6) vs. Houston.

2* Indiana (plus 8) vs. Northwestern.

Yet another winning day on Wednesday as the 4* play on Iowa State came through in the end thanks to a backdoor three with 19 seconds to go. I do have to say thanks for not fouling after that Cyclones, I owe you one!

North Carolina is a team that has shown absolutely nothing for the last two months and even in their home state should continue to show a whole lot of nothing. There is no more disappointing team in all of college basketball this season than the Tar Heels. They do have talent with Ginyard, Zeller and others and a Hall of Fame coach in Roy Williams but it just hasn't mattered. Sure Ed Davis is out but this team was fading away before that injury.

Georgia Tech has not been impressive themselves of late losing five of their last seven and limping into this thing but Paul Hewitt's team is square on that bubble and has to win the game. Derrick Favors is a great Freshman who has continued to improve and will dominate the boards alongside Gani Lawal.

The Yellow Jackets are a desperate team that has been playing better than their fate of late as they lost on buzzer beaters at both Miami and Maryland and is a team with a whole lot of talent and a high ceiling.

Look for the Jackets to look like the team that wants this game more and for them to take care of business going away against a bad team wearing uniforms that say "North Carolina" on them.



Josh Pastner's Memphis Tigers are certainly not the same team in any aspect as John Calipari's Memphis Tigers were but do not belittle this current squad. There is still a bunch of athletes and talented players on this team like Witherspoon, Williams, Sallie, Mack and Kemp and 13-3 in Conference USA is still not too shabby even if it is three more losses than usual.

Houston is a solid team but nothing more. The Cougars last week did beat the Tigers but that was at home, which makes a world of difference, and that will set up a matter of revenge today for Memphis. Plus Houston may have some wobbly legs after the win yesterday over East Carolina and it's never great to play a back-to-back no less against a team that can run the court which Memphis can.

I'm not calling this a 20 point burial but the Tigers in the end will win by double digits as they have everything going for them, everything.



No matter how much better some teams are than others there are certain squad that are not built to be heavy favorites and that is the exact case here with Northwestern.

Tom Crean's Hoosiers are miserable and a team that has pretty much packed it in. But just the other day they were able to muster something and at home beat the Wildcats in overtime. I don't expect that to happen again because John Shurna and the boys from Northwestern are definitely the superior team of these two making me believe that lightning striking twice is unlikely but Northwestern is just not a team that wins games going away, no matter what their opponent is like.

The Hoosiers are going to play the young kids to see what's there going forward andf that turned out to be a pretty good strategy in that last rare win.

Let's also not foget how this game is in Indianapolis which can only be a good thing here in this spot.

Northwestern is probably too good in the end in this revenge spot today but I'm backing the dog and daring the Wildcats to do enough offensively to beat me.

Your "Bad Beat" for Monday is on

North Carolina A&T (plus 13 1/2) at Morgan State.

These MEAC games do not have a number on them most of the time but they did last night. Morgan State opened up laying 14 and that went down as low as 13. It didn't look like that would matter as the underdogs from A&T shockingly led outright 37-32 at the half.

The game was 56-55 Morgan with only seven to go which more than likely was looking like an underdog easy cover. But then Reggie Holmes went crazy as he nailed eight threes in the game and poured in a game high 32 points. In the end Morgan State outscored A&T 49-30 in the second half and won 81-67.

Yikes!



Your winners for Tuesday are on:

4* Georgia Tech (plus 7) at Clemson.

2* North Carolina (minus 4) vs. Miami, Fl.

One play on Monday, a fairly easy 3* winner on Oklahoma who led most of the game in Austin and then cashed the ticket in the loss.



The season can not be deemed great as the wins have not been there of late the way Paul Hewitt would like but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been competing very hard and the fruits to their merit could produce an outright here.

Tech has played pretty tough on the road of late most recently in that tough buzzer beating loss at Maryland. A few weeks earlier the Jackets fell also at the buzzer in South Beach against Miami.

At some point things will even up and to get a handful of points plus with a rising star in Derrick Favors along with Gani Lawal and other talented young athletes makes me fine with this takeback. It's not going to be easy as Clemson is good and Littljohn Coliseum is not an easy place to play at all.

Trevor Booker and Demontez Stitt are quality players for the Tigers who are coming off of that hard fought victory at Florida State. 53 points was all it took for Clemson in that thing but that will not be the case here as Tech is going to put up points and enough to at the very worst cover this contest!



The season has been a debacle for North Carolina and that is quite possibly the understatement of all understatements. Nothing at all has gone right for this perennial powerhouse but I do believe they are too cheap to pass up today.

The Tar Heels are still a very talented team even if Ed Davis is out. These guys were top 5 earlier in the season and if they play like they could then they could prove that once again.

Miami is ok, nothing better nothing worse. The Hurricanes at home can rise up and beat some superior teams but I'm not so sure that they can do this on the road and at the Dean Dome.

The Heels are still not a good basketball team but they did at least compete and lose late in Boston College a week or so ago and then just won at Wake Forest and should be feeling a tad more confident than before.

