Cashing In

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 Saturday is on:

Washington State (plus 11) at California.

A huge consolation prize to anybody who played Dartmouth on Saturday as the Big Green actually led by eight at the half at Yale and were catching 11 1/2 only to get outscored 40-19 in the second half and not cover.

Also anybody who had Auburn plus right around 10 is rather perturbed. The Tigers led pretty much the entire way. Mississippi State though found a way to get into overtime late and then rolled to the 10 point victory. Yikes!

But the winner for the day goes to Washington State. If you backed the Cougars all I can say is wow!

State was the dozen or so point dog and yet led outright 45-34 at the half thanks to Klay Thompson pouring in 23 points in the first 20 minutes. To be up basically 23 points (with the points) and half of the game already in the books should have made for an easy cover, right?

Cal did come back as one would expect them to and led by a point, 71-70 with 3:10 remaining. But the cover still was easily in the hands of the visitors, right?

Wrong, and Wrong!

The Golden Bears ended the game on a whopping 15-0 run and won the game 86-70.

Nothing more needs to be said I guess.



Your winners for Sunday are on:

4* Northwestern (plus 1) vs. Minnesota.

2* DePaul (plus 13) at Seton Hall.

A dismal 0-2 Saturday as I flat out sucked, period. Some days you are as pathetic as they come and Saturday's calls on Indiana and Stanford were just that.



I am just not all that high on Minnesota this season as they have been a lot worse than I thought they were going to be. Tubby Smith's squad had high hopes but these guys have only won two of their last seven games and frankly they are not as good as today's opponent in the Wildcats and the Golden Gophers are on the road which is always a ton more difficult.

Bill Carmody has a team that has been very good this season compared to in most years past and still have a shot to make the Big Dance. Guys like Shurna and Thompson are no joke and this team at home has already beaten the likes of Purdue and Illinois.

On the road a few weeks back the Wildcats covered easily in Minnesota and almost won outright as the 11 point dog. It's all about revenge here as Northwestern continues to prove they are not a fluke and Minnesota continues its downward plunge.



Seton Hall is clearly the much better team on the court here but they have no business ever laying such a price. Jeremy Hazell always scores 20 plus and the Pirates should win the game but this DePaul team has fared much better under Tracy Webster and right now are not all that terrible.

Walker and Koshwal can play and the Blue Demons have actually covered their last six games. They also outplayed Syracuse a few weeks back and should have beaten the Orange but lost late covering the 15 in beyond easy fashion.

The Demons will hang around because the Pirates just do not really blow out many major d1 programs and in the end DePaul will do enough to grab that cash.

Your "Bad Beat" for Monday is on:

Murray (minus 120) vs. Rafael Nadal.

The Suns imploding and not covering can certainly be categorized as a "Bad Beat" but today there is one even worse and it's certainly stepping out of the box a bit.

Different internet sportsbooks have different rules. When it comes to tennis some sites say that matches are deemed winning or losing if two sets of action have been completed. Other sites say the entire match must be finished. That is a big difference when it comes to guys (and gals) retiring from matches with injuries and that as the case very early on Tuesday morning, which I am going to still call Monday's "Bad Beat".

Andy Murray was in complete control against the defending Australian Open Champion Rafael Nadal. Murray took the first two sets 6-3, 7-6 and was on his way through to the semifinals. He even took the 3-0 lead in the third so it was just a matter of time before Murray advanced and his backers reaped the rewards.

Until...

Nadal retired with a knee injury right there at 0-3 and like I said above at some books Murray backers did NOT win, despite him winning and moving on!



Your winners for Tuesday are on:

5* Baylor (minus 2 1/2) vs. Kansas State.

3* DePaul (plus 15 1/2) vs. West Virginia.

3* Northwestern (plus 11) at Minnesota.

A losing 1* day on Monday as I lost the bigger 3* and hit the 2*.



Love the Baylor Bears today!

So many times you see home teams take care of business and especially so in the Big 12. Granted Kansas State is a legitimate top 15 or so squad as their guard play is amazing with Jacob Pullen and Dennis Clemente but the Wildcats are not traveling to Waco against a very very good Baylor squad and winning, no how no way.

This number should be at least 6 or 7 points as Scott Drew has his team playing lights out and at home are unbeatable right now. K State did pound Texas last week which showed a lot about Frank Martin's club but they then turned around and lost at home to Oklahoma State which also showed a lot about Frank Martin's club.

