Matt Josephs:
Well, say, that told me that I don’t like Arizona because I think when things get tough, then they get punched in the mouth, they kind of wilt in the corner. Maybe I like UCLA even more, even though they didn’t play their best game. Riley’s going to make a lot of those midrange jump shots that he missed yesterday. So, I became a stronger fan of UCLA to at least make the final four and a championship.
Matt Josephs:
San Francisco last night was impressive. They probably should have swept to BYU. But of course the game at home, they let loose a big lead in everything. And of course, BYU let Gonzaga beat them twice. There’s no doubt in my mind they had one eye toward Saturday’s game against the Zags. And they played like and it was a San Francisco team that realized they should have beat them at home. And so, they went to the Marriott Center and beat them and not only beat them, but beat them up pretty good.
TJ Rives:
Well, and we talked about that on the show yesterday and I’m going to prop the big man who said, “Hey, Gonzaga is going to have no problem with a look ahead at San Diego.” You’re right, they pulled away in one by 30. But to Matt’s point, BYU got caught late in the first half. San Francisco went on an 11-nothing run, something like that and really never looked back. Shot the ball well. And so, that’s a letdown for BYU before the Saturday night game with Gonzaga. That is for sure on that one.
TJ Rives:
All right, let’s take a look as we always do, let’s take a look at the records from last night. Kyle Hunter also had a winner last night on an overplay that he made as well. So, you see the big man on campus’ record. You see Kyle’s record through last night. We were three and one on the show. That makes us 11 and two over the past two days. Mid Major Matt is back trying to increase and pad that record for us. But we’re all about Friday. We’re all about what are we doing for the night and looking in towards the weekend.
TJ Rives:
And why don’t we begin with a game in the Southern Conference. We’ve talked a lot about the Southern Conference on this show recently, including this week. And game number one is Western Carolina and VMI, a couple of teams that we’ve talked some about. Let’s get right into it with VMI favored by 11 at home, that Keydets favorite big over the Catamounts, total 153. Matt, you’re going to begin things What do you like for an official play?
Matt Josephs:
I mean, Western Carolina plays no defense. Let’s just flat out say that. Their defense has been rather poor this year. They’re coming off and 87-84 win against East Tennessee State because East Tennessee State also does not play any defense.
Matt Josephs:
But you look at some of the road games this year, they gave up 88 at Furman, 87 at East Tennessee State, 85 at Sanford, 98 at Charlotte, 85 at Georgia, you keep going back, 95 at East Carolina. Is this a game that’s going to see plenty of pace? We know VMI is one of those teams that likes to push the ball a whole lot. You look at their offensive numbers, shooting nearly 53% from two, 41% from three and conference. VMI has kind of put the offensive burners on a little bit. Eighty-three against East Tennessee State, their last home game. Ninety-nine against Sanford their last home game. This should be a VMI coming out party.
Matt Josephs:
And I think they go over their team total here. The Keydets can name their score last year in this game to just look at it. They scored 87 at home against these guys. I think they could put up something like that again. Give me the team total over for VMI in this one.
TJ Rives:
All right. Jeff Nadu, I know you do not have an official play, but you’ve liked VMI a couple of times in certain situations. What do you think about this Friday night game?
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah. I don’t mind VMI and like a small favorite role, getting points, but this kind of numbers high. I know Western Carolina is poor, but double digits with your VMI’s inability to defend the times makes I think if I had to play this to team total would be my look.
Jeff Nadu:
I, for one, am trying to get away from playing team totals in the 80s at this point, unless they’re a team like Toledo or South Dakota State, not that VMI isn’t. I guess, from a number’s standpoint, this got a little high for me. I was hoping it’d be 79 and a half, but we’re not going to get that. I don’t have an issue with it. I think Matt, we’ve talked about some of these teams time and time again.
Jeff Nadu:
Western Carolina can’t defend. It’s really you just want to make sure VMI makes some shots tonight and they’re very good at being efficient. They don’t turn it over. So, yeah, I don’t mind this. This should get into the mid-80s.
TJ Rives:
All right. We will lock it in officially here for Mid Major Matt. He is on the VMI team total over in this game coming for Friday evening as they host Western Carolina in Southern Conference action.
TJ Rives:
All right. Second game is an Atlantic 10 game and we take a look at Richmond playing host to St. Bonaventure. They have been a topic on the show earlier this week as well, the Bonnies. Richmond laying the four points here. St. Bonaventure getting four as the road of underdog here in this situation team or the over under is 138 and a half is what we had it at but actually that line has moved a little bit. So, Jeff Nadu, I know this is your play and you’re even happier with the line movement that has come up since we put things in with the BetUS folks a little earlier today. You’re liking this line even more. Tell me more.
