took a break from posting over the holiday and instead enjoyed some easy money riding the coattails of some of madjack's finest. been looking at the overnight lines and will start the week off with a game that is outside of the leagues i usually follow, so buyer beware:
arizona st -5: see some decent line value in this game for several reasons. asu is a bit of a rebuilding year afer losing last year's pac 10 poy ike diogu to the nba. however, wildcats return a decent nucleus with three returning starters who averaged double digits in pac 10 play, and coach evans has brought in a couple of solid juco players who figure to contribute immediately. also adding to value, the wildcats spent a half toying around with a weak alcorn a&m team in their last game before pulling away in the second half.
ucsb has almost everyone returning, enough so to be picked third preseason in the big west. but the big west looks to have a big dropoff after its top two teams (fullerton and pacific) and the gauchos have been an historically poor road team (2-11) last year). that fact was underrlined in my mind after they were dominated with speed and rebouning by a young unc team that, when the dust clears in february, will be mired in the middle of the acc at best. now the gauchos find themselves on the back side of a coast-to-coast road trip, traveling to tempe (never a bargain), and facing a team with a lot more team speed that has a tradition of playing well in home openers. also, several key gauchos missed significant time in the preseason with injuries, maing their conditioning suspect at this juncture, especially in this difficult spot. throw in the fact that ucsb shoots around 60% from the ft line while the home team has shot over 70% from the line over the last two seasons, and i see a recipe for a dd sun devil win.
glta
arizona st -5: see some decent line value in this game for several reasons. asu is a bit of a rebuilding year afer losing last year's pac 10 poy ike diogu to the nba. however, wildcats return a decent nucleus with three returning starters who averaged double digits in pac 10 play, and coach evans has brought in a couple of solid juco players who figure to contribute immediately. also adding to value, the wildcats spent a half toying around with a weak alcorn a&m team in their last game before pulling away in the second half.
ucsb has almost everyone returning, enough so to be picked third preseason in the big west. but the big west looks to have a big dropoff after its top two teams (fullerton and pacific) and the gauchos have been an historically poor road team (2-11) last year). that fact was underrlined in my mind after they were dominated with speed and rebouning by a young unc team that, when the dust clears in february, will be mired in the middle of the acc at best. now the gauchos find themselves on the back side of a coast-to-coast road trip, traveling to tempe (never a bargain), and facing a team with a lot more team speed that has a tradition of playing well in home openers. also, several key gauchos missed significant time in the preseason with injuries, maing their conditioning suspect at this juncture, especially in this difficult spot. throw in the fact that ucsb shoots around 60% from the ft line while the home team has shot over 70% from the line over the last two seasons, and i see a recipe for a dd sun devil win.
glta
but i like the play.
