College Basketball Picks, Predictions and Best NCAAB Odds [March 9]

TJ Reeves:

Many thanks to Kyle Hunter hosting on the program yesterday. I know that Mid Major Matt and Jeff Nadu were here as well. Glad that you guys rocked along without me, but it’s good to be… I did miss you, I missed you guys. Bobano, I know it’s your usual day. Big Man, I missed you, I missed getting yelled at, smacked at, all of those different things. How are we feeling for a Wednesday with all these conference tournaments now cranking up all over the place. Yeah.

Ian Cameron:

Yeah, good.

Jeff Nadu:

Feel pretty good. Ready for it.

TJ Reeves:

Are we? All right? Bobano, good stuff. Jeff, I should let you know that despite all the drama that was going on last night, all the talk in Indianapolis was about the haircut. I just thought I would pass that along. You have many fans. I’m just kidding. No, but you do, you have fans. I have people commenting to me in direct messages etc., about Nadu, about the haircut, about whatever, so that is good. I promise we’re going to get to the card of games for a Wednesday that includes some early round games, obviously, in the Big Ten, the ACC, the SEC is starting up tonight, the Big Ten as well. A lot of other conferences are deep into it now and are going to have a championship up game by Saturday.

TJ Reeves:

We’ve got so much to talk to coming up in just a few moments. A few more tickets were punched. Speaking of Gonzaga, they did win late night the West Coast Conference tournament. I got back to the hotel in time to see like the last five, six minutes of them putting away Saint Mary’s. Big Man, you first, thoughts off last night including obvious an ugly situation with Bryant and Wagner that we’re going to talk about, and drama in some other games. Any thoughts, Big Man, here off of Tuesday night?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I was pretty impressed with really the teams that we thought would take care of business, took care of business. Really having been outside of some of the conferences that were flips anyway like the one you were at or the CAA, everything went to plan. South Dakota State won, which we want to see them in the NCAA tournament. We knew Gonzaga would likely win. You also look at that, as you mentioned, that wild scene in Bryant/Wagner. Look, I got to be honest, I’m not sure why that game was continued. There were four minutes left, they were up by 32, I believe. I don’t really… then to continue the game and then to allow the kids to run on the court, it seemed like the Bryant Athletic Department had no idea what was going on.

Jeff Nadu:

Look, pretty pathetic by some of the fan base there. If no one saw it, basically, the Wagner fans right behind the bench got into it with the Bryant fans that were sitting behind them. It’s one of those really small gyms and there were punches thrown. I’ll tell you what, that one kid got lit up. The kid in the US agent, he got lit up like a rough and rowdy fight in the USA Jersey. But, yeah, it was pretty sad to see. I don’t know why it took a half hour to figure that out. The game was out of hand anyway.

TJ Reeves:

All right, Ian, give me your thoughts and then I’ll interject a couple of things as well. Again, this was in Rhode Island, Bryant going to the NCAA tournament for the first time. That’s a lot of the reason why they wanted to finish the game. But, Ian, give me your thoughts on the ugliness off the court, and it delayed things, as Jeff did mention, literally for a half an hour to figure out what to do.

Ian Cameron:

Yeah, well basically, it’s just a moment where fans lose their shit. That’s exactly what ends up happening, and that’s exactly what we saw yesterday. It’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate because it marred what was a terrific performance from their team throughout that NEC tournament, especially, in the championship game. Like that’s a very good Wagner Seahawks basketball team, and they just rolled them in that game pretty much from start to finish. What was it? 25 to 4, something like that, for Bryant at the very beginning of that game. And now this is what I wanted to see, the Bryant Bulldogs in the NCAA tournament because I said a couple times on this show, this team meant business in the NEC tournament. It was like a business trip for them, they were very heartbroken losing in the conference tournament title game last year to Mount St. Mary’s and a heartbreaker.

Ian Cameron:

They got the job done. It was just a dominant effort. It’s an offense that’s very difficult to stop, and it’s the kind of offense where when you got to travel to your first NCAA tournament site and you got to prep on a short turnaround because you just find out who you’re playing Sunday, this is not an easy offense to diagnose when you’re talking and having to face Peter Kiss. When you’re trying to talk about having to face Charles Pride. When you’re having to talk about facing the versatility and the inside outside balance that Bryant plays, and the pace they play at. That’s not going to be easy for a first opponent for the Bryant Bulldogs. I think Bryant’s got a chance to hang around getting as many points as they’re going to get against who they play. We’ll see what the matchup is, but it’s a dangerous first game for somebody.

Jeff Nadu:

The problem they’re going to have is they’re going to be in a playing game, so they’re going to have to play somebody before they get to the one seed. Look, Ian, I love Ian, I think he’s dead wrong though here. I think Bryant gets run by any number one team they play. Remember this team plays way too fast. Kiss is a nice player against Wagner who was without their best offender and Central Connecticut State U and the Connecticut School for the Blind and the teams that they play. But I mean at the end of the day, let’s be honest, this team lost by 67 to Houston, okay? Look, and I know they’re a different team and Ian’s right on that level, but I would just be concerned-

TJ Reeves:

Just settle down, all right.

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I would be concerned if they play like Kansas or Arizona.

TJ Reeves:

Well, and they may, Big Man, end up in a playing game with the team I saw-

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I think they will.

TJ Reeves:

… Wright State. Wright State who came from behind last night, Grant Basile’s a fantastic 6’9 big man for Wright State. That might be a fascinating matchup because Kiss is leading the nation in scoring as Bobano referenced. All right, a couple more things on the ending of this game because, again, so much of the time, I’m disappointed in ESPN. It was virtually the lead last night on SportsCenter, let’s show the ugly incident. Can we not show the celebrations and the winning first before we get to the ugly incident? That’s the lead there last night [crosstalk 00:06:28]. They’re putting it anywhere. Yeah, it’s what sells, I agree. It is what sells. They put it everywhere on the internet.

TJ Reeves:

Two or three things, you want to finish the game because Bryant deserve the moment to celebrate. They’re at home, they worked hard to get the game on their home floor. They want to be able to celebrate. The second thing is safety is obviously at the forefront. Can we do this safely? And they removed the Bryant fans from the area where the students were behind them after the ugliness in trying to restore it and finish here at the end. Maybe the larger finger that needs to be pointed is why were so many people in that arena jammed in there with not enough security, not enough police presence, or whatever that could go quell if there were problems behind the bench because that seemed to be another problem. Go ahead.

Jeff Nadu:

The problem that they had in this game, and that’s an interesting point because if you actually watch the lead up to this game, there were some real… look, whether I call it ugly or not, I don’t really carry it away. Like I’ve said things to opposing teams that I’m not proud of, but some of the stuff that I saw on video and stuff, there were a lot of things. There was a lot of tension between these two fan bases on some of the videos that I saw. Look, these young kids, these freshman, junior, seniors in college, they maybe had a little too much to drink.