You know what Baylor is going to give you every single game. This team competes ferociously as they almost won at Kansas last week, where nobody even competes no less wins, and now at home will be more than fired up and win this thing well north of the cheap price!



I wish we had Mac Koshwal's big body in the middle but that just doesn't look like it's going to happen once again.

DePaul is not good and obviously not close to West Virginia in terms of talent, but any Big East squad at home to get more than to touchdowns with at least a semi improving squad is enough for me.

The Blue Demons are not what they used to be in the days of Ray Meyer and just fired their coach in Jerry Wainwright a few weeks ago because of it. The program is certainly on hard times right now and another loss is in their future today but they finally did win a conference game downing a solid Marquette team last week and in that last game covered at Notre Dame against Luke Harangody and the Fighting Irish.

Tracy Webster has given free reign to Will Walker to take over and we have seen the guy score a ton and help this team get a little better.

This game has 71-64 written all over it!



Nothing much has gone right for Tubby Smith's Golden Gophers this season, relatively speaking as they are still good and have won some games, and I can't pass up the points with what has become a really solid Wildcat team.

Northwestern has had a great season and they have beaten quality competition. It's not like Bill Carmody's team has pounded creampuffs at all. These guys downed Purdue, Notre Dame and most recently Illinois and also went to Ann Arbor as the seven point dog and beat Michigan.

John Shurna and Michael Thompson will bring it and with the Gophers reeling from that implosion last time out against Michigan State and with Smith's squad without their point guard I am all about grabbing the hefty points ith what is still a very undervalued Northwestern bunch.

Minnesota certainly should win the game but not by the double digit number the oddsmakers have deemed.

Your "Bad Beat" for Tuesday is on

Temple (plus 4 1/2) vs. UCLA.

Any Owls backers should feel semi robbed as their team collapsed a bit in the end.

Al Golden's team owened the 21-7 lead at the break and when getting 4 1/2 tacked onto that should spell a cover in the end.

Should.

UCLA flexed its muscles in the second half and got to within 21-20 with about six minutes to play. Temple was going backwards and on a 3rd and long from about their own 10 gave away the game with a pick 6. Then UCLA converted on the two point conversion to go up 28-21.

On the next possession Temple's long snapper on a punt snapped the ball into the endzone and all of a suden this thing was a two possession game at 30-21 and that's how it ended.

I guess Temple is still "Temple".



Your winners for Wednesday are on:

4* Bowling Green (pk) vs. Idaho.

2* Nebraska (minus 3) vs. Arizona.

2* Northwestern (plus 7) at Illinois.

A small losing 1-1 Tuesday as Miami sucked but UCLA came through in the end.



Freddie Barnes! If you don't know much about him you will soon enough. The Bowling Green receiver is as good as they come in the country and will completely destroy Idaho today.

The Vandals started the season out in amazing fashion at 6-1 but have regressed back to being poor ever since. They do have a few advantages with being here in Idaho as the game is on the blue turf in Boise but that won't be enough to counterract Tyler Sheehan hitting Barnes over and over and over again.

Idaho's defense is terrible against terrible teams. I say good luck to them here!



I do not love how the line has moved up here with Nebraska being favored by around a field goal when the game was a pick but I'm thinking that is more wise guy money as the line movement happened all of a sudden mid-day on Tuesday. Public money does not force a move like that so I do believe that I am on the right side with Ndamukong Su and his black shirts.

Neither team is better than good but both are good as Arizona and Nebraska had good seasons with improvement in the end. This should be a defensive hard hitting battle and in the end the Huskers should be too stout for another Pac-10 team which shows to be pretty bad. Cal and Oregon State proved to be dogs with fleas in their bowl games and UCLA was horrific in their first half yesterday.

I do not love Bo Pellini's offense but I do think their d will make enough plays for the 17-9 type of a victory.



Northwestern just gets no respect and all. Am I all in on Bill Carmody's Wildcats? No not all in but enough to grab the points with this 10-1 team here that's for sure.

Michael Thompson and John Shurna continue to silence the doubters and after beating up good competition including Notre Dame and NC State why can't the Wildcats compete here in Illinois? The Illinis are alright but certainly nothing too special.

Bruce Weber's team has four losses this season with two of those in the past two games. Illinois fell to Georgia and Missouri, neither exactly being North Carolina or Duke.

N'western is going for the best start in school history at 11-1. They may not do it but ya know what, they may!