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah. So, on Tuesday, I played the over between Bonnies and Davidson, and we saw a similar move. The total drop three or four points, sharpshooter coming in bet in the under and I mean, it went way over. I mean, it got the 157. I think they continue these people that are betting the under. They just continuously believe I guess that they think Bonaventure a good defensive team. And that’s just not factual. In conference play, they’ve been bad. They do play slow. And I think that kind of constitutes why they believe these games under, but it’s not like they’re a good defensive team.
Jeff Nadu:
I mean, St. Bonaventure struggled. They give up a ton of threes. They give it one of the highest frequencies and threes in America. You have two teams here that are very good. They don’t turn the ball over. And Richmond is a similar team to Davidson. They’re both very efficient offensively. Are the exact same? No, but they’re both good offensively. This is similar matchup.
Jeff Nadu:
St. Bonaventure is coming off that game there where they struggled to defend. I think they struggle again to defend here. Richmond’s very good offensively. They always have been over the years with Chris Mooney. And when we look at them defensively, I know Matt knows that this is a team that’s always struggled to get stops. And you can make the case, they’re worse than St. Bonaventure offensively.
Jeff Nadu:
I think as long as we get a decently happy ref here as far as blowing the whistle, I think this game goes well over the total. I think these are two efficient offenses. And a lot of the time that can move over tempo for me. And that being said, Richmond is actually pretty fast. So, I think this is like a 74-69 type of game. I’m going over. I played 137 and a half just like I did on Tuesday.
TJ Rives:
All right. Mid Major Matt some thoughts here? I know you play in the A 10 plays a bunch here. Richmond by the way has won four of their last five. They beat Duquesne in their last game. Now playing a Friday evening game with St. Bonaventure. Any thoughts, Matt if no official play?
Jeff Nadu:
So, this is the thing. I mean, in past years, I would have run to take St. Bonaventure in this game plus the four, because St. Bonaventure does everything Richmond struggles with. St. Bonaventure is a very good rebounding team. They’re a tougher team. They’re a veteran team, which matches up well with a very veteran Spiders team. And I still may get to the window on this. I like the four. I’m going to wait. I don’t think it’s going to get the four and a half. But if it does, I may jump on it.
Jeff Nadu:
Look, I think some people are looking at what Richmond did to Duquesne and they’re like, “Oh, Richmond’s back. It’s awesome.” But it’s not the case. They beat up on a bad Duquesne team. It’s really young. I mean, and Richmond’s actually played better on the road if you look. I think it’s now six or seven games this year that Richmond’s actually been losing at halftime at home. And I think they’re like two and eight. I have to go back and make sure my numbers. They’re actually like two and eight against the spread the first half at home so far this season.
Jeff Nadu:
It’s just the concerning thing for me is St. Bonaventure might actually be broken. This is a team that we expected a lot out of. I was talking to Ken Palmer yesterday on my radio show. It’s like 98% of their production from last year or something like that, it’s not clicking for them. The Davidson loss. You lose it George Mason. You lose at Dayton.
Jeff Nadu:
And then like even the games, they’re winning, they’re not winning by that great. And so, I like St. Bonaventure today. I’m hoping for a four and a half, but I don’t think it’s going to get there. I just I’m worried that they’re a broken team. I like Mark Schmidt more than I like Chris Mooney. And as I just said, the Spiders at home, they’ve come out slow so many times this year.
Jeff Nadu:
So, I leaned to St. Bonaventure in this game. With regards to the total, I would also go Jeff’s way. But I think St. Bonaventure is the play here. I’m just going to wait and see if I get a little bit more. I think they figure things out against the Spiders team that they’ve actually dominated in the past.
TJ Rives:
All right. Fair enough. And again, we will clarify this a couple of times. You’re going to see as we lock it in for Jeff Nadu that graphically it’s locked in as the over. The line is now 137 on the BetUS line. And Jeff says, “Hey, I’m still fine with that because I was willing to take over at 138 and a half.” So, even though you’re going to see 138 a half as we’re going along, the line is now 137. Jeff is still on the over as the official play for this Atlantic 10 matchup.
TJ Rives:
Again, a reminder, you just saw it on the screen there a second ago, subscribe and share out this live show. We’re here Monday through Friday at 1:00 Eastern Time. We set a live viewership record yesterday for those that were hanging out. In fact, we got over 2,000 total views on yesterday’s show. So, obviously, the audience catching on and finding us you can help that as the audience by hitting the like button, hitting the bell, subscribing to us and sharing it out on social media.
TJ Rives:
I know Jeff and Matt join with me on encouraging you to share it, to let people know that we are here. Monday through Friday at 1:00 Eastern Time. And again, we’ll get to the questions and the answers coming up. We’re interactive if you’re here with us live. I know a lot of people do watch a little later, maybe see it in the afternoon or whatever. If you’re watching us live, we answer questions interactively as many as we can as the show rolls along and we’ll have time for that.
TJ Rives:
In particular some Saturday look ahead. We don’t have lines yet on some of these Saturday games, but we’ll have fun with some of those including Carolina and Duke. Coach K’s final trip into the Dean Dome is coming Saturday. We mentioned Gonzaga, BYU, Kentucky, Alabama, all that coming on Saturday as well.