TJ Reeves:

Of course.

Jeff Nadu:

That’s a small little arena. You look, in those stadiums, there’s no assigned seats I don’t believe either.

TJ Reeves:

Correct.

Jeff Nadu:

Like they put you right up again-… It’s like a high school stadium, they put you right up against the bench. I’m sure certain people were saying certain things. I heard a lot of things going on before the game. They probably should have been a little bit better staffed. Remember, Smithfield, Rhode Island is a small town. I don’t know if they have a whole hell of a lot of police. I’m sure they were all at the game. It’s not like this is a huge place.

Ian Cameron:

Did you see that little gym last night? They’re packed in like sardines in a tin.

TJ Reeves:

That’s what I mean, and again, we’ll move on to the games and everything that’s going on in the plays today. If you’re there and if you’re in the live chat, hang in there, we’re coming to that.

Jeff Nadu:

This is a major problem though I think around the world right now. Fan violence is out of control. I don’t know if anyone… over the weekend in Mexico, like there were people killed [crosstalk 00:08:38]-

TJ Reeves:

And murders. Correct, at a game. Correct.

Jeff Nadu:

I don’t know where the police presence was.

Ian Cameron:

Nashville [crosstalk 00:08:43] was a hockey game over the weekend. Just massive punches being thrown. Shark and Predator fans, it’s nuts.

TJ Reeves:

Okay, and so again, we don’t want to over sensationalize this, but you could have had something like that in the stands last night with as many people as were brawling and whatever. It could have been a lot worse. Again, I will come back on the NEC, the conference, that’s putting the game on, getting with the school, Bryant, to make sure you have enough security and what you need for letting that many people in. I think that needs to be a bigger discussion because I love in the smaller conferences, the on campus game and the on campus feel. We saw it for South Dakota State, and them celebrating and running on the floor last night. There’s just got to be a better way to administrate it on that front.

TJ Reeves:

Okay, so we have put to bed Tuesday for the most part. A lot of automatic beds going out. Delaware also got in the tournament, by the way, in the CAA. Plenty more action coming up. Let’s take a look at our records here as we begin things. For a Wednesday show, you see the Big Man on Campus above 500. When Ian was here last, you did hit on a couple of plays, maybe three, that were here last week. He’s back loaded up for more of them today. There we are right at the Mendoza Line overall on the show, and let’s see if we can push past this here in the month of March and let’s get things underway with game number one.

TJ Reeves:

There are conference tournaments going on as we speak and the Big Ten tournament’s first game up in Indianapolis. I bolted out of Indianapolis this morning as we’re doing the live 1:00 Eastern Time show, and the Big Ten fans were all pouring in to the Indianapolis Airport to get ready for the Big Ten tournament. Northwestern and Nebraska will get that tournament underway. Northwestern on the neutral floor in downtown Indy is a five point favorite. The total is 144 and we begin things with Ian Cameron. What do you like on this game and why Bobano?

Ian Cameron:

There’s that old saying, it’s hard to beat a team through three times in a row. I don’t really buy into it, and Northwestern’s beaten Nebraska twice in a row and-

TJ Reeves:

And I buy into it, and I interrupt you, I’ll share why when you’re done. But I buy into it. Go.

Ian Cameron:

Buy into it, okay. Usually, when it’s a team that’s won the first two, I’m usually ready to back that team again. You would think I’m on Northwestern here, but I’m not, I’m on Nebraska here plus five. They’re playing their best basketball. I like what I’m seeing from this crew. I think they see the vulture circling around their embattled head coach a little bit, Fred Hoiberg, and I think the effort down the stretch has been admirable from this team. The McGowens’ brothers have been outstanding, Trey and Bryce. Bryce is banged up though, he missed the last game against Wisconsin but they were still able to shock the Badgers in that game without him. He’s questionable, I think he’s going to play. It hasn’t been determined for sure yet. It’s going to be one of those game time calls for his status.

Ian Cameron:

But I think in this game with Nebraska playing the way they are the last few games, they’ve been on a point spread role. They’re playing good basketball. As Northwestern team, we trust playing five on a neutral floor. For me, that’s not the case. I don’t trust Northwestern going into this game. We’ve got a hot surging Nebraska team. I’ll grab the five points with them. I also like this game over the total of 144, so this is a dual side and total for me in this game. This is a low total for Nebraska. I think only one Nebraska game in the last seven or eight has fallen below 144 total points. I think you’ll see the offenses dictate. The one thing Northwestern was able to do, the last meeting or the two meetings during the regular season, is do whatever they wanted at the rim against Nebraska. I think you’ll see points and I think Nebraska can hang, so dog in the over for me.

TJ Reeves:

And they have played very well, one at Ohio State late in the year, two, maybe saving Fred Hoiberg’s job because there had been some controversy about that in terms of beating a team three times. I just watched Wright State, for what it’s worth, beat Cleveland State after losing both regular season meetings, beat them on the neutral floor in Indianapolis. Then in the championship game, Northern Kentucky had beaten Wright State as well in both regular season meetings. They got them again on back to back nights. It’s not every time because a lot of the times, if you’re simply the better team, you can win three times in a row but it ain’t easy, it ain’t easy.

Ian Cameron:

I must be honest, when Northwestern played Nebraska those two times during the regular season, Nebraska sucked at that time. It’s a different Nebraska team right now playing a lot better.

TJ Reeves:

Right. Big Man, any thoughts? If no official play, this one will be at 6:00 Eastern Time to get the Big Ten tournament underway on Wednesday night.

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, look, I don’t know if I agree with that, Ian, that this is a way better Nebraska. Calm down, I mean, they won three in a row. I’ll give it to them. One of the games is against Penn State, they made 13 of 20 from three, that’s like that happened. Look, if I’m Northwestern who beat them up in both games this season, as he alluded to, I’m going to zone the hell out of Nebraska and say, “Look, if you beat me and make 12 or 20 from three, salute, so be it.” What’s Bryce McGowens’ status? He didn’t play over the weekend. Was that just told him out to be ready for this game? I don’t know. If I’m Nebraska though, obviously, we know what they’re going to do, get to the rim, going to try to get to the rim. I would just wall that off, and Northwestern does a great job of doing that.

Jeff Nadu:

I think it’s a bad matchup for Nebraska, quite honestly. I think Ian, though, he’s back at a hot team. Look, if they hit shots, they’re going to have them to make today. I just don’t trust them. They haven’t made shots all year, I don’t know why I would trust them here. But it’s not out the question. Look at what they did when they can make shots, they’re going to beat Penn State by 23 and put up 93 in an away game. Yeah, they’re playing well, you got to hope they make jump shots because that’s what we’re going to have to do today.