Look for UNC to end the season a little better than that dreadful middle part and for this to be an 8-12 point victory.

Your "Bad Beat" for Wednesday is on:

Evansville (plus 12 1/2) at Creighton.

The Purple Aces of Evansville were a 12 1/2 point underdog at Creighton. Shockingly though the underdog, who had lost 12 straight games coming into the contest, had nailed seven of their first eight three pointers and was leading 38-32 at the half.

But the Blue Jays opened up the second half on a 15-2 run and wound up winning the game 84-71 after a 52-33 second half.

You do the math!



Your winners for Thursday are on:

3* Indiana (plus 12 1/2) vs. Purdue.

2* Georgia Tech (plus 12) at Duke.

A sweet 2-0 sweep on Wednesday as 2* Arkansas won outright at Georgia and 3* DePaul cashed the ticket at Marquette!



The Indiana Hoosiers may not longer be a national power with Bobby Knight but Tom Crean has slowly but surely started to put his stamp on this program and the boys from Indiana are not that bad right now, not good but not bad.

Indiana had two straight double digit upsets of Minnesota and Penn State and then crapped the bed against Iowa. But in that last game Indiana played toe-to-toe in Illinois in a two point loss and to be honest with you are alright right now.

"Alright" won't win the game against the very very tough and borderline great Purdue Boilermakers with guys like Moore, Hummel, Grant and others but to get a dozen or so in Bloomington is enough for me for sure.

Matt Painter's squad is senior laden and extremely dangerous but I still don't view this team as one that can go on the road in-conference like this and just lay a big number and win going away.



Paul Hewitt's Yellow Jackets are much improved this season from the debacle of last year and have already beaten Duke. Of course winning at Cameron is almost impossible for a visitor but the Blue Devils have issues right now. They were just manhandled at Georgetown and do not have what it takes to stop opposing big men.

Georgia Tech has a big boy in Gani Lawal who has really come into his own this season and freshman stud Derrick Favors is no joke as he improves and gets ready fro the NBA next season.

The Dookies at home should control the pace and shoot the three-ball with a great player in Jon Scheyer leading the way but it's going to be tough for the home boys in the paint. Zoubek and Singler cannot stop Lawal and in the end that will keep Tech in this game as the visitors grab the cash.

Your "Bad Beat" for Monday is on:

Magic (over 100, first half) at Los Angeles.

The stars were out in Los Angeles as usual and the points were up early on. The Magic and Lakers combined for 58 points in the first quarter meaning only 43 more in the second quarter were needed for that first half over.

Shannon Brown nailed a 25 footer and midway through the second quarter it was 48-35 Lakers. The high was still looking great but then nothing happened and especially nothing for the defending champions.

LA would only make one more field goal the rest of the half, miss two of their four free throws and turn the ball over ad nauseum.

In the waning seconds Orlando's Jameer Nelson missed a 17 footer and this thing went to the half with a 52-47 LA lead somehow staying under that total.

That's a head scratcher!



Your winners for Tuesday are on:

3* Georgia Tech (minus 3) vs. Clemson.

2* Purdue (minus 2 1/2) at Illinois.

A loss of 5* on Monday in the poor 0-2 day thanks to the 76ers blowing the huge lead and falling in overtime.



I am backing the home Yellow Jackets here as these two teams are fairly even but in the end the home court is going to help be a bit too much.

Clemson is very good and Trevor Booker is awesome. Throw in Stitt and a few others and one can see how these guys are rolling right now including destroying North Carolina last week. But the road is always difficult and we saw that in the last game when the Tigers imploded a bit in that second half in Raleigh over the weekend to blow the cover. Oliver Purnell's team did win in the end but they could not cover the five and the Wolfpack are not the Jackets.

Paul Hewitt has a squad this season that is playing very very well at home. Tech has dropped two of three on the road with the defeats at Georgia and Virginia but in Hotlanta these guys have been very very good. Oh and that road win came in Chapel Hill against the Tar Heels which is never easy no matter how much Roy Williams' team has been struggling of late.

Gani Lawal has been huge down low and Derrick Favors is a star freshman who is no joke. Throw in a little Zach Peacock and Brian Oliver and a few others and I just do not see the Tigers coming in here and winning this game, I just don't. A win more than likely equals a cover and I'm backing the home Jackets.



I know all about Matt Painter's teams' sudden struggles. Purdue has dropped three in a row but to be honest with you I'm really not too worried. The Boilers are still a very very good team that is experienced and senior laden and will be just fine. Moore, Hummel, Kramer and the rest of this team will not just implode. They are athletic, can play defense and have pretty much all been there and done that. This is the recipe for a team to respond and that they will here.

Illinois is not bad and being at home will help them but McCamey and the Illini are also not nearly as stout as today's opponent and Purdue will be more than focused to end this skid as enough is enough.

Bruce Weber's team will look for some blood at home but in the end they will get outclassed as the Boilers get back in the win column.