TJ Rives:
All right, one more game to go. And as it turns out on the official plays here that we’ve got both handicappers on this one. Some more MACtion on a Friday night at Ball State Muncie, Indiana. Toledo comes in as the road favorite laying eight points, our total 155 and a half in this one. Jeff Nadu, why don’t you start us off on what you like. You’re on this officially, so is Matt. Jeff, you go first.
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah, I mean, Matt, I know a couple weeks ago, him and I were on Toledo full game and they rolled in that one. Look, I’m going back to them. I’m going a little different way and I’ll tell you why. This Toledo offense is nasty. I mean, we all know that Matt’s talked about it many times. They’re averaging 81 points a game. This team is really good. And look, whenever they play Ball State, this is going to be some kind of play on a team total. Ball State just can’t defend. I mean, it really doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s in transition against the three, in the half court. I mean, they just can’t defend anything.
Jeff Nadu:
I don’t need to go real deep and as I’m sure Matt will. I’m looking at the first half in this game though, and I see a team total at 39 and a half. Couple things to remember, Toledo scored 38 or more points in the first half in nine straight games. They’re fifth in America in first half scoring at 40.7 points per game. They’ve scored 44 or more over the last three games. This team is rolling on all offense.
Jeff Nadu:
Again, this really goes back to what I said in the previous game with VMI-Western Carolina, 82, look, I have no issue with it. I just want to kind of worry about the first half here. I think to get the 40 plus and I’m going to bank on stuff that’s happened recently and that they’ve been able to do though the last couple. They’re good first half team. I’m going to just isolate them. Hope they get the 40 here. Team total over, 39 and a half. First half at BetUS, I got that.
TJ Rives:
All right. Like that on Toledo. Matt, what do you like here and why?
Matt Josephs:
I mean, come on now. I mean, it’s the same thing I’ve talked about and I don’t really need to go into much analysis either. I will quote lyricist Marshall Mathers and say essentially, till the roof comes off, till the lights go out, till my legs give out, I’m going to keep betting Toledo team total overs. That’s what he meant to say when he put together that song.
TJ Rives:
I don’t think Eminem had the Toledo team total at the end of the lyrics. You were great up until that point, but I still get the point. I like it.
Matt Josephs:
I’m just saying. This is a team that just stayed there. Look, it’s gotten a little hairy at times. Their second halves have cooled off a little bit and Jeff’s right. If you can get that team total, I would certainly play the first half. You could double dip and play on both. But the numbers are, they’ve gone less than 80 in two times so far. Matt play. Ball State plays no defense. Ball State wants to run. Toledo wants to run. It was 83-70 in a 70-possession game at Toledo earlier this month.
Matt Josephs:
I’m going to keep playing the Toledo team total overs. And not just like a one time if it doesn’t hit. What is it? Tuesday they’re playing at home against Ohio. I’ll go right back to the well again, even if it doesn’t hit today. Toledo team total overs until almost the end of the season for me. And just mark it in.
Jeff Nadu:
You know, it’s interesting, TJ, if I could quote another great lyricist, Tupac Shakur, posthumous album, Until the End of Time. That’s what we’re doing with Toledo. Team total until the end of time.
TJ Rives:
Until the end of time, I like it. Very nice. You guys are getting into the world of music and bleeding it into the BetUS College Basketball Show. Let’s lock them both in officially. Again, Jeff Naidu is on the first half team total to clarify Toledo to go over 39 and a half. And again, for Mid Major Matt, he is over the overall team total for the Rockets. Will they rock it tonight at Ball State? These guys both think so. Great stuff on that.
TJ Rives:
All right. So, that gets us to some questions and answers. Again, get some of those here to us. We’ll start asking questions and answers of the guys. By the way. I didn’t illuminate this enough. In the mid major variety out in the Mountain West. Jeff was on Wyoming last night. They knocked off Boise State obviously. And that was their 14-game win streak that has now gone by the wayside for the Boise State Broncos going into weekend play here in the Mountain West.
TJ Rives:
Still at the moment, Auburn with the longest winning streak in the country at 18 consecutive games as we head into weekend play. But just shows you what conference play is on the road and what the pitfalls might be for teams when you’re going up against a good team on the road and what might happen. So, I thought I would point that out.
TJ Rives:
All right, so James, in the question and answer leads us off. James says, “Can you talk Monmouth-Fairfield for their matchup that is coming on Friday night.” Either one of you want to tackle anything about that matchup this evening?
Jeff Nadu:
Well, look, I mean I don’t think you can go wrong with Monmouth. I mean, they’re very good against the spread team. That would have been great in conference play per se winning straight out. But they’re covering numbers. They’ve had a good ATS profile. I don’t know. Fairfield is no good. It seems like if Jake Wojcik is not making shots, they can get blown out. I’ve won a couple in a row, but I don’t bet a ton of MAC. I’ve talked about that. I don’t think you’re wrong with Monmouth here, but it’s not on my card.
