- 12 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Today's Top Spreadline is brought to you on a Thursday edition of the Early Line right here on the Sports
00:05Grid Network.
00:06We're going to head to some Sunbelt action to get your day started.
00:09We'll get to the NBA. They get back on the court tonight.
00:116.30 p.m. though, Marshall taking on App State, Boone, North Carolina.
00:15Opening line overnight, Joe, two and a half.
00:17Marketplace where it sits today, two and a half across the board.
00:20A total of 143 and a half. Fun matchup here.
00:23Why? Marshall, number one in conference play on offense inefficiency.
00:27App State's defense, number one in conference play inefficiency here.
00:31Something has to give tonight, Joe. What's that spread line for Marshall, App State?
00:35I got to tell you, the Sunbelt is nuts, Donnie, what's happening right now in there.
00:40Because you've got an 8-5 Marshall team taking on the first place App State team at 10-5.
00:47But there are six teams, Donnie, that are within one and a half games of App State for first place.
00:53So every one of these games in the Sunbelt coming up over the next couple of weeks are going to
00:59have a huge effect on who ends up taking down the Sunbelt.
01:02And seeding, of course, we always know matters there because the Sunbelt likely only going to get one team into
01:09the tournament.
01:10But the best part is none of these teams are better or worse than anybody else.
01:15I mean, it is truly a coin flip league.
01:18And right now you're looking at, what, two and a half overnight.
01:21We're waking up. We're seeing still two and a half, maybe a three.
01:25We're seeing some twos.
01:27We are getting nothing but coin flips here, I think, from this point on in this conference.
01:32And I don't think this is any different, Donnie.
01:35And I'll tell you this.
01:36Home court matters in the Sunbelt.
01:38It has all season.
01:40Given that, I like App State here tonight to be able to hold on and get it done in first
01:45place.
01:47Let's go down to the Yangling Center in Tampa Bay, Florida.
01:50The American Conference here.
01:51You're going to have Memphis taking on South Florida.
01:53Joe, that line overnight, sat at eight and a half, still sits at most outlets this morning at eight and
01:57a half.
01:58A 158 and a half to 159 and a half number, depending on where you're shopping at live.
02:02If you look at the matchup in this one, University of South Florida on offense,
02:05number two in efficiency in conference play.
02:07Memphis' defense, number one in efficiency in conference play.
02:11Once again, a good matchup here, but an eight and a half point number, Joe.
02:14The spread line for you for Memphis and South Florida is what?
02:18Well, you know, the American Athletic Conference, it's interesting, Donnie.
02:22We thought that maybe Tulsa a month ago was going to run away with this conference because they were just,
02:28they looked unbeatable.
02:29Well, three straight losses later, and now South Florida is the team that sits atop of the American Athletic Conference.
02:38And listen, Memphis, could this be Penny's last year?
02:42A lot of people say he is on the hot seat, but over the years, he's done a great job
02:47as a dog in this role here.
02:50So South Florida has really leveled up their game.
02:53They can drop 80, 90 points on anybody.
02:55Can they stop Memphis here, though?
02:59This is really, you're fighting for Penny's job as far as I'm concerned with Memphis
03:03because nothing else is going to happen for them postseason-wise.
03:06But this feels like a big number for South Florida.
03:09And if they end up covering it, it could be bye-bye for Penny Hardaway.
03:15Teams with tempo in the OVC tonight, Joe.
03:18The Lindenwood Lions taking on Tennessee State.
03:21Minus three and a half overnight.
03:22Still sits at most outlets right now at minus three and a half.
03:25And I said we had some tempo in this game.
03:26Nice little juicy total.
03:27One sixty two and a half.
03:29Number one most efficient conference team on offense.
03:32That's Tennessee State here.
03:33They're at home.
03:34They're the favorites, Joe.
03:35What's your spread line?
03:37Again, this is another absolutely crazy conference, the OVC, right?
03:42Because number one through number six are all separated by just two games, Donnie.
03:48So, tonight, Lindenwood, who sits in sixth place, and we've got a Tennessee State team who is tied with three
03:55other teams there for second place.
