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00:00Let's jump over to the college basketball scene tonight on a Friday night at 8 o'clock start.
00:04It's a Big East tilt.
00:05It's UConn taking on St. John's.
00:07This line opened up as a minus 1.5 point favorite towards UConn.
00:10Now we're seeing 2.5s in the marketplace as a favorite for the Huskies.
00:15144.5 is the total in this game.
00:17And if we look at the matchup in the Big East, the number one most efficient offense in Big East play, it's St. John's.
00:23The number one most efficient defense in Big East play, it's UConn.
00:26Great battle on a Friday night from MSG.
00:29Joe, what's your spread line?
00:31Yeah, I mean, Donnie, we saw this last night.
00:34There was a book or two that had this as almost a pick-em, minus one a pick-em, you know, with St. John's, of course, being the home team here.
00:44And now we've seen nothing overnight but UConn money.
00:47Now this is, as of now, Donnie, this is the ultimate UConn test, right?
00:52The only other game in which UConn looks to be favored by less than eight points is going to be a road game against Nova on the 21st.
01:03They are up to an 11% chance to go undefeated in the Big East.
01:07Now would it shock you, Donnie, if I told you?
01:10They would be the first team to ever go undefeated in the Big East in league history.
01:16That's what's going on here right now with UConn.
01:20The fact that they are only this short a favorite, boy, oh boy, this is kind of the big test here.
01:27Are we taking UConn serious?
01:28Have they been playing with fire too often?
01:31The Johnnies are going to give them a run for their money here tonight.
01:34Let's go down to the MVC.
01:36That's Belmont taking on Illinois-Chicago.
01:39This line opened up overnight, roughly a three-and-a-half point favorite here for the road team, Belmont.
01:42And it still sits at three-and-a-half at just about every outlet.
01:45Some threes and some two-and-a-halves are starting to get into the marketplace.
01:48But a total, let's sit at 150-and-a-half.
01:51The one thing we know about the MVC, Belmont, the most efficient offense in play.
01:56Effective field goal position, number one.
01:58Three-point percentage, number one.
01:59Two-point percentage, number one.
02:01We should get some points in this game.
02:03But also, Joe, what's your spread line between these two?
02:06Yeah, you got to love Belmont, man.
02:08They have been absolutely dominant.
02:10There are pure shooters on this team.
02:12It's actually a great brand of basketball that they play.
02:16And listen, if they win tonight, the Missouri Valley race, pretty much done with, right?
02:21Already, I think, Donnie, 87% chance that they're going to win the league outright heading into this game.
02:27A win here against UIC, who has been great, number 130 in Ken Palm here.
02:33This has actually been a very, very good team.
02:36But, you know, Belmont's not going to be anywhere near the tournament bubble if they lose here.
02:43But at a certain point, you know, I'd rather see a 27-and-6 Belmont team over a 19-and-14 Ohio State team, Donnie.
02:52So I'm rooting for Belmont here because I think they can do some damage in March Madness.
02:56A-10 action, Dayton going to take on VCU at VCU.
03:01This line opened up overnight, minus 7-and-a-half, still sits at most outlets here, Joe, at 7-and-a-half, and a total of 149-and-a-half.
03:08The matchup's going to be VCU's offense, number two in conference play in efficiency, going up against Dayton's defense, number two in conference in efficiency here.
03:16Spread line for you, Joe.
03:17Dayton, VCU, and the A-10 tonight.
03:19Yeah, it's not going well for Dayton here.
03:23But we are seeing a lot of overnight VCU money coming into this one.
03:27Also, starting to see the total tick down a little bit here.
03:31So it just has not gone well for Dayton this season.
03:37They've lost some games they should have won.
03:39They've gotten blown out in games that basically teams were better than them, Matt.
03:45You don't see that with Dayton.
03:47So it's been a nice run, but I think changes are coming.
03:51And I think VCU at home, yeah, there's a reason why they are this big a favorite over to Dayton Flyers, which hasn't happened in years past like this, Donnie.
04:01Yeah, Anthony Grant's Dayton squad had a four-game losing streak.
04:04LaSalle, St. Joe's, Rhode Island, then got beat by 30 points to St. Louis before bouncing back with a two-point victory over St. Bonaventure.
04:11We'll see what happens tonight.
04:11Men's College basketball, a 21-1 start for the Michigan Wolverines, their best start in their history, which means, Joe, they must be pulverizing teams.