TJ Rives:
Monmouth laying six points. Matt, any thoughts or you just want to move on off of that?
Matt Josephs:
Move on. I don’t do the MAC for the most part and unless it’s like team total overs with Iona because they just seem to score on everybody it feels like.
TJ Rives:
Okay. James is watching us and says, “Can San Diego State beat Colorado State again?” This is a Friday night rematch in Fort Collins of a game where San Diego State not just defeated them. Did they hand them their first loss of the year or they certainly handed them their first loss in a while and blew them out, right, big man?
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah. They beat them by 30 and it wasn’t even close. Look, the truth is that Niko Medved has had no success against San Diego State. I think he’s one in five I think against San Diego State. I mean, I’ve always had a soft spot for them.
Jeff Nadu:
I remember when I was really coming up in this business when I first started, I really enjoyed the San Diego State team to Steve Fisher. I actually went out to San Diego State and saw a game. I have a friend that went to San Diego State. I remember I watched Jimmer Fredette play Kawhi Leonard in Viejas. It was incredible.
TJ Rives:
Hello. Hello.
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah. It was awesome.
TJ Rives:
[crosstalk 00:20:23]. You can’t just whet our appetite. What was that like? Because obviously, Fredette did not pan out as the NBA player that Kawhi Leonard did, but Fredette was nuts with the long range shots at BYU. What was that like?
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah. I think it were … I’m trying to remember. I think it was 2010 I believe, one of my best friends is a junior at San Diego State and he asked me to come out. It was a huge game. I think they’re both top 10 teams. And he said, “Come out. We’re camping out for tickets.” Okay. I mean, I’m a kid. I’m like early 20s. I said, okay. We go out. We camp out. I remember we were featured in San Diego Union Tribune, couple other places. And we ended up going in. It was awesome. It’s one of the great atmospheres I’ve ever been in. That’s a great student section. I sat right in the students and it was great.
Jeff Nadu:
But yeah, I love San Diego State. They pattern this team off of the Dutcher team, the Dutch team now patterns it off of Steve’s teams. I have no interest in betting San Diego State. Defensively, I think they’re the best in the country. Colorado State seem to struggle against them. It’s hard to beat a team twice. I’m sure we’ll get a similar effort to what we saw from Arizona last night. I don’t have much in this. I think Colorado State bounces back here, but that’s a great defense. This game screams first 65 wins to me.
TJ Rives:
Mid Major Matt, kind of in the wheelhouse of the Mountain West here. Marquee game for that conference tonight. What do you think?
Jeff Nadu:
I mean, San Diego State hasn’t done much on the road. They lost by 18 at Utah State. They won by seven at UNLV. They lost by 14 at Michigan. They lost by six at BYU. So, I mean, that’s not exactly a ton of road … But Colorado state’s not playing well. So, there’s the two schools of thought of that they bounce back because they’re home and they’re trying to get huge revenge after losing by 30. Or they keep playing poorly and they lose this game outright.
Jeff Nadu:
I would kind of lean to the home team in this one, especially with extreme revenge but the numbers do speak that. Niko Medved struggles with San Diego saying sometimes just people have each other’s numbers. So, that’s a bit of a concern if you do want to play the home team in this one.
TJ Rives:
Okay. And again, the matchup in Fort Collins for tonight that one later this evening I was looking at that maybe CBS Sports Network. Let me double check on who has it, actually Fox Sports One national cable has it at 9:00 Eastern, 7:00 Mountain Time tonight in Fort Collins for that matchup in the Mountain West.
TJ Rives:
By the way, a couple of our games that we were talking about earlier, there are six Eastern Time games. There’s some earlier action. The Richmond-St. Bonaventure game, the VMI-Western Carolina game, they’re at 6:00 Eastern Time tonight. Just be aware of that. Start a little earlier this evening. And we’ll get to some cancellations and postponements and some makeup games that are going on this weekend too because some games are already postponed for Saturday because of the ice storm, et cetera, in a few moments.
TJ Rives:
Some more questions, though, from those of you that are watching us live here on this Friday on the BetUS College Basketball Show. Cliff says Yale-Dartmouth, he’s looking at the over for that Ivy League game that is early this evening. Again, a 6:00 Eastern Time game at New Haven Connecticut. The total line is 136 and a half. Any thoughts on an over total for that game, guys, in the Ivy League?
Jeff Nadu:
I don’t love it. I mean, Yale is really good on defense. They’re best in the Ivy League. Dartmouth beat becomes just, I mean, it’s all about threes. I mean, if they’re not making threes, they’re going to get run out in this game. Now, if they make threes, they can hang around and this game could fly over. The problem is they don’t make a lot of threes, and that’s the issue. They only shoot about 34 and a half percent. It’s lower in conference.
