TJ:
Well again, they were impressive in Las Vegas. We got another game in Las Vegas that we’re going to talk about coming up here on the show as well. So that’ll be coming up tonight involving Creighton and Arizona State. Arizona State, very impressive. Late last week at SMU, Bobby Hurley’s team has looked very good. So again, thank you for finding us. We’re here Monday through Friday at 11:00 AM Eastern time. We look forward to getting some insight from you folks, not only from the handicappers here, but some questions and see what else that you have for us here on the program. Again, make it a point to be with us. If you are just finding us, hit that Like button, make sure that you’re subscribing, make sure that you’re hitting the bell, et cetera. Sharing us out, more and more of you are finding us.
We’re here for you to give you some handicapping advice. Weekdays 11:00 AM Eastern time. You can obviously see the show later in the day on the Bet US TV platform, but we would love to have you with the live interaction and I see already, a lot of people are in the live chat, going back and forth on what’s going to happen with some of these plays and some of these games tonight.
Guys, we need to address at the forefront if viewers of ours, fans, are not aware the breaking story that Texas, University of Texas basketball coach Chris Beard, has been arrested overnight in Austin, Texas on a domestic violence charge. Austin authorities confirmed that Beard was taken into custody shortly after midnight, local time, central time and is still in, I believe it’s the Travis County Jail. I think I have that right. I’ll double check it. He’s in the Travis County Jail as of this morning, still, on a domestic violence charge. And Corby Craig, pick it up here. Texas won a game on Saturday and they are slated to play another game tonight, correct? With Beard currently having been arrested on domestic violence charges.
Corby:
Yeah, so they played Rice tonight, which is probably one of the softer grabs they could have had with all the situation. But it’s kind of weird to see that this game didn’t come off the board any when this became news. It became pretty apparent news like eight this morning, basically, got leaked and never came off the board. The line is basically the same as it was when it opened yesterday before this was news. I think it speaks a lot to the players for Texas. They have a very vet-driven team. I really don’t think it affects them too much in this situation, but it is weird and I think there is value throughout that game because of the situation.
TJ:
What is the line? Forgive me, I don’t have it in front of me and I think you guys are looking at it. Matt, you may have it as well. What’s the line on Texas Rice and did it move because of the Beard news as we’re live here this morning? What’s the update if we have one?
Corby:
Texas is a 25 point favorite and total of 142 and a half. It moved like a point and a half to the total and I don’t think that the side has moved yet, and I think that it makes sense. If it was to move, I would probably back Texas more. I just bet Rice team total under or first half team total under 27. I think that it was a little bit too much of an effect. Rice is not a good basketball team, and Texas has the players to withstand it. Chris Beard’s not on the court scoring so I’m not too worried about it.
TJ:
Well certainly it’s turmoil and Matt, we don’t need to minimize this. It’s a domestic violence charge. We don’t know all the facts. This is not a speeding ticket, for example. This is a serious thing. Just a quick thought before we move on because they’re playing a game tonight while all this is happening.
Matt:
Yeah, I don’t think the kids really are going to be affected. It’s Rice. They’re not very good. Rodney Terry’s going to be their head coach. He obviously did a long time at UTEP most likely. And kids nowadays, I don’t think it’s going to matter. Now, if you are talking more about Mississippi State with Mike Leach, that would be different. But Chris Beard overnight, I just don’t think it’d be as much of an issue. And I think if you do like Texas, wait a little bit, see if it keeps going down. I see some 24s popping out there. So if you do like Texas and you still think it’s not going to matter, wait a little bit and see if you can get an even better number.
TJ:
All right, fair enough on that. And we don’t want to minimize the seriousness of that charge because Beard could be looking at a suspension or more. Again, repeating, it’s an overnight domestic violence arrest. He is still in jail looking to bond out this morning in front of a judge Monday morning and the Longhorns play in Austin on Monday night. We’ll keep an eye on that for sure.
