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00:00It's your only line right here on the Sports Grid Network.
00:02It's Joe and Donnie in the morning.
00:03Time to get you those spread lines that you need to know for a Thursday.
00:07And we start, Joe, in the Big Ten.
00:09Michigan takes on Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
00:12Look at this line overnight.
00:14Sat at minus 9.5 and still sits at just about every outlet, Joe, now at 9.5.
00:19You see that graphic there at 8.5.
00:20A little bit of dip in the market here, possibly coming back up.
00:23145.5 as the total.
00:24The one thing we know about Michigan, according to Ken Palm,
00:26number two overall in his rating system, but also understand this.
00:30Number one in conference play inside the arc, shooting at 61%.
00:34Going up against Iowa's defense, who's 16th out of 18 teams at defending inside the arc.
00:40Close to a double-digit favorite for Michigan tonight on the road.
00:43Joe, what's your spread line for this one tonight?
00:46Well, keep in mind what is on deck here for Michigan.
00:49I'll start with that, Donnie.
00:51And what's on deck for them is Michigan State for senior day.
00:56So, this is going to go, I think, Donnie, one of two ways.
01:00This is either going to be Michigan just laughing as they run up and down the court
01:05and drop 90 points and beat the snot out of Iowa.
01:09Or it's going to be Iowa, who does the unthinkable like their football team
01:14and punts 17 times and manages to win a game 13 to 12.
01:18I tend to think it's going to be the first one there, Donnie.
01:21I tend to think Michigan is going to handle their business.
01:24They're a much better team than Iowa.
01:27Decent season for Iowa.
01:29But this is a heavyweight fighting a middleweight in this one.
01:32I'm kind of shocked, Donnie.
01:33And I think the only reason it's not double digits is simply because, yeah,
01:38who's on deck and what's coming up for Michigan on Saturday.
01:42Keep it in the college basketball here.
01:44I'm going to let Sunday action, man.
01:46And by the way, last day of the regular season here for the major conferences here.
01:50Next week we start conference play and also the following weekend, boom, Selection Sunday.
01:55Joe, South Florida is going to play Memphis tonight.
01:57If I would tell the people out here, one team is on a seven-game winning streak,
02:00one team is on a six-game losing streak, of course, South Florida is a team on the losing streak
02:04and Memphis is really good.
02:05Not the case.
02:06Penny Hardaway, what's going on?
02:08South Florida invades Memphis tonight as a six-and-a-half-point favorite
02:12with a total of 159-and-a-half.
02:16South Florida's defense, number one overall in conference play for efficiency,
02:19and also South Florida's offense, number two overall in efficiency here.
02:23Something has to give, but Memphis, what happened, Joe?
02:26What's your spread line here?
02:28They're just a hot mess.
02:29And this is the final home game for Memphis, right?
02:32So is this the Penny Hardaway final home game as the head coach of Memphis?
02:37That could very well be what we're going to see here tonight.
02:41But offensively, these two teams are in two different worlds.
02:44South Florida will have no problem scoring on Memphis.
02:47Memphis has had a lot of injuries.
02:49They've had roster attrition here.
02:52They've had guys thrown off the team.
02:54This season can't get over fast enough for Penny Hardaway and Memphis.
02:59South Florida should have no problem handling business here tonight.
03:02But the big question is, with another big loss, which could be for Penny Hardaway,
03:09does he survive that?
03:10Is he back next year as the head coach of Memphis?
03:13Well, no.
03:14I think this game's going to go a long way into deciding that.
03:17College basketball action heating up.
03:19Why?
03:20Only a few days left.
03:21We should just call it a few hours left in the regular season for college basketball.
03:25Conference tournaments for the big boys fired up next weekend.
03:27A lot of these games already going on now in some of the smaller conferences.
03:30But the one team that continues to get national headlines, it seems a little polarizing,
03:35is Miami of Ohio.
03:36They're undefeated.
03:37And tomorrow, we will spend a pretty good chunk of a segment talking about their final
03:41game against Ohio on the road tomorrow to complete that perfect regular season.
03:46But it is true.
03:47You look at their schedule, Joe.
03:48It's not all that daunting at this point.
03:50But Joe, you've talked about it a few times on the show.
03:53It's not as if Michigan, Indiana, Miami, Texas are picking up the phone saying, you know,
03:59I have to play a decent mid-level team from the MAAC conference.
04:03Because if we beat them, it doesn't mean anything.
04:05But if they beat them, it's good for them.
04:07And it embarrasses our franchise and the way we go here.
