Ohio State -22.5 v. James Madison. They almost always destroy the weak and the sad at Value City.
Well they had destroyed Sacred Heart and Campbell but the Dukes - a year removed from winning the CAA tournament, remember - proved to be a bit tougher. No shame in a 73-56 win but it does me no good here. 0-1.
Providence -5.5 v. Yale. Black Friday deal from Vegas, part 1!
Covered by a half point. Okay, maybe it wasn't as big of a gift as I thought. 1-1.
Miami (FL) -21 v. South Alabama. This is a tad too high and Miami still a tad bit too unproven (Florida clearly sucks right now and Charlotte might be mediocre tooo) to be Black Friday deal part 2 :(
Woof. Canes D - which has been excellent this season - gave up FIFTY FOUR in the second half to wipe out a halftime cover. 1-2.
Boise State +7 v. North Carolina State. Any chance I can take to pick against N.C. State I'm all over.
Covered by a point. Vegas seems to be getting it closer to the pin in recent days, which makes sense. We're all learning about everyone at this juncture. 2-2.
Cleveland State -1 @ Marshall. Hopefully the other day was rock bottom for them and they'll start playing to their capabilities now.
Yeah they had 33 at the half of this one and won by 9. 3-2.
Arkansas -25.5 v. North Texas. Have the Hogs supplanted Florida as the second best team in the SEC? Maybe a bit premature to have that conversation but blowing the doors off Wake Forest and winning at SMU are both fare more impressive than anything the Gators have done.
The first #LateNightDrunkBet to fail! The Mean Green went shot for shot with the Hogs from 3 (and from 2 as well....they just didn't shoot as many 2's.) Still a comfortable 16 point win for the Hogs. 4-2.
Emerald Coast Classic
This is a new holiday tournament for this year on the campus of Northwest Florida State college in Niceville, Florida. I'm just gonna consider it a homeless man's Orlando (nee Old Spice) Classic.
Southern +7.5 v. Northern Arizona. I just have the feeling that if I pick against the SWAC team, I'll be wrong.
Covered by a half point in OT. 5-2.
Middle Tennessee State +8 v. Cincinnati. "Middle Tennessee State +8" reminds me of "Jon and Kate Plus 8." I should take Cincy for that alone but I don't trust them to blow out *anyone* right now.
Yeah that failed and then I trusted them to beat Mississippi and THAT failed. Screw you, Cincy. 5-3.
Creighton -4 v. Mississippi. I have a weird feeling about thi-ah fuck it, Black Friday deal from Vegas, part 2!
Oh so I DID kind of see this coming, apparently. That's an iota of consolation. 5-4.
Orlando (nee Old Spice) Classic
Santa Clara +7 v. Rhode Island. Points.
Yeah Rhode Island had a bad game against Kansas whereas Santa Clara's just bad. 5-5.
Georgia Tech -7.5 v. Rider. Rider.
...covered by a half point. Embarrassing from GT but that's nothing new from their basketball program. 5-6.
Marquette +12.5 v. Michigan State. One of these days I'll stop giving Marquette respect because of the name on the front of the jersey (and how cool the colors on the jersey are in general.) Today is not that day.
Covered by a point and a half! 6-6.
Battle 4 Atlantis
Butler +3.5 v. Georgetown. Hey, a Big East game! They played once last year and the Hoyas won by 3 in overtime at Hinkle. The extra half point is the sell here.
The Butler did what The Butler does to big name programs. If Oklahoma had done a damn thing since the 80's they probably would've beaten them too. 7-6.
Wisconsin -8 v. Oklahoma. Badgers should win, just not sure by how much.
They won by 13! Boy are they good. Them and Duke is gonna be so nice. I'm openly hoping Virginia treats us like we're Rutgers so I can give that game my full attention. 8-6.
UCLA -14 v. UAB. Don't have a Portland Moment (mentioned a few days ago on here)
Missed by a bucket. Blazers scored 43 against Wisconsin and 47 against Florida...but 76 here. Maybe Steve Alford needs to work on defense a little more. 9-6.
North Carolina -5 v. Florida. Yeah this is a Black Friday giveaway with Florida's form right now.
There are a lot of reasons I can't wait to do the first Bracketology (which I'm probably putting off until after the ACC/B1G Challenge since that will be full of seeding/bubble implications) but the potential of Florida-as-a-bubble-team might be # 1. 10-6.
Las Vegas Invitational
Prairie View A&M +7 v. Brown. I've taken not one but TWO SWAC teams today. Why.
Why is right. 10-7.
Stephen F. Austin -9.5 v. Austin Peay. Seriously, Jacks, get your shit together.
They did such! 11-7.
Memphis -7 v. Indiana State. I'd love to take the Sycamores if they weren't waffling around as much as Memphis is at the moment.
Covered by a 3 pointer. 12-7.
Baylor +3.5 v. Illinois. Baylor's GETTING points here?
Yes because the other team had Rayvonte Rice and they didn't. 12-8.
USC Upstate Classic
Wright State -7 v. Florida International. Isiah Thompson.
See this is why I hate these little tournaments with all small schools. Wright loses to FIU then wins at host USC Upstate the next day? Makes no sense. Totally random. 12-9.
CS Fulleteron +5.5 @ USC Upstate. The Big.....West rising tide lifts all boats?
It did not. 12-10.
Wooden Legacy
Xavier -6.5 v. UTEP. This is a trap for my X. UTEP might think it's on its home floor today with all the orange and blue on Fullerton's court.
Right I was. I had legitimate reason to distrust the Miners - they only beat Washington State at home by 13 - but they're good and should fancy their chances in the title game against Washington. 12-11.
San Diego -5 v. Princeton. I've just come to expect Princeton basketball to disappoint any time it shows remote signs of life (like yesterday.)