All right, let’s take a look at our records and see how we have fared to this point in the season. You see Corby Craig still above 500. Nice job, Corby with the Lipscomb, Alabama A&M under that you had on Friday. Kyle Hunter also got Fairleigh Dickinson to cover, so he’s above 500. You see the show above 500 as well. And with that we’re ready to get going with a Monday slate of games that will begin. Again, we go all over the board and including with Stony Brook and Sacred Heart. Stony Brook favored, or actually a Sacred Heart favored by two in this one with a total of 143, a game at 6:30 Eastern time tonight up in the Northeast. Corby Craig, you’re going to have the official play back to you for what your official play is going to be in this one.
Corby:
Yeah, I like the under 143 here. I think Stony Brook is a team that we’ve seen is able to slow down paces of these really fast-paced teams. So Sacred Heart a favorite here, but they like to push the tempo. They are what, 80th in the nation in tempo. But Stony Brook has seen this time and time again, they just saw Bryant, they just saw a really good offense in Yale. They’re able to hold Bryant to 69 possessions. So I think Stony Brook’s a really good team to look towards unders for. They just like to slow this ball down, and even though they got smacked around, I really don’t think Sacred Heart is that great of a team. Stony Brook, not that amazing either. So I imagine a competitive atmosphere where Stony Brook’s able to slow this down into the 65, probably closer to the 70 range of possessions, but that’s still getting you at 137, 138 in points.
TJ:
My mistake there, I left my microphone in San Francisco. That might even be a song. Mid-Major Matt, a thought. If no official play on this game. Stony Brook, Sacred Heart.
Matt:
Two bad offenses. So even though there may be a little bit of pace, although Corby talked about how there might not be, you’re still getting two bad offenses. A lot of red in both offensive sides falling on Ken Palm here. So yeah, I could see it once again. I mean, and look, it’s even 144 now. And you know that these extra games, when they get released, there’s big movement in either direction and so obviously he’s getting not the best number, but he’s getting a better number than there was when it opened.
TJ:
Okay, fair enough. He will be on the under. Well Corby, in this one, it’s serving him well on Friday. Will it serve him well in this case on Monday? Let’s lock him in. And that is under 143 for the Stony Brook Sacred Heart game later on tonight, by the way, a couple people in the chat pointing this out. Mark pointing this out on the Bet US line, the Texas line did move three points from 27 to 24 for what it’s worth. And as Matt said, that might come down even a point or two more against Rice. Probably not much more than that, right Matt? Probably not. I mean, because Rice is just not good and Texas is at home.
Matt:
Correct. Yeah. And there’s no injuries, player injuries or things like that. Now if players start tweeting things that make you think they might be a little distracted, that would be a little different. But as of now, that’s the only difference in this game tonight.
TJ:
Okay, let’s continue on the Monday slate with a game with an Ivy League team in Yale taking on Fairfield. Yale is a five and a half point road favorite here at Fairfield. The total is 125. Corby Craig, we are back to you. Thoughts and an official play on game number two as well.
Corby:
Yeah, another spot that we were talking about earlier in the week was Yale versus Kentucky. Kentucky in a pretty bad spot, Yale able to cover. They did without their best player, Matt Noling. And here this is just a spot where I think that this line is too low due to the fact that they just played Kentucky. It’s a hard spot to come in, go to the road, play a Fairfield team who isn’t that great. The other issue is Noling is still questionable to play. And I have sent help tweets, Dms, search through any picture I can find to see if this kid’s going to play. I got nothing. So their coach in the Kentucky game, before the game, said he’s good to go. He’s going to play. He warmed up. Didn’t play. So I imagine getting a couple extra days rest. I leaned towards him playing. He was in basketball shoes, you can see on Yale’s Instagram. He was in basketball shoes warming up in the Kentucky game and didn’t play. So I like his potential to play. And even if he doesn’t play, I think five and a half is a little too weak, just due to the fact they just played Kentucky.
