College Basketball betting trends, odds and predictions for Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017 from various handicappers and websites
NCAAB Knowledge
James Madison is 0-4 vs D-I teams; they were 72-60 in Matt Brady’s last four years as coach, are now 11-27 under his replacement. Dukes are shooting 28.9% on arc, in losses by 16-9-8-13 points. JMU starts two juniors, two seniors. Appalachian State lost two of three in Myrtle Beach tournament, losing 104-98 to Iowa St, 86-67 to Western Michigan. ASU beat UTEP by 4- they’re playing #34 tempo, but are in bottom 15 in country at forcing turnovers. CAA favorites are 3-2 vs spread; Sun Belt underdogs are 14-7.
5-0 Georgia Southern is #29 experience team in country; they’ve already beaten Wake Forest by 2, Missouri State by 1, UMKC by 3- quite a start to their season. Eagles are shooting 38.7% from arc, only 62.5% on foul line. Towson State is 4-1, losing by 3 to Old Dominion; their only top 200 win was 79-71 over Penn. Tigers are #66 experience team; their opponents are shooting 22.2% on arc, #6 3-point defense in country. Sun Belt teams are 17-9 vs spread away from home; CAA teams are 8-15. Towson starts three seniors, GSU starts three seniors and two juniors.
Battle for Atlantis
Purdue played in World University Games this summer, which appears to have been a big help as far as this season goes. Boilermakers are 4-0, with 15-point win over Marquette the closest of the four. Boilers are shooting 48.9% on arc, have #3 eFG% in country. Tennessee beat a couple stiffs by 35-31 points to start season; Vols start three sophs, two juniors, have only one senior on their team- they made 12-27 on arc in their last game. Big 14 favorites are 17-11 vs spread, 3-2 away from home; SEC underdogs are 2-2.
Villanova waxed three stiffs to start its season; Wildcats start a freshman, four juniors- they made 29-60 3-pointers in last two games. Wildcats are forcing turnovers 21% of time; their opponents’ possessions are 2nd-shortest in country (0:13.8 )- they appear to have decent depth. Western Kentucky split its first two D-I games, losing by 5 to Missouri State, beating a stiff. Big East favorites are 9-5 vs spread; C-USA underdogs are 6-11. Hilltoppers played only seven guys last game; three frosh, three seniors and a junior- they start three seniors.
Arizona won its first three games by 25+ points; they’ve made 50.9% on arc, have #2 eFG% in country, but they’re young, starting two freshmen, though one of them is expected to the the #1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft. NC State is 4-0 against the 2nd-easiest schedule in country up to this point; Wolfpack have forced turnovers 31.1% of time (#1 in country) but they’re going way up in competition here, way up. State starts three seniors but their PG is a sophomore. Pac-12 favorites are 13-13 vs spread, 1-2 away from home; ACC underdogs are 2-3.
SMU is off to a 4-0 start, but against a bottom 15 schedule; Mustangs have made 42% of their 3’s- they’re #307 experience team, are stepping up in class this weekend. Only top 225 team SMU has beaten is #190 UMBC. Northern Iowa beat up on three stiffs since losing by 17 at North Carolina; Panthers play a bottom 15 pace in country, have made 44% of their 3’s so far this month. UNI starts a freshman, two sophs. SMU has only one senior in its rotation. MVC teams are 9-7 vs spread away from home; AAC teams are 8-6.
Cayman Islands Tourney
Wyoming/Cincinnati are both playing 3rd day in a row. Bearcats crushed Richmond Tuesday, making 13-24 on arc, after struggling to beat Buffalo by 6 Monday. Cincy is better than usual on offense this year- making 41.5% of its 3’s. 4-0 Wyoming outscored ULL 25-13 on foul line in 70-61 win Tuesday. Cowboys is #34 experience team but is turning ball over 22.6% of time, which could be very bad news vs very athletic Cincy squad. AAC favorites are 7-10 vs spread, 4-4 away from home; Mountain West underdogs are 4-3.
Maui Classic
Michigan had a glorified bye yesterday when it whipped D-II Chaminade; Wolverines are 4-1 but need win here to avoid leaving Maui with no D-I wins- they’ve played #305 schedule in country so far. Michigan is forcing turnovers 24.3% of time, but is also making just 31.4% behind the arc. VCU pounded on Cal yesterday after losing by 11 to Marquette on Monday. Rams start two sophs, three seniors. Big 14 favorites are 17-11 vs spread, 3-2 away from home; A-14 underdogs are 6-8 away from home. Both teams are playing for third day in row.
LSU starts freshman, two sophs and it showed last night when Notre Dame bamboozled them by 39 (92-53). Tigers had won tough 77-75 game over Michigan the day before, while Notre Dame played D-II Chaminade. LSU is shooting 63.6% inside arc for season. Teams are shooting 60.6% inside the arc against Marquette. Marquette was 9-33 on arc, 14-28 inside arc in loss to Wichita State yesterday- Eagles won tough game over VCU Monday. Big East teams are 5-3 vs spread away from home; SEC teams are 9-4.
Notre Dame played D-II Chaminade Monday, then crushed LSU last night, while Wichita State had to fight back from down 18 vs Cal Monday, then had fairly tough test Tuesday in 80-66 win over Marquette. Shockers are still without McDuffie, one of their best players- they shot 65.8% inside arc yesterday. Notre Dame has made 44.1% of its 3’s this season- they start three seniors and a junior. ACC favorites are 20-10 vs spread, 9-4 away from home; AAC underdogs are 4-2. Shockers started four seniors in their game yesterday.
Cancun Tournament
Louisiana Tech is 4-0 but hasn’t played anyone ranked higher than #175 this season; Bulldogs led by 18 at half of fairly easy 77-64 win over George Mason Tuesday. Only one guy on Tech played more than 28:00- they start two sophs, two juniors. Evansville upset Fresno State last night; Purple Aces are 5-0 but yesterday was their first top 200 win. Evansville has made 48.1% of its 3’s this year- they were 8-12 vs Fresno. Aces played two guys 36-38:00 yesterday. C-USA favorites are 10-6 against the spread; MVC underdogs are 6-4.
UNLV is 4-0 with no wins by less than 15 points, but Utah will be, by far, their toughest test to date. Rebels have a senior PG who led Milwaukee to a 20-13 record two years ago- they also have a big kid (McCoy) who will be in the NBA next year. Utah starts four seniors— they beat Mizzou/Ole Miss in last two games, are top 75 team in experience. Pac-12 favorites are 13-13 vs spread, 1-2 away from home; Mountain West underdogs are 4-3. This game is obviously in Vegas but a mile or two from UNLV campus- these teams had yesterday off.
Belmont is 4-1, with wins over Vandy/Middle Tennessee and 87-83 loss at Washington when they led by 8 at the half- to this point, they’ve played #49 schedule in country. Well-coached Bruins start three juniors, two seniors- they made 14-27 on arc in last game. Providence has made 54.4% of its 3’s (#1 in country) in its 3-1 start, with only loss by 12 at home to Minnesota. Friars start they start two sophs, two seniors. Friars made 9-10 on arc in their last game. Big East favorites are 9-5 vs spread; OVC underdogs are 10-14.
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