TJ Reeves:

All right, let’s lock Ian in on the official plays that he’s going to make to get things started here, and that is on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He’s on the side and he is on the total here for that matchup in the Big Ten tournament. By the way, a quick aside, I do not exaggerate, I do not make things up, it’s just hilarious sometimes when you run into people, etc. We remember Stephen Bardo who was a fantastic player on the Illinois 1989 final 14 with Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, Kendall Gill, the whole bit. Bardo is working the Big Ten tournament coverage on the Big Ten network, the early rounds. He’s working the Thursday afternoon games, the Friday afternoon games.

TJ Reeves:

I get back to my hotel near the Indianapolis Airport after working the title game in the Horizon League, and Stephen Bardo is standing right in the lobby at my hotel, not at a downtown hotel, and Bardo’s like, “I came in a night early and I could not get a room a night early downtown by the arena. I’m rapping with Stephen Bardo for a minute about the Big Ten, and he said, “This is going to be something else with Wisconsin and Purdue and Michigan and Ohio State and Illinois,” and I’ll probably leave somebody out, “at Michigan state and all of this.” So shout out to Bardo who will be on the call there as well, and again, Ian on Nebraska-

Ian Cameron:

[crosstalk 00:15:22]. Every one of those Big Ten teams struggle at one point during the season too, so it’s [crosstalk 00:15:26]-

TJ Reeves:

How do you know? I agree, how do you know down the stretch of the season with the upsets? Ian again is on Nebraska and on the total in that one. Let’s swing to the Big 12 tournament. Kansas City is where they will be, so game number two on our schedule and a play will be the West Virginia Mountaineers and Kansas State on the neutral floor. K State, which played Texas Tech, tough late in the year. They’ve had a couple of wins, they’ve had some injuries too. West Virginia had a long losing streak. They got to win at the end of the year. This talk of Bob Huggins being gone is ridiculous. He’s refuted that, he’s not leaving. K State is favorite on the neutral floor. The total is 137 and a half. We’ve got an official play from Jeff. Big Man, what do you like?

Jeff Nadu:

I like K State here. I think the season ends with a whimper for West Virginia. This team’s won twice since January 15th. Remember, in 2022, they have not won on the road. In fact, since the start of the season, they’ve won on the road one time and that was at UAV. Now I know this. isn’t a… You have these goofy people tell you that, “It’s not a rogue game.” Yeah, it is. You’re leaving Morgantown and going somewhere else, it’s pretty simple. Now I know the other team’s playing on the road, but this West Virginia team is lost away from Morgantown. They’ve been lost in general, quite honestly. They can’t score, defensively they’re not good. I felt bad for Huggins this year. We know he’s a great coach, he ain’t going anywhere. This team is just tough to deal with. They’re frustrating, they’re annoying. I don’t think they’re very good.

Jeff Nadu:

K State, I’ve been interested in. I know you see a lot of red on their schedule, but a lot of the games they play have been against good teams. They’ve kept them close. Look, whenever they step up and play a Kansas or like a Texas Tech, they get beat up. But, luckily, this isn’t that type of team. I think they look at this as a new lease on life. They played well for Bruce Weber this year. They’re going to get Markquis Nowell back in this game, who’s a major important piece to have. I think they take care of a bad team here in West Virginia. I don’t know how far they’re going to go in this tournament, but I’m willing to believe in a tossup game against West Virginia. I think K State gets the job done. In these types of games against these lower tier types of Big 12 teams, they’ve taken care of business, and on a moneyline spot, I think they win today. I like K State.

TJ Reeves:

All right, interesting. He’s going to go with a moneyline play there. Again, Ian here, Bob Huggins is so good for so many years at Cincinnati first and then at West Virginia. But this team is limping down the stretch. Any thoughts or any comments if no official play?

Ian Cameron:

Oh, I’m in agreement, I would only look Kansas State here. Now we do, are concerned a little about Markquis Nowell, his status with the hamstring and we know Nijel Pack was a little bit banged up or actually he had a flu bug earlier this past weekend. Those are two key cogs. I think the two leading scores, if I’m not mistaken, for K State. Let’s see if they play, but they can probably still get past West Virginia. How are you going to back in a pick and price range a team that’s won in 10 straight up on the road? That’s West Virginia going into this game.

TJ Reeves:

It’s Jeff’s point.

Ian Cameron:

So I’m with Jeff here, K State or pass.

TJ Reeves:

All right, so we lock him in on the moneyline for this game. The Big Man is on Kansas State for that matchup coming tonight in Kansas City. A perfect example, I didn’t mention this as of yet, I don’t know if you guys have been corresponding in the chat with anybody. You don’t know what really you’re going to get in these conference tournaments. Example, the 8-9 games, Syracuse and Florida State, is being played this afternoon at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the ACC tournament. Syracuse up by 30, by 30 early on in the second half of what should be an evenly matched game. The cues are pretty good, they’re obviously making the three point shot right now. Again, just to the overall point, you don’t know what you’re going to get sometimes, Big Man, in these games.

Ian Cameron:

You guys, TJ, Jeff and everyone watching, who’s ready to see Syracuse make a run, win the ACC tournament, get into the NCAA tournament, get to the sweet 16 round? Hands up if you’re ready.

TJ Reeves:

All right, he’s got his hands up there.

Ian Cameron:

We’ve seen them pull this stunt before.

Jeff Nadu:

This was a rough season for Hamilton. I haven’t seen him struggle like this in a long time. He’s always got a retool and recalibrate, but this was a bad team all season and they’re going to leave it at winter. This is ugly stuff, man.

TJ Reeves:

They have a couple of significant injuries down the stretch of the season, which cost them two. But this is, man, they are getting dump trucked, so welcome to March.

Ian Cameron:

I think that [crosstalk 00:19:41] much on their team from Houston. A really good player added to the Syracuse team.

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, but they didn’t play down the stretch, unfortunately.

TJ Reeves:

Yeah, he’s been hurt. He’s been hurt. So they are getting freight trained in that 8-9 game that’s going on right now as we speak. Again, get your live questions ready. We’ll try to get to some of those as we go along. Quick reminder, couple of times, we’re going to say this, we are going to be here at 11:00 AM Eastern Time for tomorrow and Friday because of so many early games. We’re going to back the show up, back it up, beep, beep, beep, like the truck backing up. We’re going to back it up two hours to get you in on Big East, Big Ten, SEC, ACC, early games. There are so many of them. I think the number is like over 70 of them on Thursday and Friday to give you an idea of how many are being played and a lot of them early.

