12/8 Results: I?m down 2.4 units this week, which I?m perfectly OK with. Avoid the Bloodbath. Rhode Island continues to own the RI/NE series. George Washington continues to get up over 60 shots a game. Until this changes, I?ll be playing them to the over. They didn?t get to the foul line as much as they are used to last night, but anytime they take the court, it?s going to be ugly, there will be turnovers in the 40?s and tons of scoring opportunities. Eastern Illinois shot 27%. Laser was 1-13. Pretty much sums up the type of year they?re having. Starters went 4-11, 3-11, 4-11, 3-10, and 1-13. TCU continues to impress. Illinois won, although the first half was ugly. The reason? The first seven minutes of the game was accidentally played with a girls ball! How does this happen? I am in love with this Oakland team. Their non-conference schedule is about as battle tested as anyone in the country, and they still go to Michigan State, Tennessee, Michigan, and Ohio State. They will win the Summit with ease and they will be a matchup problem for many teams come tournament time. I?ll go ahead and peg them for a Sweet 16 this year. Light Bulbs. Their length at every position is borderline ridiculous. Depaul lost their 23rd straight road game. Illinois State continues to suck. Wisconsin destroyed Wisconsin MKE as predicted. Wisconsin MKE can?t compete with major conferences with no interior presence. Oklahoma State won with revenge. Duke pasted Bradley as predicted. Notre Dame had one field goal in a 17 minute span. Kentucky looked like the more experienced team, made no sense. San Diego State and Washington State with impressive victories as well.
12/9 Notes: Florida coming home after a three game roady and Kent State on the tail end of a two game roady. Florida has Kansas State coming to town on Saturday. I expect Kent State to do well in the MAC as they always seem to have great turnover after losing quite a few guys, but doing well in the MAC and going on the road to a major conference school are two different things. Neither of these teams wins are eye-openers. Florida is playing at a really slow pace and a solid indicator of why they are doing so is b/c of their three-point shooting. If they can find their stroke, they?ll play a bit more up-tempo. Butler will be playing in a hostile environment tonight. Their only other hostile environment they played in was Louisville to open the season, and that was a loss. Xavier is playing with some big motivation last year as Gordon Hayward hit a shot with 1 second remaining, and a clock error prevented them to getting off a shot in the last seconds. If you don?t think it?s motivation, Xavier has referenced it numerous times, even setting up a TV and video at half court of yesterday?s practice where they watched the last four minutes of last year?s game. There was also controversy in the 2008 meeting between these two schools where Butler was again the winner. There isn?t really much more to it. Butler lost Hayward. Xavier lost Crawford. Neither team has looked all that good, but Xavier has the motivation, the week to prepare, double revenge, and a 27 game home court winning streak to defend, and added motivation after losing their last time out. Not going to even touch Georgetown and Temple. Georgetown has struggled against good defenses at times this year and this will be the toughest they face on the road all year.
Bets
Xavier -1 (2 Units)
12/9 Notes: Florida coming home after a three game roady and Kent State on the tail end of a two game roady. Florida has Kansas State coming to town on Saturday. I expect Kent State to do well in the MAC as they always seem to have great turnover after losing quite a few guys, but doing well in the MAC and going on the road to a major conference school are two different things. Neither of these teams wins are eye-openers. Florida is playing at a really slow pace and a solid indicator of why they are doing so is b/c of their three-point shooting. If they can find their stroke, they?ll play a bit more up-tempo. Butler will be playing in a hostile environment tonight. Their only other hostile environment they played in was Louisville to open the season, and that was a loss. Xavier is playing with some big motivation last year as Gordon Hayward hit a shot with 1 second remaining, and a clock error prevented them to getting off a shot in the last seconds. If you don?t think it?s motivation, Xavier has referenced it numerous times, even setting up a TV and video at half court of yesterday?s practice where they watched the last four minutes of last year?s game. There was also controversy in the 2008 meeting between these two schools where Butler was again the winner. There isn?t really much more to it. Butler lost Hayward. Xavier lost Crawford. Neither team has looked all that good, but Xavier has the motivation, the week to prepare, double revenge, and a 27 game home court winning streak to defend, and added motivation after losing their last time out. Not going to even touch Georgetown and Temple. Georgetown has struggled against good defenses at times this year and this will be the toughest they face on the road all year.
Bets
Xavier -1 (2 Units)