TJ:
Interesting. Matt, you and I are older. Corby, you’re going to learn this as you go along, especially as it relates to coaches. When you get accurate information, if you get accurate information from a coach about injuries on significant players, it’ll be about the first time that you get accurate injury information. And yes, they love to put them in uniform and have them go warm up and make the other team think, oh, they’re actually going to play. So like you said, good advice to play the wait and see. Matt, any thoughts, any angle on this? If no official play, Yale as the road favorite?
Matt:
I mean I’m a little worried that it’s just 48 hours after the Kentucky game and it was so close. So I’d be worried about a letdown and then before that, you know, you play at Butler. So that’s two big opportunities for them to get wins on the road and they don’t win. And look, if there was a little more space from the Kentucky game, I’d like it a little bit more, but 48 hours quick turnaround. Fairfield at least has a little bit of momentum. They’ve won two straight, they beat Sacred Heart and St. Peter’s. I wouldn’t play this, but that’s only because I’m just a little worried that it’s a little bit of a letdown. After going to Kentucky and playing at Rupp Arena, you’re going to, I have no idea what Fairfield Total Mortgage Arena where six people might be playing. So it could be a little bit of a letdown.
TJ:
You got a game and you could get a deal in a mortgage in the arena tonight. And I was going there with the back-to-back wins for Fairfield and they beat Towson who’s pretty good, right? Earlier in the year they did lose Xavier. This is a home game for them. Undaunted though, I love that word. Corby craig says he thinks this will still be Yale and lay the five and a half off that tough game at Rupp Arena with Kentucky this weekend where they played Kentucky tough. Again, thank you for finding us. If you’re just joining us here, live on Monday, we’re here Monday through Friday, 11:00 AM Eastern time. Get questions ready. We’ll have some time for some Q&A in a little bit. The guys, as you see on our slate, still have three more games that we’re going to discuss and make official plays on. Let’s keep that train moving.
Oh, looky here. Gonzaga in action with Northern Illinois, Mid-Major Matt on the show. I smell an official play here involving Gonzaga. That’s why it’s there. It’s on the board. Gonzaga laying 30 in this one, the total 153. Matt, what do we like here for the official play with NIU coming in to play the zags?
Matt:
Well, I’ll just say this, if this doesn’t hit then Wednesday, you may not. I know you see a little bit of the Gonzaga flag, but you won’t see any of it if this doesn’t hit tonight.
TJ:
It will be blurred. It will be blurred in the background. I understand.
Matt:
It’s just the recipe for a Gonzaga whooping. I mean, look, I understand the Alabama game’s next and they’re not going to have, the offense hasn’t been clicking as much as it has been in the past. Certainly there’s a lot of things to work on. And when you see this Northern Illinois team and you go and you look at their defense and you see they give 83 to something called Illinois Springfield, they’re just coming off giving up 84 to Idaho, who’s in the 300s in Ken Pom’s number.
It just feels like one of those old fashioned Gonzaga hundred point efforts. I mean obviously, the thing that you kind of like here is that Northern Illinois wants to run, and you certainly don’t want to necessarily run with Gonzaga, but Northern Illinois wants to run. They played an 81 possession game and then 75 against Northern Iowa. You have 83 at Northern Iowa. So the handicap is simple, and obviously I’ve been cold so far, but this just feels like one of those Gonzaga whoopings. And where they put up a hundred, they feel really good, and Northern Illinois runs with them and we just go back and forth and see a lot of dunks and highlights.
TJ:
Corby Craig, we saw Gonzaga recently with a big win over Washington. Washington hasn’t been great shakes, but they’re a power six school, and Gonzaga handled them easily by 17. Any thoughts, if no official play, on a Monday night game at the Kennel here? Gonzaga and Northern Illinois?
Corby:
Yeah, I didn’t look into this game much and then when Matt brought it up, I just checked this Ken Pom and geez, it does make so much sense for, let’s go over 91. I checked the first half total, it’s 45 and that’s just too high of a number, I expect, in 20 minutes. But Gonzaga, this is a perfect spot. They’ve been asleep at the wheel all year, it seems. And I definitely agree with Matt. This is a spot where both teams want to run. If they score 110, it wouldn’t surprise me. They’ve played what two games versus teams outside the top 100 this year, they scored 104 in North Florida and 102 against Portland State. Northern Illinois is neither of those teams, and it would not surprise me to see this in the hundreds, pretty easy.