TJ Reeves:

So 11:00 AM Eastern Time, we will be here tomorrow and Friday on the BetUS College Basketball Show. Make it a point to be with us two hours early. Again, a lot of you see the show later in the day, so I fully understand. If you can’t join us live, the show is still relevant later in the day and later in the afternoon. We’ll have plays on games later in the afternoon, etc., to watch it. If you’re looking to join us in the live chat, etc., make sure 11:00 AM tomorrow to get that done. Let’s continue here with a Big East tournament game. Speaking of the Big East, not far from the Barclays Center where they’re playing the ACC at the garden, the world’s most famous arena.

TJ Reeves:

St. John’s on the floor coming up tonight with DePaul, and we’re looking at St. John’s as a four and a half point favorite. This is a rematch of a late season game DePaul won at home. Again, now the “neutral floor”, although St. John’s plays in the garden frequently, as well as their arena in Queens on their campus, total 155. Ian Cameron, what is your play for this Big East matchup?

Ian Cameron:

Yeah, this is going to be just very brief analysis. We’ve talked about this with St. John’s a lot. Over and over-

Jeff Nadu:

Are you capable of that to?

TJ Reeves:

We’re going to find out.

Ian Cameron:

We’re going to find out. There’s not really much more to say. Like I’m just going to regurgitate the stuff I’ve said for several games on this show about St. John’s. Since they got Posh Alexander back, their offense has been a lot better. They still don’t stop anybody on defense. I mean DePaul and St. John’s, what have we seen in two meetings? Complete utter track meets, 183, 160, the total’s 155. Finally, against Marquette over the weekend, they put a St. John’s total at 162 and it finally proved to be too high. And yet it still got into the 160s in that game in terms of total points, 155. When I see these two teams, their offense is better than their defenses. The pace they play at, and I see a 155 for a total, I’m in on the over. We’re locking it in.

TJ Reeves:

All right, quick analysis there. DePaul has been better down the stretch, Big Man. Any thought on them maybe being able to pull a bit of an upset here? He does love the total. Any thoughts on DePaul if no official play?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, they’ve been better down the stretch because Javon Freeman-Liberty’s back. If they didn’t have him, they look like a division, a two team. But he’s back, and you look at since he came back, he set games. He dropped 39 in that game against St. John’s on February 22nd or 27th, whatever it was. The kid’s had, I think, 18 or more in all but one game so he’s terrific. I agree, I think the over’s a good play here. I’m not a big fan of overs in these tournaments, but with Freeman-Liberty back, with the way Posh is playing and all those guys at the [inaudible 00:23:06], neither team seems to have any interest in not playing in transition. Yeah, I think it’s first 85 probably wins this one.

TJ Reeves:

We’ll see what defense, if any, is going to get played in this game, as you guys are referring to. Ian’s going to lock in officially for points, points, points. This is the 7-10 game, the seven seed St. John’s, the 10 seed DePaul, and we lock Ian in on the over total for this one. Lots of points in this game tonight, so he is on the over officially for this matchup. Reminder, again, help us. We’re on a quest right now, can we get there before the final four? I think we can. We might even get there before the sweet 16 elite eight round of the tournament to get to 2000 subscribers on this channel. The way we do it is to have your help. Hit the like button, hit the bell, share it out. More people are going to find it. Subscribe to this channel. Again, I repeat, 11:00 AM tomorrow and Friday, we’re here live and we will also make accommodations for the live NCAA tournament Thursday and Friday.

TJ Reeves:

Probably going to be 11:00 AM there as well. I don’t speak for the programming at BetUS, but it probably will be there as well prior to those games coming next Thursday and Friday after we have the bracket. So standby for that. Again, hit like, hit subscribe, keep following along on this channel. We love the insight, we love the analysis. We do have an automatic bid that is up for grabs on a Wednesday night. It will come out of the Patriot League and that is Colgate taking on Navy. Let’s take a look at that game tonight as Colgate will host this one on their campus on campus game again here, like we talked about earlier in the show. With Colgate laying six and a half, and the total is 128 and a half for this matchup. We are back to Ian Cameron. He’s got to play for this one with an automatic bid on the line. What do you like Bobano?

Ian Cameron:

What I like here is the opportunity to bid a Colgate team total over in the 60s. That’s what I like in this game. I think it’s just way too low, the team total. And you can lay six and a half, and I’ve actually split this up with the minus six and a half for Colgate as well as the team total. But I thought the team total was the even stronger look. Because what if it’s an eight point game, 30 seconds to go? There’s foul fest, Navy hits a three at the buzzer. You just don’t want to play around with that. The team total, I think it’s the best look, over 67 and a half. Look, Colgate shredded Navy’s defense the first meeting, and even in the second meeting, there were some adjustments made and you got to give obviously Ed DeChellis, the head coach, credit for that.

Ian Cameron:

And yet Colgate was still able to exceed this team total, 67 and a half. I don’t know if there’s anything Navy… Navy’s going to try to slow it down, make it a half court game. They are a slower pace basketball team. But, at the end of the day, Colgate is just elite offensively. Spacing, ball movement, precision, guys that can make three pointers, that can bomb away from long distance. Just very, very efficient the Colgate team, and I don’t know if there’s enough that Navy can do to stop them. You look again, the two regular season meetings, 69 and 74. I mentioned Bryant meaning business in their NEC tournament, and I thought they were the best team in that conference tournament.

Ian Cameron:

I’m seeing the same from Colgate here in these two tournament games. They just took apart and dismantled Bucknell, 96-68. They crushed Lehigh, 81-61. I mean, they just looked to be too much for anybody right now in this conference. Now Navy gave them a game at the end of the regular season, but I think they’re going to be hard pressed to keep Colgate from hitting the 70s. I just thought this team total was too low. Give me Colgate team total over 67 and a half.

TJ Reeves:

By my count, I know it’s a Memphis College education. I think they’ve won 14 in a row. Do I have that right? Again, here’s another one of those games where Colgate won, as Ian mentioned, both the regular season matchups going for all three. Big Man, any thoughts here on Ian’s play and whether Navy can hang in? It’s a true home game for Colgate to punch their ticket and go in the NCAA tournament.

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I think this game shapes out a lot like South Dakota State, North Dakota State did. I think Navy will put up a nice fight. I think the fence were either good enough. Greg Summers is back and healthy. I just don’t think, and I think Ian made a good point, I just don’t think from a shot making ability, they’re there with Colgate and I think that’s going to be their undoing. Look, we saw Northgate still hang around, but they could never truly take a lead, and they ended up losing by six and that was that. Colgate’s the best team in this conference, Langel is a hell of a coach. They make shots, they’re great from the three point line. But Navy can equalize it through defense and through their ability to slow the pace down. Yeah, I think Colgate wins the basketball game.