04:09Miami has not played a quad one game just yet.
04:12But I don't necessarily blame them for that.
04:14It's not probably like they were ducking teams.
04:16It's that those mid-majors don't get chances anymore to play some of those upper-level teams.
04:21Well, no, Donnie.
04:22Actually, it's the opposite.
04:23Because when they were trying to schedule non-conference games and tournaments early on
04:30in the season this year, they called no less than five power five teams.
04:36And you know what they said?
04:37No, thanks.
04:38We're good to go.
04:39And why?
04:40Well, nobody wanted a piece of them because they were one of the very few mid-major programs
04:45that returned just about everybody on this roster.
04:49You're talking about a team, Donnie.
04:51They were very good last year, too.
04:53And they returned everybody.
04:54But when they were trying to set the schedule for this year, the non-conference games, every
04:59time they picked up the phone and called a team that would have given them a quad one
05:04win, you know what?
05:05They hung the phone up on them.
05:07So it wasn't like they didn't try.
05:09But all you can do is take on the people who are on your schedule.
05:13And I don't care who you are.
05:15You win 31 games, Donnie.
05:17I don't care if they're quad one, two, or three.
05:19You win 31 straight.
05:20You're in my book.
05:23Yeah, we can get them in here.
05:24It's good for the tournament.
05:25And if we always, hey, Blue Bloods get ratings.
05:27Now, you know what gets ratings here?
05:28Well, I want to see how the team that's undefeated in the regular season actually meets some
05:31real competition.
05:32If they win the game, fantastic.
05:33If they lose it, fantastic as well, because people will watch and talk about it here.
05:37Now, here's where we get to the juicy arguments, Joe, is in the past, it was like, hey,
05:42why is that guy in sweatpants?
05:43I didn't know he was injured.
05:44Now the NCAA is like, yeah, we're in bed with gambling.
05:46We're going to help those gamblers out.
05:48Why?
05:48We're going to make sure that we have processes here for March Madness player availability
05:52reports.
05:53So you don't go and bet Kentucky and their star player goes, eh, had a migraine today.
05:59Nobody knew about it, but I'm sitting this one out.
06:01Yeah, it's kind of great, right?
06:03The great big secret, Donnie.
06:05And football's even worse.
06:07They should do this in college football more than anything else, because trying to get
06:11information about who's going, who's healthy, who's not is brutal here.
06:15College basketball, yeah, is Darren Peterson playing?
06:18Is he not playing, Donnie?
06:19How many times have we said that on this show this year, and we have to wait until actual
06:24shoot around, and then we still don't know whether or not he's going to show up.
06:28So it's nice to see at least the NCAA stepping in to do something that makes sense.
06:34I can't tell you the amount of games I spent watching on those Tuesdays and Wednesdays in
06:39the MAAC conference during midweek action, where it was MAAC-tion, and they're like, okay,
06:43I bet on a game, like, okay, this quarterback should be pretty good tonight, warms up, and
06:46then comes out in sweatpants because he was actually suspended for the game, but they
06:49didn't want the other team to know, which includes the people in calling the game and
06:53also watching at home.
06:55I do like this step in the right direction here.
06:56We'll see if it works.
06:57Mick Cronin's at it again.
06:59By the way, UCLA playing some good basketball as a plate, but he's floating the idea of
07:03bird rights for allowing schools to exceed the revenue share cap to retain their own
07:07players.
07:08What are we doing here?
07:09It's like in the NFL, hey, why don't you just let the good teams pay all their players
07:13more amounts of money so they can't leave in free agency and we have a dynasty?
07:16Stop, Mick.
07:17Come on.
07:17Stop it, Mick.
07:18Yeah.
07:19Yeah.
07:19He's also complaining that, you know, the game he won the other night was apparently it
07:23started too late, right?
07:25Like, he's just, he was all upset there that the kid's got to go to Claire.
07:30He is not happy, Donnie, unless he is complaining about something.
07:35And it doesn't make a difference.
07:37It's either some grandiose idea or the refs or the time or the travel.
07:43It's unbelievable.
07:44But you know what?
07:45As long as you keep winning games, UCLA, well, Mick Cronin will be your guy.
07:50But yeah, let's not build dynasties.
07:52How's that work out, Mick?
07:55Hey, sometimes we talk about Joe and I say like, man, why didn't my dad own the Philadelphia
07:59Eagles, the New York Jets or the Miami Dolphins?
08:01And by the time I turned 35 years old, he just gave the team to me.