TJ:
All right, Drew Timmy off to the big start in the early part of the pre-conference season. Will it continue tonight? Mid-Major Matt says lots of points for the Bulldogs, for the zags. Let’s lock him in on the Gonzaga team. Total over 91 and a half on our Bet US Monday college basketball show. That was an expected play and this is going to be expected. There’s going to be a lot of shots and a lot of points here in this game coming up. All right, very intriguing game next is on our docket because Arizona State, as I mentioned at the top of the show, has been really good so far this season under Bobby.
Do either of the Hurleys have a loss right now? Confirmation Mid-Major Matt, Corby Craig? I don’t think that Dan Hurley in Connecticut or Arizona State and Bobby Hurley have a loss.
Matt:
Arizona State lost to Texas Southern. So they’re nine and one.
TJ:
Texas Southern. My bad. That’s why I have you here. Keep me straight, please. But they still have been really good and they’re three and a half point underdog, interesting, against Creighton. This is a neutral floor game in Las Vegas, total 141 here for this one. And Matt, we’re back to you. What is the official play that you like on this one? Sun Devils and Creighton Blue Jays.
Matt:
So I’ve said, I don’t know how much I’ve said on this show, but I don’t like Bobby Hurley as a coach. He’s done a great job this year, so I can certainly say that this year he’s doing a very good job. I didn’t like what he’s done with way more talented teams in the past it feels like. But this year he’s got them buying into his system and everything, and they’re playing good defense. And that’s the number one thing here. When you look, they’re fourth and two point percentage defense and they’re seventh and three point percentage defense and there’s legitimate opponents. It’s not like one of these teams that Indiana who has good defensive numbers and all they really shut down was North Carolina at home. Arizona State has beaten CU, Michigan, Colorado, Stanford, SMU. Like okay, they’re not necessarily as good, but they’re name brand programs here, and I like their offense. And I think that their offense can keep up here.
And you look at Creighton and obviously the giant shadow in this game is Ryan Kalkbrenner. He did not play on Saturday. He’s dealing with an illness, and I was actually reading, I think it was in the Omaha World Herald, whatever it is, the newspaper there, whatever it is, he’s got this illness. It’s sapping his energy. So I imagine even if he’s playing tonight, he’s not playing a ton. And guess what? Arizona State has their own seven footer in Warren Washington, who has a little bit of foul trouble at times in games. But Creighton’s lost four in a row. The only advantage I can see here that Creighton has is they just played a game in this building on Saturday, so they will have some familiarity. They’ll have a lot of the same fans that were probably there for Saturday’s game, but I’m going to buy into this Arizona State team.
Creighton’s offensive woes looked good for one game, but they scored 53 against the Nebraska at home. They scored 67 against Texas. Now granted, Texas has one of the best defenses, but I think Arizona state’s going to make it tough. It’s already up to four, so I didn’t even get the best number by Showtime. But even if Kalkbrenner plays, I still think Arizona State’s the play, and I actually hope he does because then the people who haven’t locked it in yet might get a better number. I like Arizona State here. I can’t believe I’m siding with Bobby Hurley.
TJ:
Begrudgingly. But the play is to be made here on the game that’s coming up, and I’m looking here for Arizona State. They’ve gotten some excellent output from a couple of different guys. One of those is DJ Horn the guard. I think Matt may have mentioned that name too. Will it continue? Corby, as you mentioned, this is a neutral floor game, too. So those that are short-term investing here tonight should realize it’s not at Creighton. Give me a thought if no official play on Arizona State, Creighton.