Jeff Nadu:

If you’re going to give me seven, I think they did a good job of this game, to be honest. I think it’s right where I want to take Navy because I think the game’s close but I also don’t want to bet against Colgate. I think Colgate will win, and I think Ian has a good one. I think that’s just probably like a 70, 62 type of game. I think maybe we see a little value on an over maybe because I think Colgate will probably get high 60s, low 70s. I think Navy’s good for like 62, 65, something like that. I think Colgate wins though.

TJ Reeves:

Nelly Cummings is the leading score for Colgate averaging 15 a game. They got another guard named Tucker Richardson averaging 13 and four assists a game that get it on their home floor. Let’s see what happens in the Patriot League final on a Wednesday night in the blur of all the power five conferences playing tonight in early round games, there is an automatic bid tonight, and Ian Cameron is on the team. Total of Colgate, he is going to play that team total tonight as his official play in this game. Ian’s going to go with the over on Colgate’s team total of 67 and a half. So there’s the official play even though we may not have it there on the screen. That’s the official play tonight from Ian Cameron on the Navy-Colgate game.

TJ Reeves:

All right, let’s swing the Conference USA. We’ll get to your questions and answers in a few moments here with the action going on all over the place. Conference USA tournament taking place in Frisco, Texas at the Dallas Cowboys Practice Facility. The Star in Frisco, Texas. UTEP and Old Dominion will get this underway. Kids, I mention again, Bobano loves this, the Big Man loves this, I’ll be on the national radio call on TuneIn Saturday night at the championship game when we get there. The C-USA title game, the likes of North Texas, UAB, Western Kentucky, etc., etc. Title game Saturday night, this is an early round game with UTEP and Old Dominion, neutral four, Texas El Paso lane two. The total is 127 in this one. Ian Cameron, we’re back to you for another play. What do we like on this one?

Ian Cameron:

Yep, let’s get our axes out right now, everybody on the show. Let’s go, let’s do the movement. Let’s get the axes out. We’re mining for units, we’re mining for products tonight-

TJ Reeves:

Are we?

Ian Cameron:

… with UTEP here in this game. I like UTEP in this game, just to win the game and I’m going to go moneyline with them instead of minus one and a half and minus two, I’m going to just go moneyline. This team was playing some pretty good basketball down the stretch. I like the way they turned it up. I like that they beat a very good North Texas team to wrap up the regular season, so they have legit positive momentum. They’re really down the stretch as well. Really got some better offensive play as well, defense shot things up, and they have some good wins in conference play, UTEP. You look at some of the victories, as I mentioned, they beat North Texas head to head. They lost by three to a very good UAB team. Those are the two top teams in the Conference USA going into this tournament.

Ian Cameron:

Old Dominion was just much too erratic for me throughout the course of the season. Rather disappointing team. They won three of their last four games, but two of them were FIU and FAU that aren’t great teams that are inconsistent. They got crushed by Louisiana Tech. They did beat Middle Tennessee at the end, but to me, Old Dominion I don’t think is going to… their offense to me is not going to work here against UTEP. I think it’s a good match up defensively here for UTEP. And when you look at these two teams as well, we’ve got a big time free throw edge for UTEP, and that’s key. We’re talking a pick and price range. If it’s close, which team’s going to make free throws down the stretch for the entire season?

Ian Cameron:

We have Old Dominion, 67% from the free throw line, UTEP 76% from the free throw line. That’s a big difference. UTEP may not only win this game, they might make a little run here in this Conference USA tournament starting tonight. I like them to win. UTEP, we’re going to go mining for profits with the Texas El Paso team.

TJ Reeves:

Yeah, the minors, a couple of observations. Number one, I was on them, you guys always like to joke around and make fun of me. I was actually on them on a very small play on a fun parlay. I loved that spot with North Texas, having to go all the way out there after having played another road game in San Antonio and having to turn around and play Saturday afternoon in El Paso. It was a good spot with UTEP there. Again, I don’t know what that means, Big Man, for them now coming across the state to Frisco to play on a neutral floor with Old Dominion into the free throw shooting point. I watched it with Wright State last night in a close game and a comeback.

TJ Reeves:

They made 15 of their first 16 free throws. They made about six of them in a row during the comeback, etc. A couple of AND1s, a foul shot, shooting two. They made them, made them, made them and it put them in position to hit the winning shot and win the game by one. So free throw shooting will be a big deal. Big Man, any thoughts on ODU and UTEP in the Conference USA? That’s a lot of initials, Conference USA, early round game, if no official play from you?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I have no problem even laying the two here. I mean, he mentioned how important free throws have been for UTEP and if they’re going to make them, I think they can pull off a lead and keep the lead. UTEP is made up of a really good coach in Golding and a bunch of high major towns. Jamal Bieniemy was at Oklahoma, Keonte Kennedy was at Iowa State at one point I believe or Xavier, one of those. Alfred Hollins was at Oregon State, so this is a team with some solid talent. I think they can make a run as well. It seems like a rough off year for Jeff Jones and crew at Old Dominion. I think UTEP takes care of business here.

Jeff Nadu:

As long as they don’t get crushed on the boards. The only thing Old Dominion does well is hit the all-offensive glass. They’re quite good in that realm. But outside of that, I think UTEP takes care of business here. I wouldn’t mind even laying the two. I think you got a good one here.

TJ Reeves:

I don’t have the bracket in front of me. One of you might have the bracket in front of me, so this is listed as a four or five game where one of them is going to get the top seed on their side, whether that’s North Texas or UAB. We’ll just keep an eye on this, particularly, if it’s a UTEP, North Texas rematch that comes up in this tournament. Again, this is a night game and Ian Cameron here will go straight on the moneyline for the Texas El Paso Miners tonight. Doesn’t even want to lay the two points. Bobano says instead [crosstalk 00:34:00]-

Ian Cameron:

If UTEP gets to the semi’s, good chance they’d play UAB. They’re on that side.

TJ Reeves:

Okay, so UAB is the one that’s in front of them. Again, there’s two one seeds in the two different sides of this for Conference USA because I believe it’s a 14 team tournament. They’re sorting it out, championship game on Saturday night. Questions and answer time coming here in a moment. ACC game will conclude the official plays at least right now for our handicappers. This one tonight involves the Louisville Cardinals and the Virginia Cavaliers. Here we have an interesting situation and we’ll see this numerous times over the next couple three days where a team won a game last night, and now they’re playing a team that’s been sitting and waiting to play. Louisville won a game last night, Virginia’s sitting and waiting. Virginia lane six on the neutral floor in New York. The total is 122 and a half on the BetUS line. Big Man, Jeff Nadu, you have the official play for this one, sir.