04:22And they did that once again last night.
04:24We were talking about a two-touchdown-plus victor.
04:26Actually, excuse me, it was 24-and-a-half yesterday, easily dispatching of Penn State, who drops to 1-11 in the Big Ten, Joe.
04:351-10-69.
04:37And off until Michigan, if you're not ready, can beat you down.
04:41Yeah, and listen, they have done, under good old Dusty May there, Michigan, they have done this all year long, where the bottom teams here, right, the not very good teams, they have done a great job of just pulverizing and leaving absolutely nothing to chance.
04:59They've done it very, very well.
05:01Well, the only question you had wasn't if they were going to win, Donnie.
05:04It was a matter of by how much coming off of a big week in which they ended up beating, you know, undefeated Nebraska last week, as well as on the road against Michigan State.
05:14So you were wondering, were they going to have maybe a little bit of a letdown?
05:18Yeah, no, no, no.
05:19They destroyed them from the opening tip right until the end.
05:23And by the way, Joe, we got big-time basketball in the city of New York tonight.
05:29Connecticut going to take on St. John's.
05:31St. John's, the underdog in the garden?
05:34Say it isn't so.
05:35We haven't seen that since Prince Hakeem in coming to America.
05:38Yes!
05:39I love halftime.
05:40Come on now.
05:41What's going to happen in this game tonight?
05:42UConn and St. John's.
05:44Well, again, for those that might have missed it, I mean, this game has got some significance to it as far as history goes.
05:51Because UConn is going to have the opportunity to do something that no other team in Big East history has ever done.
05:58And that is go undefeated in the Big East.
06:02This is the shortest spread that they're a favorite in, Donnie.
06:05The only other game that they're going to be a favorite of less than or eight points or less, that's going to be Villanova.
06:12And that game is coming up on the 21st.
06:15But right now, if they win this game, they got a really good chance of being, well, historic, shall we say.
06:22And this doesn't feel like a historically great UConn team.
06:26But let's face it, some of the other teams in the Big East this year, not exactly historically great either.
06:32But the Johnnies are pretty much the only thing standing in the way right now from them and running the tables in the Big East.
06:39Yeah, when does DePaul get kicked out of the Big East, by the way?
06:41I mean, enough of the madness at this point here.
06:43Let's flip it over, Joe, to the ACC on a Saturday.
06:46One of the more legendary teams, the Duke Blue Devils taking on another legendary team in UNC.
06:53What a rivalry we have.
06:54And also, Duke as the favorite on the road at minus 5.5 in a total that currently sits at 150.5.
07:00Duke, the best offense in ACC play with an efficiency rating of 121.6.
07:06Going up against a defense they can get after.
07:09Duke, UNC, the rivalry renewed on Saturday.
07:14Yeah, this was a game that we had thought maybe, all right, you know, Duke with Boston College, which was one of our favorite plays earlier in the week here, Donnie.
07:23You know, we said, boy, this is a big look-ahead spot here because Duke's got North Carolina in North Carolina coming up here.
07:32And I think this is going to be good because North Carolina right now is playing its best basketball.
07:38They made a lineup change.
07:40They inserted a freshman at the guard position.
07:42They had a terrible road trip out west a couple of weeks ago.
07:46But ever since then, Donnie, they have been running the table.
07:50They look a lot more like the North Carolina teams of old.
07:54So this is going to be a war.
07:56And I can tell you, Donnie, that number feels a little light as far as the total goes.
08:00I think we might get some points here in this one.
08:04I think it's going to be a wild shootout.
08:07Illinois and Michigan State, 8 p.m. Saturday night from Spartyville.
08:12Illinois comes to town.
08:13They're not the favorites.
08:14It's actually Michigan State at a minus one and a half.
08:16We just saw a short while ago Michigan State play Michigan.
08:18It's like, ooh, really good defense.
08:19How do they hold up?
08:20They didn't.
08:21Now coming to town, Illinois, the most efficient offense in Big Ten play,
08:25going up against the most efficient defense in Big Ten play in Michigan State.
08:30Michigan State, the slight favorite in this game.
08:32Do we agree with that, Joe?
08:34Well, I mean, listen, we just watched them lose to what?
08:38Minnesota?
08:38I mean, they've got a point guard there that loves to play iso ball, thinks he's James Harden.
08:46He's also going around kicking guys in the groin every chance he gets.
08:50I mean, it's not.