Corby:
Yeah, DJ Horn has been one of the more exciting players to watch. If you’ve watched this team, I bet on the over in Arizona State versus SMU the other day. And they are just a fun team to watch. They pick up the tempo. The weird thing here is Marcus Bagley has been, he stepped away from the team after a short suspension, hasn’t played in quite some time. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to be a part of this team, even if it’s just a designated role in minutes. I wish he was. I think this team would be pretty near elite if he was on the floor. One thing I want to point out is, and it’s not even relative to this game, but it’s so weird, and I think Matt talked about this in the Colorado versus Grambling game, but why do these teams go to such bad away games?
Texas Southern was on the road and they lost an overtime. So Arizona State’s only blemish on their schedule is a road game versus a team. They really don’t care to play with VCU on deck, and so it just seems like that’s a really bad one loss. But here I would agree, Arizona State, I’m not big on Creighton, they lost four straight. So I could see a lot of people taking Creighton here, but I’m not buying in. They need to learn how to hit shots first or 29th and offensive affected field goal percentage. But I’m not buying that much just from watching the games. It just doesn’t seem like they’re taking the greatest shots.
TJ:
We got some viewers that are locked in right now. I’m going to compliment Rara Murray, if I said it right. Rara Murray, maybe. R-A-R-A. Rah rah? Rara Murray. Rara is watching and says he’s got, he’s spewing some truth here. He says Creighton nine and one ATS in their last 10 neutral site games. This includes the Maui Invitational earlier, when they were playing in Hawaii with the likes of Arkansas, et cetera. And Arizona State now, just three seven and one ATS in their last 11 neutral site games. However, somewhat begrudgingly, Mid-Major Matt says, lock me in on the Sun Devils and Bobby Hurley. He will take the points for the official play tonight. I’m kind of feeling you on this. Go ahead.
Corby:
I also have an opinion on this
Matt:
Hold on. I love Rara. He’s always here. He’s always in all the videos we do. But you can’t go to 12 neutral site games as an underdog, and what, site 1985 Arizona State? Like the two neutral court games that Arizona State played was a VCU game, which they were down in, and VCU didn’t have ace ball once they had early momentum but it faded away, and then they crushed Michigan. So I don’t care about last year’s Arizona state. I don’t care about five years ago. These numbers that people spew when it comes to trends. The Creighton numbers only matter, as you said, the Maui thing, and the difference is they played good basketball then. They’re not playing good basketball now. So I love the trends.
TJ:
And Kalkbrenner healthy. Kalkbrenner was healthy in Maui, if I’m not mistaken. And he may not be there tonight, right?
Matt:
I love the trends people and they certainly are a part of our industry, but I can’t equate 1990 Arizona State to what is going on right now.
TJ:
We’re not talking Bill Frieder Arizona State basketball, and Corby doesn’t know the name Bill Frieder and we love him for that. Continue on. Give me something else.
Corby:
Yeah, so that trend starts, he said what, 12 and three. I have counted back 12, 13 neutral site games. This started November 8th, 2020. Arizona’s lineup, Arizona State’s lineup in 2020 was Remi Martin, Alonzo Verge, Rob Edwards. Those people haven’t been in Arizona State in three years, so I’m not too worried about that number. I see this a lot and it’s not a bash on him by any means. There are a lot of good trends. They can be found. But I think when you start to take a sample size that are just completely different teams, it’s not too big of a worry anymore.
TJ:
Rara Murray’s saying, we see him on the screen, saying take it up with this site or whatever. We’re taking it up with you, because you’re spewing it in the live chat. And that’s what we do. We bring it here on the Bet US College basketball show. And I think that Mid-Major Matt appropriately smacked you with don’t be quoting stuff from 10 years ago that it matters tonight. All right, so there you go. The official play is the Sun Devils now.
Interesting. This is a doubleheader, guys, that is in that Michelob Ultra Arena, the matchup with Arizona State and Creighton. The second game is the final game we’re going to talk about. New Mexico and San Francisco, the Dons, and Richard Pitino’s New Mexico, a team unbeaten at nine and oh, where they’re laying three and a half points here in this one on the neutral floor in Las Vegas. The total is 157. We’re not going to have an official play, but Colby Craig, I’m right back to you. Second game up on the floor, neutral site matchup, and New Mexico’s already got a couple of surprising wins. They have the St. Mary’s win, right on the road. I believe that’s correct. I got to double-check from my New Mexico Lobos road wins. Any thought here Corby, go ahead.