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I always like these spots teams that win a game that I didn’t think they’d win or I didn’t think they’d really care much about it. Now they come back and they face a real team that I think they’re going to struggle against. Louisville, I thought just got lucky yesterday. There were all sort of issues with Georgia Tech off the court. They had curfew problems. I even heard one legitimate writer that I respect, he doesn’t really ever talk like this. He mentioned that he had thought at one point that certain players in Georgia Tech were drunk that they were so bad. In that situation, I think Louisville just over played just out of their go. They were 11 for 28 from three. They also didn’t have two of their best players. They have some issues off the court as well.

Jeff Nadu:

I think they run into a really good team of Virginia that’s out for blood. Virginia obviously needs to win some games. This is a team that we know still good defensively. Louisville’s had trouble with the pack line all season. In fact, I think both games this year Virginia won by double digits. I think Virginia with some rest, some extra prep time and the best plan on the court and [Jane Gardner 00:36:00]. I think they take care of business here. I think they pull away and win this one by double digits. I zoomed in on this one right away. I think Louisville is done. I think this is where it ends for them. Virginia gets the job done and I think wins by double digits.

TJ Reeves:

Again, Ian, these two teams played right at the end of the regular season, and Virginia did win the game by 10. Now we’re on the neutral floor here with a little lower line at the moment. Any thoughts if no official play?

Ian Cameron:

Yeah, I’m in total agreement here with Nadu. They shot their wad last night, Louisville. They got out to the big lead in that basketball and they almost blew it against the Georgia. Bad job by me, either I fell asleep with that game yesterday or I didn’t check, but I had Georgia Tech and it was one of my bigger plays yesterday. I didn’t fully clue into this curfew situation. It obviously made a difference. You could tell that team was totally disconnected yesterday against Louisville. I thought Louisville was a fade for me coming into this ACC tournament, and I’m not ready to change my mind just because they got past a Georgia Tech team with issues. It’s still a bad team, they couldn’t match up with Virginia. In fact, Virginia 4 and 0 straight up 4 and 0 against the spread last four meetings, including last year against Louisville. Tony Bennett has really owned this matchup against the Cardinals. I think Louisville’s ready to see their season end and it probably will tonight.

TJ Reeves:

Again, they’ve had the interim coach situation, for what, about four or five weeks now. It’s been dismal down the stretch with Chris Mack gone. There’s a lot of speculation on who that coach is going to be and who they’re going to go after. Let’s see what happens though in this game tonight, and again, here we go with can you beat the team three times in one season, and Virginia just beat him on the weekend as well with Louisville in this matchup. Let’s lock in the Big Man here as he says, “You know what, I’m going to lay the points. I’m not even worried about Louisville covering that six point line.” He takes them tonight in the matchup, in the ACC tournament, Barclays Center, in Brooklyn. All right?

Ian Cameron:

[crosstalk 00:38:00] Leonard Hamilton, by the way, 81-43. That’s what you get for 81-43.

TJ Reeves:

Well, again, they’re… I’m not making excuses, I did not go to Florida State. I often say this, even though I’m in the state of Florida, a lot of people think I’m in the state of confusion. I’m not a seminal. They’ve been injured, they did beat Virginia. Remember on the last second shot two games ago, they put up a great performance in Charlottesville. This today though is a no show, that and Syracuse has made everything to this point to be up by 40 late in the game. Welcome to conference tournament play.

Ian Cameron:

Make [cool slider 00:38:29] look like John Stockton in this game.

TJ Reeves:

Yeah. Well, he had the big game as well against North Carolina late year, so they’re able to hit some threes and they’re doing so today. All right, let’s get into it with the Q&A. get to some questions and answers while we have some time here on the BetUS College Basketball Show. Mark is watching and says Utah, Washington, this is the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas. What are there, 17 tournaments in Las Vegas that are concluding this week? Maybe not 17, but there’s a lot. Pac-12 opening up. Utah and Washington, do either of you have a thought on this game in the neutral floor setting that’s coming up tonight? I’m trying to get the correct arena on which arena that they are playing in? They played in the Orleans Arena last night for that casino and resort.

Ian Cameron:

T-Mobile. Home of the [inaudible 00:39:20].

TJ Reeves:

T-Mobile Arena has this one. The Orleans Arena had the Gonzaga win over Saint Mary’s T-Mobile Arena has this one. Washington is a two point favorite over Utah. Any thoughts guys?

Ian Cameron:

Yeah, as far as I’m concerned, I think Washington’s got the better personnel. I think Utah’s got the better coach though. I like the hire. He’s got nobody to work. It’s a tough year for Craig Smith, to be quite honest with you here at Utah. But give him time, I think he’s going to be… He did a good job at Utah State too. Let’s not forget that. I trust him to have a good game plan. For these quick turnarounds, I want good coaches starting a first game of a conference tournament. That has me leaning Utah, but I just don’t think they’re very good right now, so it’s just a small lean for me to Utah, if I were to bet it.

TJ Reeves:

Big Man, any thoughts or you want to just pass and move on?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I don’t got much in this one.

TJ Reeves:

Zip on that. Okay, speaking of okay, viewer named Okay Liddell… maybe he’s wanting Liddell to have a good game for Ohio State. We’ll see. He says, “Guys, love the contrasting style. Any thoughts on Utah Valley as the underdog against Abilene Christian? I see the Big Man nodding, take it. Any thoughts and lean?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I have some interest in Utah Valley here. They lost the first game, it was way back on December 30th. A couple things to understand about Abilene Christian, they’re the smallest team Division I, 358th. For anyone that doesn’t know, Utah Valley has a terrific big, Fardaws Aimaq, a kid from Vancouver, British Columbia. Terrific player. Had 21 in the first game. The big problem for Utah Valley this year has been turnover rate. They turned a ball over too much, but they got some good news yesterday. Trey Woodbury came back. Hasn’t played all season. He played 15 minutes yesterday. I expect maybe a better workload for him today.

Jeff Nadu:

I think that helps that denial defense that Ab Christian wants to throw out there. This is not the Abilene Christian team last year, in my opinion. I think Utah Valley is worth a look today. This team can really shoot the rock. They’re a good defensive team and they rebound the hell out of the basketball, and that’s led by Aimaq who’s one of the better defensive rebounders in the country. In fact, according to KenPom, Aimaq fifth in America in defensive rebounding percentage. He shuts team’s possessions down. I like Utah Valley, I do

TJ Reeves:

Abilene Christian ACU is favored by three. It’s funny, I was just looking at this, we were talking about Gonzaga winning over Saint Mary’s last night. They had to put new nets up because Gonzaga cut them down. They had to sweep the confetti up because the WAC Tournament is now in the Orleans Arena as of Wednesday after the Tuesday night win by Gonzaga. So Abilene Christian and Utah Valley are part of that, that is 8:30 Pacific Time, 11:30 Eastern Time tonight on that game. Another one, let’s see. Urca, if I have the name right, says anything on Rice and Charlotte in this matchup in Conference USA in that matchup early round game at the star in Frisco on the neutral floor. Ian, I saw you shake your head. Any lean?