Jeff Nadu:
So, yeah, I’m not running to back at over here. I would just lean on Yale. I mean, I think defensively you trust them. They’re a pretty good offensive team under James Jones. They always are. Dartmouth struggled this year. I would lean Yale at home here with the good defense that they have. They’ve been very good on that end.
TJ Rives:
Matt, again, any thought on an Ivy League game tonight on a Friday night?
Jeff Nadu:
Well, as he mentioned, defense is good for Yale and Dartmouth doesn’t allow anybody to run. The only time that they’ve had a couple of games where they’ve gone over with a gaming it’s a lower level team and then overtime against Florida Gulf Coast went 81 possession. So, I mean, Yale’s offense is good and their defense is good and Dartmouth’s not good at either of those two things. And not only that, they’re going to be very slow here. So, no, I would not take it over in this game. I don’t see a play I would take, but I don’t recommend the over here.
TJ Rives:
All right. Somebody watching us and again, get some questions in. We have a few minutes here, get some questions in for Saturday if you have specific plays on certain games. Again, we don’t have the lines as we do this on Friday. But I’ll get from these guys what they might have an educated guess on a line here. But if you like a certain team and might be looking to back them for Saturday, get those in as well. Somebody under the handle Galactic High says, “I own a laying the 12 and a half with Canisius.” Do we have any thoughts here on Rick Pitino’s team and that Friday night game?
Jeff Nadu:
I mean, the only time I backed Iona this year was a game against Fairfield where they couldn’t get any stops and it annoyed me. Like I said, I don’t bet this conference much. I lean Iona. Canisius is not good. I will say real quick. I don’t know if we’re going to get to this one. One that I had an eye on kind of as an avid watcher, one of the games last night that went way over was Georgetown-St. John’s. I think it was 90 to 77.
Jeff Nadu:
Cornell and Princeton, I think has the potential tonight to be one of those types of games. You have pace on both sides here. Brian Earl teams at Cornell play very fast. They’re actually quite efficient, too. They don’t defend anybody. Princeton don’t offend anybody either. And you talk about an offense that’s very good, them too.
Jeff Nadu:
This first game, it was only 72-70, which you had a lot of players out. Jaelin Llewellyn didn’t play for Princeton. Greg Dolan and Jordan Jones didn’t play for Cornell. I think this game flies over tonight. I think could be the highest scoring game of the night personally.
TJ Rives:
I met back to the viewers question, Iona has won seven straight games. They lead the conference 10 straight wins. I saw the headshake of no. No interest in playing it or laying it with Canisius?
Jeff Nadu:
No, no interest. As I said, the only thing I looked at before is Iona’s team total over. But while Canisius has a leaky defense, they are at least home and there’s been enough games where they’ve shown that they’ll play good enough defense that somebody won’t go over. I mean, I think I’ve seen only in conference. I mean, Monmouth had 79 and Manhattan at 80. But other than that, a lot of lower scoring games. So, no thank you.
TJ Rives:
Okay. Back to the Georgetown thing because there’s a lot of talk in the DC area right now about how bad they are. And remember, a year ago, they had a losing record, but they put it together at the Big East Tournament and won the automatic bid to get into the NCAA COVID compress tournament in Indianapolis where they lost in the first round to Colorado and lost badly.
TJ Rives:
So, they come back around this year. They’re having an awful season. And you’ve got a legend there. You got a Hall of Famer in Patrick Ewing as the coach. And it’s not unlike what the problem was with John Thompson III once it went bad, where you’ve got the son of the legendary coach is the coach and what do you do? You’ve got a legend, an icon in Patrick Ewing. But Georgetown looks pretty lifeless here at the moment. Does he get another year? You guys believe he gets another year, rubber stamp or what do you think?
Jeff Nadu:
I want to say something here about this. I’m a big Ewing fan. I loved him as a player. I think as a coach, there are two things we have to remember here. We have to stop acting like Georgetown is some blue blood. They’re not anymore. They haven’t been a good team since the ’80s or ’90s. It’s been like 20 years. Let’s just be honest with ourselves.
Jeff Nadu:
He’s the native son. He comes home. He played college there. I think he’s done a great job. If you know anything about this team, as you just said last year, took him to the NCAA tournament. This team over the last couple of years, they lost Mac McClung. They had a couple issues last year with criminal cases off the court. He was able to bring them together and figure things out.
Jeff Nadu:
Do I think personally, there’s a lot of pressure on him at Georgetown? Yeah. Because when you’re the school at Georgetown, the thought is there’s blue blood, great team. And look, they expect winning, but here’s a big hole to fill. I mean, John Thompson, in my estimation, is the greatest coach in the history of college basketball. And his son was a pretty damn good coach as well. He’s got big shoes to fill. I’d like to see him in a bit smaller school. I think he would do a lot better. I think he’s got a lot of pressure here.
Jeff Nadu:
And look, Chris Mack. I don’t like Chris Mack on a personal level. I’ve never met him. He didn’t seem like a real good guy. But I think he would be at a better a smaller school as well. Both these guys I think has had a little too much pressure. I like Patrick. He’s a good teacher. And I think he’s a good mentor to a lot of these kids. I think he’s done a good job all in all.