Corby:
Yeah, this is a New Mexico team that I could understand the buy high for. They started 138 in Ken Pom, they’re all the way down to 82 at this point. Undefeated, I get it. I am just not buying as heavy as the market is currently. They’ve made a massive adjustment already. This number probably would’ve been five and a half, six in preseason. Basically the exact opposite for San Francisco. They lost a Davidson game and a Utah State game. Utah State is a really good basketball team and that loss at semi home dropped their Ken Pom rating 20 points almost. And I just think that’s too big of a move. This San Francisco team, time and time again, we’ve seen how good they are. So I’m not going to back away from them by any means. And I would lean San Francisco here.
TJ:
Interesting. Mid-Major Matt. I was just in the San Francisco Bay area for the weekend here with the Buccaneers, and of course they got a new coaching staff, a very interesting game here. And again, New Mexico did win at St. Mary’s. So it’s in the San Francisco Bay in the East Bay area there. They also have a win over SMU. Any thought if no official play on this second game up in Las Vegas?
Matt:
Well to me, the one thing that matters here is the three point shooting disparity. San Francisco, 50% of their shots are from three, they’re not as great shooting them. And then you got New Mexico, who 25% of their shots are from three point land, and they’re not great defending them. So to me the equation’s simple. If San Francisco is hitting their threes, they should win this game. Much like Corby, I don’t buy New Mexico as much. Obviously we talked about that St. Mary’s game here on the show a couple weeks ago, and we talked about how we thought that St. Mary’s was going to run that game and everything and New Mexico went to St. Mary’s and won that game outright. So they’re playing good basketball here. I lean to San Francisco, but obviously it all matters how those threes are falling and once again, it’s a neutral court game, so that’s not going to help either side, potentially. So it’ll be interesting to see how San Francisco shoots in the first half. This could be a good live betting game if it seems like those shots are falling.
TJ:
Again, New Mexico, laying three and a half or four depending on where you get it here for Richard Pitino there with the Lobos. Remember Steve Alford was there too and had them, they won the mountain west, had them in the NCA tournament a couple of times and so now the Lobos trying to rally back here in the 2020s with this version of the team in December. All right, so there you go. Time for some questions and answers from you, the peeps. We’ll get into that here for a few minutes on the program before we circle back to the bets. Bets. All right, Silvar is watching us right in their wheelhouse. Mid-Major Matt, he says Syracuse team total tonight. Syracuse off the win over Georgetown. What do you think about the team total tonight?
Matt:
I mean I wanted to play it. I did, I really did. Because if you look at Monmouth, Monmouth is allowing teams to shoot 42% from three essentially, and 57% from two. And Syracuse has put up some points in their games. They scored 90 on Lehigh, they scored 95 on Oakland, although Oakland plays no defense, and they scored 83 in Georgetown, which the three of us could score pretty much 40 points on Georgetown. So the situation says yeah, they should score a lot of points, but I’ve also watched this team have these dry spells where they can’t hit anything. So I like it. I played it myself. I didn’t want to make it a best bet in the show, ’cause I didn’t want to hate my alma mater or more, but their offense is very hot and cold. If they’re hot, they’re going to go sail over this thing and if they’re cold, they’re going to score like 70 and make this thing an interesting game.
TJ:
Corby Craig, any thoughts, if no play here about Syracuse at home off the Georgetown win on a Monday night?
Corby:
Yeah, Matt and I sweated Syracuse over for no reason on Saturday. It should have been a breeze. But one thing I’ve been impressed with by Syracuse, is this kid that comes off the bench I think is, how do you pronounce his name, Symir Torrence, just watching that Georgetown game, he gets it looks like 13 minutes a game, and I’ve been impressed with the time that I’ve seen him on the court, just his ability to dictate and run the offense even though it’s not his show by any means. I would hope that he can get some more minutes. I really don’t know in this game in particular, but I do think there’s definite upside for Syracuse.