Ian Cameron:

This was on the sheet, I was going to add this to the sheet. This is actually an official play. Great question. It is actually an official play this game over 140 and a half. Rice doesn’t play any defense, okay. I understand the fascination with college basketball betting these conference tournament games under, and a lot of them… Look, every conference tournament game just about has been bet under and it’s like this every day. If you like unders in these games, don’t wait because the under is going to get the money in a lot of these games. I understand the reasoning. A lot at stake, one and done, you’re trying to… the intensity ratchets up a bit, weird sight lines in some of these venues.

Ian Cameron:

I understand the reason to bet unders, but not in this game, in my opinion. Rice isn’t stopping anybody, they’re giving up 80s. They lost a guy several games ago, and since then that defensively they’ve just fallen apart. Charlotte, to me, can score on this Rice team pretty easily. And on the flip side though, Charlotte’s defense has not been so great. And the one thing Rice does is put the ball in the hoop. I’m a little bit perplexed that the total’s crashed to as low as, what, 140 around that range in this game. Official play for me over the total, Rice and Charlotte.

TJ Reeves:

Now, we normally have the Big Man raise the mug if we don’t have the official play graphic. I don’t know if you have a mug or a cup that you want to raise.

Ian Cameron:

I do.

TJ Reeves:

Raise your glass. There it is, he’s raising his glass to the over total on Rice and Charlotte for this matchup. I love that, on the BetUS college Basketball Show. Big Man, do you have any thought or you want to move on here off of that C-USA game?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I like Charlotte. Ian alluded to an individual not in the lineup, Quincy Olivari. They’ve not played well without him. One in six down the stretch. Defensively, they’ve been terrible. I actually think Charlotte has a little value here. I think they win the game. I think the over’s probably a good play as well. You’re not going to see incredibly efficient teams, you’re not going to see incredibly fast teams either. But I think they’re good enough. Charlotte’s actually a pretty good offensive team, so maybe a team total with them. But, yeah, I think Charlotte gets the job done here.

TJ Reeves:

All right, so there you go on an official play, even though if we don’t have it on the graphic, we’ll recap all the official plays in a couple of minutes. A couple more of you that are watching. Trevor is watching back to the Pac-12 tournament in Vegas, has thoughts on Arizona State Stanford. I saw the shake of the head Big Man. Stay away, no interest?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, these states just suck. I wouldn’t be betting them. None of these teams matter, who cares? They’re flippy games. People just want to bet these because they’re on in TV. I don’t know what to tell you guys, I can’t feed your obsession. I’m sorry, I can’t feed them.

TJ Reeves:

We do our best to feed most of your obsession. We’re not going to feed your compulsive complete obsession here on this. Ian, any thought or move on?

Ian Cameron:

I would lay the points. I think Stanford’s, I don’t want to say checked out, but damn close. It’s just been ugly for Jerod Haase’s team lately, and Arizona State, look, it’s been a totally different second half of the season for them in conference place. So this is two teams going in opposite directions. For me, it would be Sun Devils.

TJ Reeves:

Again, you don’t know what you’re going to get, neutral floor in Las Vegas here when they show up and when they do that. Jeff is watching and says Binghamton-Vermont, that’s on Vermont’s home floor. Vermont’s laying 21 points. Guys, anything on that?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I just mentioned, I don’t have anything on it.

TJ Reeves:

Nothing on that. Ian, no?

Ian Cameron:

I took plus 23 I think it was with NJIT against Vermont, and Vermont just stunt them. Usually, my mantra is when I’m getting that many points in a conference tournament game, I don’t care who the two teams are, I’m taking the points. I did that with actually Nebraska-Omaha against South Dakota State. Of course, Jackrabbits won the summit league tournament, but in their first game they were laying 22 and a half to Nebraska-Omaha. I took Omaha, it’s just too many points in a conference tournament game, and they did cover that one. But it didn’t work for me with NJIT against Vermont. Vermont’s just incredible offensively. Like they’ve just been so smooth offensively, terrific.

Ian Cameron:

They get up by a big margin. They really are good in the first half and they seem to put teams away. That being said, Binghamton’s not chopped liver. If I had to bet it, I’d take the points again. It’s not easy, Vermont’s blowing these teams out, I get it. But I think Binghamton can hang inside a number like this. You just got to hope maybe Vermont has an off shooting night, and unfortunately, they haven’t had many of those lately.

Jeff Nadu:

I would tell you I would lean Binghamton just because I thought the second game, they weren’t terrible. That’s, actually, I think this game will go. It’ll be a more lower scoring. In the first game, they got beat by, I think, 30. John McGriff didn’t play for Binghamton, and I think he’s one of their better players. He transferred from St. John’s. I don’t think this is a terrible Binghamton team like we’ve seen. I think they’re okay defensively quite honestly. I think McGriff could keep them in this game. If you’re going to give me over 20, I guess I would lean on Binghamton. But I will say, TJ, Vermont was minus 700 to win this conference. The only team they have to worry about is the Hartford Hawks who I think could maybe give them a game. They beat them one time this year, but yeah, Vermont should roll. I don’t think they win by 30 though or anyway.

TJ Reeves:

Fair enough.

Ian Cameron:

[crosstalk 00:47:20] Hartford plus those points against UNBC and the other semifinal and I think they can win that.

TJ Reeves:

Again, those are on home sites, so pay attention to that too as part of this before they played the championship game on the weekend. G. Martinez is watching and says Wake Forest, Boston College. I saw Steve Forbes, the Wake Forest coach. They announced an extension and a raise for him. Any thoughts on the game? Real quick guys if not official play?

Ian Cameron:

Wake [crosstalk 00:47:43] this tournament. I’m looking to bet on Wake at every opportunity. I don’t love laying nine or 10, but I’m going to do it today. I do have a bet here, Wake, minus the points. I think they can roll Boston College today. If they bring their best, it’s going to be too much for Boston College. I know Boston College was good yesterday, but against Pit, that’s not overly impressive to me. I think Wake Forest actually could win a couple games in this tournament. Watch for Alondes Williams and company. Obviously, LaRavia. That’s a good team. Steve Forbes has done a great job. He’s earned that contract extension. It was a home run hire the moment they brought him to Wake Forest. I think they could roll big. I would only look to the favorite there.

TJ Reeves:

Jeff, any thought or move on?