TJ Rives:
One of those names, Qudus Wahab transferred out his big [inaudible 00:29:34], one of his stars transferred out of there too. But the argument gets made, you’ve got to be able in the transfer portal or through recruiting to replace these guys over the course of the last couple of years. And 0 and nine in the Big East is 0 and nine in the Big East. Matt, same question to you, how much trouble should Patrick Ewing be in? How much trouble is he in in your estimation?
Matt Josephs:
I hope he stays forever. I’m just sad that my orange didn’t beat them because I don’t think he’s a good coach, I don’t think he’s a good recruit. I mean, I think these kids just don’t relate to Patrick Ewing anymore. I think they know who he is. They probably saw him in the Jordan documentary and they’ve seen him before. But it’s not like, “Oh, Patrick Ewing, let me go play for him.” So, I hope he stays around for a long time. I hope Georgetown has a miserable program for a while. And that’s not at all slanted by the fact that I’m a Syracuse guy. I despise Georgetown with all fibers of my being.
Jeff Nadu:
I mean, Matt for 99% of the time, I like what he says. I don’t understand his thought there. I mean, the guy’s been able to take teams through. I mean, it’s a great town as you said. He’s still getting top 100 recruits and he got Matt McClung to go there. And he’s also taken teams where he’s lost, let’s say, three or four players to criminal cases and he’s able to make it through. Matt, are you kidding? I mean, he didn’t relate to him. He’s an NBA Hall of Famer. I mean, they don’t relate to Mike Woodson. I mean, that doesn’t mean much. I mean, this guy’s an NBA star. He was a talent.
TJ Rives:
I mean, big man, let’s talk about reality. Reality is it’s great. All the stuff that you’re saying about Hall of Fame career, legend at Georgetown in the national championship game, three times at Georgetown. Again, that’s before any of these current players were born back in the early ’80s. They are 0 and nine in the Big East. They are six and 14 overall. They had a losing season last year. Even with the Big East tournament run, I don’t even know if that got them to 500 to get them in the NCAA tournament.
TJ Rives:
So, it becomes a very touchy difficult thing for the Georgetown administration athletic department. What do we do with Patrick Ewing if this continues to be this bad? It’s a legitimate point [crosstalk 00:31:39].
Jeff Nadu:
They have to lower expectations I maybe feel like. But yeah, you’re right. I mean, I think for him, I would like for him from his standpoint, I hope he does. Because I think he’s going to go somewhere else and do pretty well, not like super low level, but maybe a MAC team or something like that, a lower limit. I think he’d do quite well in a team like that. So, we’ll see. Maybe go to the AAC or something, whatever. We’ll see.
TJ Rives:
All right, let me see. I believe another person has a question on the chat. All right. So, let’s get into Duke at Carolina. This will be a marquee game. Obviously on Saturday. We’re doing the live show here on a Friday on the BetUS College Basketball Show. We do not have lines to know what they are. With the educated guess here, would Duke success be that they’re going to be like at least a three or four point favor? Do either one of you want to touch that? Big man, more than likely at least a three point favorite for Duke in Chapel Hill, probably?
Jeff Nadu:
Yeah. I probably imagine that makes sense. I mean, Ken Pom has three. I won’t watch a minute of this game. I couldn’t care less about this gag fest. I do like Carolina though. I think they can deal with Ben Carroll. I like their frontline a lot. I’ve actually been happy with their defense recently. Armando Bacot was public enemy number one the other night. We’ll see if he gets a little bit different of a whistle. You might be on the wrong side of those things after some of the notoriousness that went on the other night in that game.
Jeff Nadu:
I like Duke. I think they do become a little bit worried about Ben Carroll. For good reason, he’s a great player. But I like Carolina. I think the games close. I mean, I’m sure Matt knows. I feel like every game, these two teams play is close. So, maybe he knows. I would take the points and lean Carolina.
TJ Rives:
Okay, Matt, any thoughts here real quick?
Matt Josephs:
Last year, it was 91-87 and 91-73. Those were the two games last year. And then in 2020, it was 89-76 and 98-96. So, at least one of them has been. Much like Jeff, I don’t care. I won’t be watching this. I don’t want to guess who’s going to play defense and who’s going to have the offense working. I mean, if you look people are going to … I can hear Jay Bilas now talk about how great the Duke defense is, they’ve held so many teams under 70 points the last four games. But yeah, they beat Syracuse, Clemson, Louisville and Notre Dame. And Notre Dame couldn’t hit open layups.
Matt Josephs:
So, I’m not ready to say that Duke is going to play defense all of a sudden. And then, North Carolina who’s to say when they start to play defense. I mean Armando Bacot could get his, but who else is going to do anything? It’s very hard to figure out these two teams and with a game, I think the card is 130 games. I will find other things on there that are better than trying to guess what these two are going to do. Is Coach K going to get a friendly whistle because he’s coming back to Chapel Hill? And we love Coach K. I don’t want to figure all that out. So, no, no thank you.