TJ:
Fair enough there on that. Let’s move on. Rick is watching us, says what about South Florida, Northern Iowa, and also Liberty and Oral Roberts. Again, I was the 10 year voice of the USF Bulls here in Tampa, they’re on the road at Cedar Falls against a three and six. This is three and six against three and six. We’re going into weeds here on USF and northern Iowa. Corby, I’m right back to you. Any thought on that game, Northern Iowa as the favorite, or Oral Roberts and their game with Liberty?
Corby:
Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t have much on the South Florida game. I know a couple people that I respect bet South Florida plus four, I believe, so not much from me personally. They’re on the other game. Liberty versus Oral Roberts. I think this would be a really interesting game. They’ve played two completely different styles of offense. Liberty’s going to want to slow this down, Oral Roberts is going to want to score 170. So that’ll be a really good game. It just depends on who can dictate the pace. Pre-season, I was really low on Oral Roberts. They’ve proved me wrong a little bit, but I still think Liberty’s probably the better team here. Can they slow down this offense that just wants to absolute run and gun? I’m not sure. I would lean Liberty and the under here.
TJ:
All right, fair enough. Mid-Major Matt, any thought if no official play, or you want to move on?
Matt:
So I kind of liked Northern Iowa today, but I mean they’re playing bad basketball. I mean they just lost to McNeese State at home. I mean obviously I watched the game before that, it was Toledo. Toledo sliced them up and scored whatever they wanted. Obviously Heise is a guy that’s important for Northern Iowa. He’s still not back yet. I like them. I would almost maybe pair them off on a money line parlay with somebody else that you may like and see. And then on the Liberty game, I mean Corby just said it. I mean the one thing is, it’s a great matchup. Max Abmus against Darius McGee. Two of the most underrated. Well, Abmus is not really underrated, but Darius McGee I think is somewhat not known amongst the peeps who watch a lot of college basketball. Liberty wants to slow this game down. And we had another question about who we trust more to have tempo.
I think that was an earlier question on the board. I usually lean to the home team for the most part, unless there’s a disparity in terms of the road team is that much better. In this situation, I think Oral Roberts is going to do whatever they can to push the pace and I think at times that Liberty’s going to go along with them. You look at the only true road game Liberty played this season, it was against Alabama, and it was 73 possession. So even as much as Liberty wants to slow it down, they couldn’t do it against Alabama. So for me, when it comes to pace, slow versus fast, I usually lean to the home team or the more talented team on the road, because they’re going to just set their pace no matter where they are.
TJ:
All right, good enough. Couple more again, if you’re just finding us we’re live. 11:00 AM Monday through Friday. I see the live audience has grown and grown again with people finding us as the show goes on. We got time for another question or two. Get them in. Do us a favor, hit the like button, share us out, hit subscribe. We’re trying to get to, and I believe we can get to, 3000 subscribers even before Christmas. We’ll do that with your help. Keep hitting that like button. Keep subscribing here on Bet US TV. Back to R Bone. He’s been active in the chat. He says, please break down Kennesaw State, San Diego State. Anybody want to take a stab at that one? Corby, Matt, either of you?
Corby:
Yeah, I’m looking at it now. San Diego State is a team that I think we can probably buy as low as you’re going to get on this team, if you like this team, they have a pretty easy strings of schedule coming up. Kennesaw State on the other hand has been. 10 times we thought they were going to be there six and three to start the season. They just beat a really good Mercer team. Really good’s a strong word, but really good relative to who they’re playing Mercer team, I like San Diego State. I think the San Diego State team has pushed tempo and they have a really good defense, versus these low level teams on really big spreads, I think that they have the perfect combination of defense and pace to cover this. I’m just low on Kennesaw State and I think this is probably the time to buy low on San Diego State.