Jeff Nadu:

No opinion.

TJ Reeves:

No opinion on that. One more viewer, Jennifer. Hello, Jennifer. My wife’s name is Jennifer but it’s not my wife. Cal Baptist and Sam Houston State, they are playing in that WAC Tournament in the Orleans Arena. The first game up in the WAC Tournament before the Utah Valley game with Abilene Christian. That is Sam Houston State favored by three on the neutral floor. Any quick take, no official play, anything from that guys?

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, I’ll say it again, I’ll keep pounding this home. Cal Baptist is not a team you should be betting on away from home. They’re not any good. Sam Houston is actually a very tough team. Savion Flagg is really good. They beat him in the game. I actually watched the game that they played the first time. Sam Houston really had to lead the entire game. Cal Baptist isn’t any good to me. They barely got by Rio Grande yesterday. This is a team that’s been on the road in most Chicago State this year. I think Sam Houston beats them, but these games can be tough. And Sam Houston shoot the free throws very well.

Ian Cameron:

As for me on the moneyline, I took the moneyline actually here on Sam Houston. I don’t usually lay minus 155 very often, but I don’t want to mess around with the three or three and a half here. I do agree, I think the Bearcats here if Sam Houston State are the better team. I like the moneyline, a small play on the over two, 132 looked a little low to me.

TJ Reeves:

Okay, and a viewer that’s watching, and we did talk about this scenario and they did play the game on Tuesday night in the Atlantic Sun and Bellarmine did win over Jacksonville. Jacksonville, Florida, so Jacksonville State is going to get the automatic bid as the regular season champ. I know I’m just teeing one up right here for the Big Man. Bellermine got the win though, and they got their moment to run on the court, storm the court and celebrate the tournament win, even though they don’t go into the NCAA tournament. Housecat says, “What about the Bellermine BS?” I think you pretty well covered it already, Jeff, but it did follow through. They won and they don’t get the automatic bid.

Jeff Nadu:

Yeah, some of these commenters I think just want me to go ape crap and get me kicked off here. Listen, we talked about it. Yeah, it sucks, it’s stupid. It’s another idiotic rule by the mafia like NCAA. Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense.

TJ Reeves:

The rule that you’re talking about is Bellermine has to wait four years to be NCAA tournament eligible. And with the Atlantic Sun, I saw what their commissioner put out there. The Atlantic Sun made it clear to everybody, when the season was starting and before the tournament began, this is why we’re doing what we’re doing. We want to give these guys a chance, and if they win the conference tournament, we want to let them celebrate. And if they do, we’re going to go back to the regular season champion. So everybody knew this, this was not something they sprung on everybody. The part that made it did difficult is Jacksonville State in Alabama lost the semi-final game.

TJ Reeves:

They weren’t even playing in the championship game, but they’re going to reward the regular season win by Jacksonville State to put them in the NCAA tournament, so look for their name coming on Sunday night instead of Bellermine who won the conference tournament on that. Okay, and by the way, there have been histories of ineligible teams, including my Memphis State Tigers. The year before I got there, Memphis State destroyed Louisville 1987. Louisville, the defending national champion, the Metro Conference, very stupidly, let Memphis State play in the tournament when the NCAA had lowered the boom on Memphis State during the season and said, “They’re ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament.”

TJ Reeves:

The Metro still let Memphis State play in the tournament, and Memphis State won the tournament on Louisville’s home floor and the Metro had no representative. They didn’t even go to the regular season champ for an automatic bid. They had no one in the tournament in ’87. So this is not unprecedented to let a team play in the conference tournament that couldn’t play in the NCAA tournament, at least, on that front. All right, we had a bevy of games that the handicappers were on for official plays. Let’s go ahead and take a look at those, circle back to the official plays for a Wednesday of all the conference tournaments. Championship week, Ian Cameron is on what? 17, 23. How many official plays does he have? He has a bunch.

Ian Cameron:

Five plus one, Rice and Charlotte, [crosstalk 00:52:30].

TJ Reeves:

He has two of them. Okay, two of them on Nebraska. You see a couple of overs. He also likes the over, not pictured here on Rice and Charlotte that didn’t make the movie. That’s edited out. UTEP on the moneyline. Meanwhile, Jeff is on the moneyline for Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament game with Wake Forest. He is also on a side with Virginia in their matchup with Louisville in the ACC. Those are the official plays here for today. Guys, anything else? A full Wednesday show, and we are going to be rocking tomorrow and Friday again over 70, 7-0, conference tournament games that’ll be going on, on Thursday and Friday that will be rocking through. Any other thoughts here before we’re done on a Wednesday?

Ian Cameron:

No, great stuff. Yeah, it was just a great and a great time of year. I mean, Thursday, Friday, buckle up, wall to wall hoops. Noon till Midnight. It can’t get any better.

TJ Reeves:

By the way, Syracuse is putting the finishing touches on a win for them in the 8-9 game by 40 points over Florida State. It’s been an incredible afternoon. Will it continue for Syracuse? Find out tomorrow and we’ll be talking about it on the show. By the way, we need to make mention too, we cover all different sports on BetUS and BetUS TV. If you’re interested in the players, championship, and the golf and the wagering, it’s not far from where I am guys in Northeast Florida, Ponte Vedra Beach, about three hours north of Tampa where I am. The players’ championship ongoing this weekend, all the best field of any major is at the players and the most lucrative one. Go to the BetUS TV YouTube page, check out the preview show for the golf gambling for this weekend. The future’s plays and what’s going to happen with the golf this weekend.

TJ Reeves:

Love that Island Green on 17 when so many players hit it in the water and all the drama that comes around that golf hole. We’re talking a little golf at the end of the show here for BetUS. Go check out that preview as it goes on later today, and it’ll be archived as well through BetUS TV. All right, boys, excellent stuff. Reminder, audience, 11:00 AM tomorrow Eastern Time, 11:00 AM Friday as well before all the conference tournament games crank up big time at Noon Eastern Time, we’ll be here with official plays and advice. 11:00 AM Eastern Time here on the BetUS College Basketball Show. Big Man on Campus-

Jeff Nadu:

And again, maybe they’ll forget.

TJ Reeves:

Well, maybe they will, and if they do, catch us later on. If you missed us live and you’re here at 1:00 on Thursday, for example, we still love you, just be here at 11:00 on Friday. Big Man, thank you, Big Man on Campus, Jeff Nadu.

Jeff Nadu:

Thank you.

TJ Reeves:

Ian Cameron, Bobano. Thank you.

Ian Cameron:

Good luck everybody.

TJ Reeves:

Good luck guys, don’t forget to check out our sportsbook website and we thank you for watching the BetUS College Basketball Show.