08:53I mean, Jeremy Fears is, yeah, not playing very well.
08:57And unfortunately, Michigan State goes as he goes.
09:02And it has not been a good stretch here.
09:04So back-to-back losses for them at home, it screams Michigan State in a bounce back.
09:11But you would have thought they handled business against Minnesota, but they did not.
09:15By the way, that highlight clip of Jeremy Fears, you would figure it was like,
09:18oh, is that an accumulation of all the time he's been at Michigan State,
09:21or at least this season alone?
09:22No, it was one game.
09:23He's like a bowling ball when you're not watching that's set on destruction,
09:28terror, and mayhem for opposing opponents here.
09:31We'll see if that plays into it here.
09:32How about the Iron Bowl on the basketball court?
09:35Auburn taking on Alabama in SEC play.
09:39Auburn, Joe, opened up as the favorite at minus one and a half,
09:41still sitting today at minus one and a half.
09:43And look at that total.
09:45A juicy 176 and a half.
09:49Alabama and Auburn from Auburn here.
09:51What gives?
09:53Well, we just watched Alabama take on Texas A&M,
09:56and we said, all right, but, you know, tricky spot here
09:59because Bama knows what they've got coming up on deck,
10:02and Texas A&M has been overperforming, shall we say,
10:07based upon what we thought they were going to be preseason.
10:09And that total in that game, Donnie, was close to 180.
10:13And guess what?
10:14That went flying over the total.
10:16First one to 100 wins.
10:18Doesn't it feel like this is exactly what we're going to get in this game, too?
10:22It feels like, especially Auburn, they live by the three,
10:27die by the three in a lot of spots as well.
10:29It feels like points are coming and in bunches in that game.
10:34BYU is going to take on Houston on Saturday.
10:37BYU had everything in front of them here.
10:39Yeah, they suffered an early two-point loss to Connecticut, Joe,
10:42but how about this?
10:43Four out of the past five games, they've come up on the losing side.
10:47Losing to Texas Tech, losing to Arizona, losing to Kansas,
10:50and losing to Oklahoma State, 99-92.
10:53Now they try to bounce back against Houston at this point.
10:56Houston's on the road as a two-and-a-half-point favorite.
10:58Is this a good spot to buy back on Dibansa and the crew,
11:01or is Houston just too much for BYU,
11:03who's quite frankly struggling, to say the least, right now?
11:07Yeah, we knew this was going to be a tough stretch for BYU.
11:11And what happened with Oklahoma State, Donnie,
11:13is we see a lot of times, we say, right,
11:16the game prior, that loss to Kansas,
11:20they basically lost that Kansas game twice
11:23by losing to Oklahoma State.
11:25That should have been a bounce-back spot,
11:27but they were still smarting after that Kansas loss.
11:31Now they've got to go into Houston,
11:33and it's heading in the wrong direction.
11:36Listen, the kid is still going to be the number one,
11:38if not, you know, number two pick in the NBA draft,
11:42I've answered, but my goodness,
11:43they've got to start fast, Donnie.
11:46They're always trailing at the break
11:48and have to make these huge comebacks,
11:50and sometimes they fall short.
11:52They can't do that with Houston.
11:54This game could be over in the first half.
12:00I'm smashing the NBA, Joe.
12:02I'm going to do it again tonight.
12:03Where are you going with your action for the people?
12:05I'm going to the Mo Valley.
12:09That's right.
12:10Missouri Valley for a rematch
12:12between Drake and Illinois State here tonight.
12:16Now, we saw this game back in December,
12:19late December,
12:21and Illinois State just absolutely destroyed Drake.
12:25Act Drake, by the way,
12:28which was kind of crazy.
12:29A, they shot lights out,
12:31which they usually do, the Redbirds.
12:32They were 13-23 from three.
12:36But they also, believe it or not,
12:37won by 17,
12:39and they turned the ball over 23 times
12:41and still blew out Drake.
12:44Drake has got the worst defense
12:46in the Missouri Valley.
12:48It is absolutely not like the Drake teams of old.
12:53This is a big spread, 9.5-10,
12:56but it's just not a good matchup for Drake.
12:59Now they have to go on the road.
13:00Illinois State, yeah,
13:03they are going to win by double digits,
13:04just like Bradley did twice against them,
13:07and so did Belmont.
13:09Lay the big number with Illinois State here tonight, Donnie,
13:12because I am.
13:12The Redbirds.
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