TJ:
Matt, any final thought there on that one before we’re done?
Matt:
I kind of like Kennesaw State a little bit. I mean only because I saw when they played BCU and obviously that was a really close game. Teams like Kennesaw State don’t necessarily go to the Siegel Center and win games like that often. Although we did just see Jacksonville do it, which is the same conference, ironically. And Kennesaw State went to Florida and kept up with them for the most part. We know Florida’s not exactly the greatest team defensively, either. So I mean it’s starting to go up a little bit, but you’re getting San Diego State off a loss. Kennesaw State’s defense isn’t great. I can see San Diego State flexing their offensive muscle here and kind of running away a little bit with this one.
TJ:
Good enough on that. Matt, you got to be proud of me. We’re 31 minutes into the show and I haven’t uttered Go Tigers G.o Penny Hardaway and Memphis with a win over Auburn this weekend. Looking good. So there’s something else coming off the weekend. And again, Corby briefly mentioned it, I saw some of that Alabama win over Houston, a 10 point second half comeback at Houston with the atmosphere they had. They had Hakeem the Dream. Speaking of Phi Slama Jama, they had a Hakeem the Dream, the dream in the house and it still didn’t matter for the Alabama win. And we were talking about this Matt, on the Friday show. That’s the first time that Houston had hosted a top 10 game in that arena since 1966. And Elvin Hayes, hello, and Alabama won the game on Saturday. So some impressive stuff that we saw off the weekend.
Arizona also a big weekend win as well. So there’s a bunch off the weekend, a bunch for Monday. Here’s what the guys have on the best bets. To recap it if you’ve joined us as the show’s gone in progress. Corby again has got an underplay, and he’s on an Ivy League side. Mid-Major Matt going with Gonzaga. What a shock, what a surprise here. Going with Gonzaga’s team total at home. He loves points, points, points and he likes Arizona State in the neutral floor game with Creighton. Any final thoughts before we are done? Mid-Major matt, final thought before we’re good?
Matt:
I’m not saying that trends don’t have a place in college basketball, because the chat apparently is still raging on in this thing. And as I said, I appreciate what Rara is bringing to the chat. I don’t think that all of the trends apply to one game or this game, because trends don’t take current situation into account. As you mentioned, the Kalkbrenner thing and things like that. So I appreciate the trends, they just don’t always have a place when it comes to at least my handicap. That’s why they’re playing different handicapping.
TJ:
You’re being very diplomatic and being very polite, and we’re just going to keep beating up Rara because he keeps sounding off in the chat. When you’re quoting things from five years ago, you might as well be quoting things from 20 years ago. Because coaching staffs change, rosters change. I mean, it’s one thing if you’re like betting on Brady and the Patriots for 20 years with Belichick. That’s a trend to pay attention to. To switch sports, college basketball not so much. I’m off my soapbox. Corby Craig, final thought before we’re good?
Corby:
Yeah, I would go with they’re historic, not predictive, is the best way to put it. They tell you a lot, but they don’t tell you a lot of what’s coming. So they have a place, the place just isn’t here. But we do appreciate him being in the chat, obviously, it’s just joking.
TJ:
There you go. And all of it. All it back and forth. Final thought?
Corby:
Yeah, I hope Memphis gets smacked by Alabama. Unfortunate for you, but I would like to back Gonzaga.
TJ:
That’s a rematch revenge too for Alabama. Memphis beat them badly in Memphis. It’s a revenge for Alabama. They’re rolling along, my man Chris Stewart, the voice of the Crimson Tide basketball, went into Houston there with his guys and they were very impressive down the stretch of that game. We’ll see what happens with Alabama and Memphis later in the week. Guys, good luck with your plays. Go get them here tonight. Thank you Mid-Major Matt. Thank you, Corby Craig.
Matt:
Thank you.
TJ:
Antonio, and everybody at the American’s favorite sportsbook Bet US. Thank you. We thank you for watching. Be with us weekdays at 11:00 AM for the Bet US College basketball show.
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