03:57Both of these teams can technically grab the regular season crown with four games to go.
04:03So, this is, I mean, back and forth, back and forth.
04:07Here we go.
04:0822 and 12 or 13 and 7.
04:12Lindenwood has been very good at times this year, Donnie, and looked like they could run away with this conference.
04:19But they've hit the skids recently.
04:21But, my goodness, again, home court matters this time of season.
04:26And Tennessee State, they've been pretty good there, Donnie.
04:28It feels like they've got a big edge in this game against Lindenwood tonight.
04:33No NBA, no NHL, no football to pay attention to.
04:36College basketball, we told you would be in the spotlight.
04:38And last week, Joe, coming from a tweet from ESPN PR, big ratings here.
04:42A few games over a million and a half viewers here.
04:44And a lot of these big-time numbers, 1.8 million viewers for Florida and Kentucky.
04:51ABC's most-watched men's basketball game since 2008-2009.
04:56And also, 1.8 million viewers for Arizona and Kansas.
05:00That big Monday game's averaging 1.5 million viewers, an 81% increase year-over-year.
05:05Now, understand this.
05:06Increases there that we take a look at, a little bit different ratings.
05:08But also, this has a direct derivative of a lot of the people watching the NBA aren't missing the NBA.
05:15And they're like, yeah, I love college basketball, and we watch it.
05:19You know why, Donnie?
05:20Because the kind of effort that you're seeing in college basketball, you can't help it to get drawn in.
05:28And listen, you know, usually what happens this time of year is you have the people who love college basketball
05:34are diehards, hate the NBA.
05:36Those who like the NBA, want nothing to do with college basketball.
05:39But it is kind of hard.
05:40I mean, it has been such a great year, and I think it's all being fueled in college hoops right
05:47now.
05:47Not because we have these crazy super teams, Donnie, which we were all afraid was going to rule the world,
05:53but because this might be the greatest crop of freshman players that are legit NBA-ready in this generation
06:01within one year that are going to be absolute difference makers with whoever they get drafted by coming up.
06:09But if you want to know why people are tanking in the NBA so bad right now, watch college hoops,
06:15Donnie.
06:15And this kid, Akuf Jr., last night for Arkansas, tells you everything you need to know about this crop of
06:21freshman
06:21who you've never even heard of.
06:24Akuf Jr. played 50 minutes last night, scored 49 points.
06:28His team, they didn't even win that basketball game.
06:32117-115 final, double overtime extravaganza in the SEC, which was won by Alabama.
06:39Both identical records now.
06:40Arkansas, 19-7, 9-4 in the SEC.
06:43Same thing with Alabama.
06:4419-7 overall, 9-4 in the SEC.
06:47What a game.
06:47What a comeback.
06:4957-47.
06:50That was the halftime score, Joe.
06:52You got what you wanted.
06:54We told you, don't expect any defense.
06:56It doesn't exist with these two teams.
06:58We told you the numbers gave you on how many times.
07:01I mean, the combined stats of these two teams have been absolutely insane.
07:06Arkansas shot 60-plus percent in the first.
07:10They were making everything they threw up there.
07:13And you're going, Donnie, there's no way they can keep this up, right?
07:17Well, Alabama shot 80 percent in the second half to not only come back, but ultimately, eventually win the game.
07:25But just back and forth.
07:27Zero defense.
07:28All offense.
07:29And you know what?
07:30We'll take that any day of the week.
07:32Time to get down to the business here.
07:34Most of us, Joe, watch the regular season college basketball and thoroughly enjoy it.
07:38Did you know there's regular season champions?
07:39Yes, you do.
07:40But more importantly, we always look to the conference championships once they get to the tournament.
07:44Because why?
07:45That's the automatic bid that's up in the air.
07:47You don't get an automatic bid, which I know it sounds backwards.
07:49Hey, I just played 18 games with the best team in conference.
07:52Okay, great.
07:53Let's get to the conference tournament.
07:54Oh, no, I didn't win that.
07:55Yeah, you're no longer the conference champion.
07:56Wait a second.