TJ Rives:
It is arguably the iconic rivalry in college basketball, just from the standpoint that they seem to play not only just twice, but they seem to play in the ACC tournament all the time as well. You sometimes get this the third time.
TJ Rives:
Again, Coach K retiring at the end of the year the all-time winningest coach, the unanimous Hall of Famer whenever he’s ready to go in. And they are on the road for the final time at the Dean Dome in his career. Now, they could obviously still playing the ACC tournament, but that would not be there. It is fascinating that in the all-time series, they are virtually dead even on wins and losses, and the overall points scored total from all the games, both schools is almost dead even. It is truly a dead even rivalry.
Matt Josephs:
By the way, TJ, the only reason why it’s still iconic is because ESPN makes it iconic. I would rather watch North Dakota State-South Dakota State. I’d rather watch VCU-Richmond, I’d rather watch Baylor-Kansas, UCLA-Arizona. This game, it has all this shine because of people like Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas. Obviously, I wish Dick Vitale was doing this game. But it’s not what it used to be. I just don’t know.
Matt Josephs:
There is the hate [inaudible 00:35:45], but there’s not as many good players as there used to be. There’s one or two NBA guys it feels like on each squad. It’s not like it used to be where it’s five on five NBA guys. So, it’s overrated and I’ll find something else to watch.
TJ Rives:
But some of that honestly, too, is Carolina hasn’t been Carolina the last couple of years. And we’ll see. We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow. You two are like the Marines. You two are like the Marines. You can be the few, the proud that aren’t going to. Watch most of the rest of America is going to tune in and watch this. I’m just putting that out there on the BetUS College Basketball Show. What else?
Jeff Nadu:
Well, look, I’ll tell you what. I mean, it’ll be nice to watch Duke. I’m just kind of tired of Coach K. I’m excited for him to move on. And I’ll tell you what, if you don’t like Duke, you’re going to really hate them next year. I mean, they had the first third and fifth recruit coming in. So, that ain’t going to get much easier if you hate Duke. So, yeah, look, I know a lot of people will watch this. But yeah, I’d rather watch pretty much anything over this.
Matt Josephs:
All pencil in a sweet 16 loss next year with all those great recruits. They keep getting … Wait, did Zion win a championship? I must have missed that. Zion was the greatest college basketball player ever created and they must have obviously won the championship. Oh wait, they didn’t. Because Dukes constantly overrated. I don’t care. They get the top five recruits. And that’s it. But they’ll never going to win. No, thank you.
TJ Rives:
Venom. The venom from Mid Major Matt is flowing on the Friday show. Are you brought up Baylor and Kansas? Baylor obviously got the win earlier this week over West Virginia. I saw a good portion of that game. They played very well down the stretch and a game that West Virginia was winning in the second half in Waco.
TJ Rives:
Now, this matchup with Kansas, who won without Agbaji. Agbaji was on the COVID-19 list, may still be on it. I don’t know. You got to check that for Saturday. So, that’s a matchup in the big 12 Saturday. What do we suspect for that for a line potentially, guys? I don’t know what either one of you think for Baylor and Kansas coming Saturday? Any thoughts on the line? Any thoughts on that game?
Jeff Nadu:
Ken is at home. Ken Pom has one. There’ll be a small favorite. Baylor still has had injuries. I mean, they were able to get a win the other night, but wasn’t easy. I mean, come anywhere near close to covering. Kansas, they’re awful loss than a win. I don’t know. I don’t trust Kansas defensively. Obviously, two really good offensive teams here. I think this first 75 wins. I’ll look for maybe a total in this game.
Jeff Nadu:
But look, I hate to be frugal with my opinion. But I guess for me, I’m just looking way deeper into these cards and trying to find other stuff. I think if there’s a high-end game, I’d be looking at betting maybe Gonzaga-BYU. I could see a situation where Brigham Young makes an interesting awful loss at home. They’re probably looking ahead a little bit as we talked about earlier.
Jeff Nadu:
So, that’s what I’m at. I’m also going to have my own Arkansas. I’m telling you guys, this team, 75 to one, that is too high for Arkansas. They are the number one defense in the SEC. And they’re playing really well. This team is legitimate. They’re kind of falling off the wayside. But they’re 17 and five, haven’t lost in a long time. I like this Arkansas team. They’re going to be on my card I think.
TJ Rives:
Arkansas, Mississippi State is for Saturday as well. And you mentioned Gonzaga-BYU, that’ll be a late night one. Also, the California teams, the Southern California teams, USC and UCLA are doing the flip flop in Arizona while Arizona was beating UCLA, USC one in Tempe late Thursday night. So, now, USC-Arizona national TV game on Fox Saturday afternoon. Maybe a letdown for Arizona after such an emotional win. Or maybe they’re going to get the two step here over a nationally ranked USC team the same way that they beat UCLA. I’ll be fascinated to watch that one.