Yep. 13-11.
Western Michigan -7.5 v. San Jose State. San Jose State.
Yep. 14-11.
Long Beach State PK v. Washington. This begs the question - could the 49ERS go .500 in Pac-12 play like the Huskies did last year? Honestly, I think they could give it a real go (I think they'd probably end up 7-11 or something though.)
Nice win for the Huskies to stay unbeaten and they should be slight favorites over UTEP tomorrow night. Or maybe not, I don't know, that's a hard game to call. But that's for tomorrow. 14-12.
Great Alaska Shootout
Missouri State -5.5 v. Alaska Anchorage. Please don't lose. Some of us still remember when the Bears were a quality Valley outfit.
They didn't lose! But they didn't cover either :( 14-13.
Washington State -6 v. Rice. I mean....a Pac-12 squad should never, EVER lose 71-43 to a Big West school on a neutral floor. They've gotta play with more pride today. It also helps that Rice is sub 300 on KenPom which is one of the main criteron for picking against.
Only won by a bucket. This Wazzu team could be as historically bad in Pac-12 play as that football team was a few years ago when USC beat 'em 69-0 and most everyone else in the Pac-12 hung 50-60+ on them. 14-14.
Colorado State -12.5 v. Pacific. Colorado State/UCSB should be a kind of interesting title game here.
Point and a half miss. Getting really sick of those. 14-15.
UC Santa Barbara -10.5 v. Mercer. Hopefully the Gauchos can handle the dramatic step up in competition.
It took overtime but Alan Williams and his 22 points, TWENTY rebounds and SIX blocks carried the Gauchos through. It was competitive in OT though so no cover. 14-16.
NIT Season Tip Off
Minnesota -3.5 v. Georgia. Thanksgiving should have given the Gophers a nice chance to regroup after blowing that St. John's game. Georgia actually impressed me by staying somewhat within arm's length of the Zags though.
Oh hey a half point cover! I'll take it considering I'm staring down my first under .500 day in a while. 15-16.
Gonzaga -6.5 v. St. John's. If the Zags are as good as everyone thinks they are, they need to win this by double digits. Unless of course the Johnnies are about to make a major statement on their home floor.
Oh hey a second half point cover! And suddenly look who's back at .500. 16-16.
Challenge in Music City
Nashville's a holiday tournament destination now? I guess it makes sense. Gravy and country music go well together.
Valpariaso -5.5 v. Drake. The Drake.
Valpo looking good these past couple of days. They should be their usual Horizon threats of some sort. 17-16.
Murray State -2.5 v. Portland. This SHOULD be a Black Friday giveaway if Murray remotely has its shit together.
Yeah they don't. 17-17.
Barclays Center Classic (another one?!)
Vanderbilt -5 v. Rutgers. I mean, St. Peter's just won by 18 at Rutgers.
Hopefully Vanderbilt had a serious conversation about potentially folding basketball after this loss. 17-18.
Virginia -15 v. La Salle. So this particular Barclays Center event only exists for Vegas to hand out money to people. I see.
No, it exists to remind us that Virginia's offense is.....spotty, at best. 17-19.
Corpus Christi Coastal Classic (CREALLY?!?)
Bradley +8.5 v. TCU. I am the 4.4% (who picked Bradley.)
WE WIN! WE WIN!!! BY A HALF POINT BUT WE WIN!!! 18-19.
Saint Louis +2.5 v. Mississippi State. Jim Crews vs Rick Ray. Also if you google Rick Ray it says he's 2 years old in the info box on the right side.
Extra extra! Talent often much more important than coaching in basketball! And the Billikens are sorely lacking in it at the moment. 18-20.
Alabama State -2.5 v. Texas Pan American. It's a hat trick of SWAC picks!
And I went 2-1 in them! Not sure I'll be doing it again any time soon or ever though. 19-20.
Utah -24 v. North Dakota. The Utes are just screwing themselves by not even remotely testing themselves before Wichita comes to town on Wednesday.
But hey at least they got to beat a completely helpless foe by 37. After how rough things were for the Utes when they first entered the Pac-12, I guess I can't blame them for wanting to feast on the weakest and saddest now that they can. 20-20.
IPFW +3.5 v. Dartmouth. I'm getting points against Dartmouth? Thanks!
Big Green hit a 3 at the buzzer to win but I still win! 21-20.
Maryland -15 v. Monmouth. Still not getting a whole ton of respect I see.
Ugly, ugly 5 point win. But Monmouth has now given West Virginia and Maryland decent fights and their other loss was by 4 in overtime. They look like they can defend a little bit, which could make them a player in the Northeast Conference race. 21-21.
St. Peter's -13 v. Tennessee State. They can win by 4 points less than they did at Rutgers, right?
They can not! They could only win by 10 points less! 21-22.
Samford +25 v. Louisiana Tech. Just don't think LA Tech deserves this big of a number right now. Hope I'm wrong, I'd love to be back on that bandwagon.
Yeah, only lost by 13. This number was way off but even if I were betting money it's unlikely I would've had the stones to put any on freaking Samford. 22-22.
Nebraska -17.5 v. Tennessee Martin. Now I'm even more pissed they lost to Rhode Island after the Rams got rammed by Kansas yesterday.
URI may have still been an acceptable loss. Only beating the Skyhawks by 11 is less acceptable. 22-23.
Indiana -22 v. UNC Greensboro. UNC Greensboro.
Good lord they can't even beat UNC Greensboro by double digits? They've completely regressed to the early Crean years, haven't they? 22-24.
UT Arlington -4.5 @ Montana State. Montana State.
Sure, just give up 18 threes and let one of the 20 worst teams in the country hang 104 on you. Go ahead. Make my day. 22-25.
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