07:57I won the race.
07:57Yeah, but that doesn't matter.
07:58It's only the three games that you play, not the 30 games that you play before here.
08:02But it is what it is in the Big East.
08:04It is going to be competitive.
08:05But it seems like, Joe, we're coming down to two teams here in the predictive markets
08:09that you need to take a look at.
08:10On Polymarket trading at 87 cents right now.
08:13It's St. John's.
08:14UConn trading at 76 cents now.
08:17They got beat last night by Creighton here.
08:19St. John's, UConn, the two favorites in this marketplace, Joe.
08:24Yeah, listen, truth be told, Donnie.
08:26I mean, I had Creighton yesterday.
08:27It was my best bet here on the show because UConn has been overvalued the entire year.
08:35But them losing that game outright, Donnie, I think might be the best thing to happen to Hurley in that
08:40team.
08:40Because better they do that now than, you know, come the first or second round of March Madness here.
08:48I'd rather get that out of the way.
08:50Kind of brings them back down to reality.
08:53So, yeah, I think St. John's is in that same boat where they're playing with fire and they're playing with
08:58their food a lot here.
09:00That game was much closer than it should have been yesterday.
09:03So, yeah, I think UConn still got some value ultimately to come back and finish out the regular season strong
09:10and take the title.
09:12Yeah, sometimes taking a loss like that, the coach gets to reinvent himself in practice.
09:16Ah, you wanted to do it your own way.
09:18Well, see where that got you.
09:19Now we're going to do it my way at this point.
09:21We'll see if Hurley can take the boys here.
09:22Regular, and again, regular season.
09:24Not championship once you get to the biggest tournament, which is phenomenal at Madison Square Garden.
09:28Let's get to those best bets of the day.
09:31Sweep yesterday.
09:32Looking for a sweep today.
09:33Here's bye, bye, bye.
09:40Bring it, Joe.
09:41What do you got?
09:43Well, Donnie, I'm going to head down to Tampa here, and I'm going to look at this Memphis and South
09:49Florida game here in the American Athletic.
09:52And listen, it could not go any worse for Memphis than what it's been like here over the last couple
09:58of weeks.
09:59They take a trip, take on a non-conference foe in Utah State, get blown out, and then Penny Hardaway
10:06is complaining about how dare you leave the starters in the game up 30 with four minutes left.
10:11Then he just threw off one of his senior leaders on the bench, threw him off the team.
10:19They're bringing another guy back.
10:21It is an absolute mess for Memphis.
10:24Having said that, Donnie, they're only a half a game out of second place right now.
10:28And that's going to matter because their only shot at making it to March Madness would be to win the
10:34conference tournament.
10:35So the higher the seating, the better.
10:38This feels like a bye-low spot and a very desperate Memphis team taking on the first place South Florida
10:45team.
10:46So I'll take the eight and a half points here.
10:48Hold my nose.
10:49But I think Memphis, you'll get a really good effort from them tonight.
10:55And by the way, the NBA is coming back tonight.
10:57Interesting where you don't know really what you're going to get from either side.
11:00So I went back also, Joe, to college basketball tonight.
11:03LIU taking on St. Francis.
11:05And according to Ken Palm, St. Francis is the 356th ranked team here.
11:08Not a good one, but interesting.
11:10In conference play, they actually have a decent offense.
11:12But LIU's defense, number one in efficiency, number one in effective field goal percentage,
11:17number one in defending the three-point line, and number two in chasing you off of the three-point line.
11:22So if you look at St. Francis' offense here, they actually can shoot the three-point shot.
11:26But the strength of the defense for LIU is defending it and chasing you off of that.
11:29And also understand this.
11:30They don't shoot free throws all that well.
11:32So we're going back to the well with what we saw yesterday.
11:35How about St. Francis PA's team total under 69 and a half?
11:40We're going with it, Joe.
11:42Sounds like a 2-0 college basketball night once again for the boys.
11:46Punching tickets until we get to Friday, where you know Friday is payday.
11:51Joe Ranieri, Donnie Wrightside, another show in the can.
11:53We'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning.
Comments