TJ Rives:
I think we’re good on the questions and the answers here. It looks like we covered most of that. Let’s circle back on our best betting online for a Friday. The guys have three games that they are playing. In fact, they’re on the same game as well. You can see on the totals.
TJ Rives:
First of all, for Jeff again, for clarification as we see it there, the St. Bonaventure-Richmond game, the BetUS total was down to 137 when we began the show. He’s still obviously on the over because he had the over at 138 and a half. So, we’re going to officially play it at 137, even though you graphically see it on the screen at 138 and a half. But Jeff likes it either way. Both guys on the Toledo Rockets in the game against Ball State. Jeff’s got the first half total. Matt has the team total over 82.
TJ Rives:
All right, gentlemen, as we come back in one more time, your final thoughts before we head towards Saturday and the weekend. Mid Major Matt, anything else to cover here on a Friday or for this weekend?
Matt Josephs:
This guy in the chat, this Duke fan the chat. He’s providing a lot of comedy for Friday that Duke has the most talent in the country, get the heck out of here with that. There are at least four or five teams that have more talent than Duke does this year.
Matt Josephs:
And look, I told him and I’ll say this, the only way Duke is going to the final four is the officials in an easy bracket. The college basketball picks sees dollar signs for Coach K’s final year. They’re going to give him at least the sweet 16. And then, the officials will help them get to the final four. Duke will be in the final four, but it’s only because they’re going to give him the weak bracket and [crosstalk 00:41:10].
TJ Rives:
Anti-Duke venom just absolutely flowing out of Matt Josephs on that. Any response? I mean, you guys are paying closer attention to the chat than I am. Big man, did you pile on this guy? Did you try to go elbow off the top rope like [crosstalk 00:41:23]?
Jeff Nadu:
No. When you become a gambler, I mean one of the most comical people are fans of teams. I mean, they’re absolutely wild with opinions. I mean, they make some of the dumbest comments. I don’t know about this guy. I mean, Duke fans are off. I will say I have a question. I know Matt knows who this guy is. Seems like a really nice guy. I know he gives a lot to charity, but has this Mattress Mack guy ever hit a big bet he’s placed? This guy might be one of the worst sportsbook bettors I’ve ever seen in my life.
TJ Rives:
He hits them all the time. He had like the Cincinnati Bengals last week for a million dollars or something.
Jeff Nadu:
But then, he doubles down and loses. The guy never wins.
TJ Rives:
He hit on my Buccaneers beating the Chiefs. He hit on the Houston Astros. The Chiefs and Astros won year that’s where the all of this came up. To say that he doesn’t ever hit, he hits occasionally.
Jeff Nadu:
I would take 50 million from this guy. This guy never wins. It’s crazy it seems like. You might be right.
TJ Rives:
So, what is he on right now college basketball wise or something that … Wait, didn’t he have Baylor last year to win in all? I think he did.
Jeff Nadu:
No, you got to remember though, he just bets and then wins then rolls it down and then loses. He doesn’t have futures. He just bet online per game. So, he has the Bengals to win the Super Bowl. He bet $4.5 million on the Bengals plus 170 to beat the Rams. I don’t know.
TJ Rives:
Give part of that to charity. Do something, 4.5 million on the Bengals. I know that Mid Major Matt has the Bengals pennant behind him, but there’s got to be a better use for that.
Matt Josephs:
So, there’s a little bit more to that story. I don’t like the guy either. But he’s covering himself because he’s doing a promotion in his mattress stores that if the Bengals win the Super Bowl, he’s got to refund them. So, he’s giving himself money to refund these people if it does occur. But the problem is when the Bengals don’t win, then he loses money anyway.
TJ Rives:
Right. Still, he’s gambling four and a half million dollars on it to see what they can do or not.
Jeff Nadu:
He’s not a good better. That’s all. I hear you.
Matt Josephs:
He’s like a Duke fan, a better.
TJ Rives:
I’m like 99% remembering he had Baylor in the championship last year and cashed on that for whatever it’s worth. All right. Anything else? Anything else on a Friday, boys, before we are done and before we head to the weekend? Are we good?
Jeff Nadu:
No. Thanks as always for watching. Hopefully to have another a good end of the week here hopefully.
TJ Rives:
Yes. We look forward to that with your official plays. Again, you see it one more time, hit the like button, hit the bell. We’re live Monday through Friday at 1:00 Eastern Time as the audience continues to rise and the gambling picks that these guys are making, right now, we’re 11 and two over the previous two nights. Let’s see what the guys do with their funny night plays. I know this for sure, we’ll be back Monday at 1:00 Eastern Time to recap the weekend and look at the Monday card.
TJ Rives:
For Mid Major Matt, for the big man on campus, Jeff Nadu, I’m TJ Rives. Have a great weekend. Thank you for being with us on the BetUS College Basketball Show.