08:04Well, we're not on this level, but check out Bruce Pearl talking about Auburn and his
08:07son, Steven, and sitting on the NCAA tournament here.
08:10Am I rooting for my son to make the NCAA tournament?
08:12Of course I am.
08:13Did I help my son get the Auburn job?
08:15Of course I did.
08:17We're just outing ourselves now, Joe, aren't we?
08:20That's a nepotism at its finest.
08:22But wasn't he supposed to run for Congress or Senate or something?
08:26I mean, like, why did he leave the job to begin with?
08:29I don't, so he can make fun of Miami of Ohio, apparently.
08:34I mean, have another cookout, get in NCAA trouble, do something, do something out there.
08:39More Hot Topics on the way.
08:40Let's get some fade to public poll action right here.
08:51Easy peasy on this question today.
08:53At Sports Grid, Joe, will Miami of Ohio earn an NCAA tournament bid this year?
08:58They deserve it.
08:59Trending now at close to 94%.
09:02No is around 6% here.
09:05Put them in.
09:06They earned it.
09:07By the way, Joe, tomorrow, usually a football Friday during football season.
09:10Tomorrow is a Miami Friday as they will complete it and go unbeaten in the regular season and
09:15force the committee to put them in, Joe.
09:17How do you feel about that?
09:19Well, yeah.
09:20I mean, listen, there is no reason to think at this particular point that they're not going
09:25to get past Ohio.
09:27They are going to get Ohio's best punch, right?
09:30But they've gotten everybody's best punch at this particular point, and they have weathered
09:35the storm.
09:36I think they're going to be up for it, Donnie.
09:38This team has showed nothing but moxie all season long.
09:41They've tuned it out.
09:43They'll win that and go undefeated in the regular season.
09:46Let's go Miami.
09:48Big day tomorrow.
09:49We'll certainly cover that and much more.
09:50But now it's time to give out those best bets you love.
09:52Here's bye, bye, bye.
09:59Show them the way, Joe.
10:01Not what Florida State did last night.
10:03Let's go.
10:05Well, I mean, hopefully you had Florida State on the money line because a wild half-court
10:11buzzer three is the only reason Pittsburgh covered that game last night, but I digress.
10:16I don't think a buzzer beater is going to beat us here tonight, Donnie, because Michigan
10:22in its second-to-last game, they've got Michigan State on Sunday, which is always fun, but they
10:28are going to be on the road taking on Iowa, and I'm telling you, this is a heavyweight
10:33versus a middleweight here.
10:35You're talking about a Michigan team that's already beaten the fifth-best team in the country,
10:40seven-best team, ninth-best team, 11th-best team, 12th-best team, and they've done it
10:45by a combined 80 points, and four of those games against top 25 teams have been on the
10:52road.
10:53I do—this is not going to be Iowa football where they're going to punt 19 times and win
10:59the game 5-4.
11:00Not happening.
11:02This is going to be a blowout, double-digit win by Michigan tonight.
11:06No worries there.
11:07And then Michigan State, that's a different game and a different topic for tomorrow.
11:11By the way, as Joe's pointing out here, Sunday is the last day of the regular season in college
11:15basketball.
11:15Next week, the big boys play in their conference tournaments.
11:18Then we get to Selection Sunday and on our way to Dayton for the first four.
11:22But before we get there, Joe, a lot of battles to be decided on the court here.
11:25Let's take a look at the Cal State market.
11:27Michigan versus Iowa.
11:29If we look at this, an 80% chance that Michigan does win this game tonight.
11:33Trading it a 20% chance.
11:35That's the Iowa Hawkeyes.
11:36They're the home team, Joe.
11:37But if we are looking at spreads and totals, 55% chance that we get a cover of 8.5
11:43points
11:44for Michigan.
11:45Total listed at 145.5.
11:47Trading at 49% right now.
11:50Joe, heavy favor for Michigan.
11:51A couple different ways to invest your money tonight.
11:54Yeah, and listen, you know, we just talked about it, Donnie, here that Michigan has had
11:59no issues under any circumstances on beating top 25 teams this year.
12:06And Iowa's had a nice season, but Iowa lacks the firepower or the size, especially in the
12:13paint, to be able to stop Michigan in any way, shape, or form.
12:16Again, it's a little bit of a look-ahead spot here for Michigan with Michigan State on senior
12:22day for the final game.
12:23But they have been road warriors.
12:26They have not been beaten on the road yet.
12:29The first time since Bobby Knight's Indiana teams you'd have to go back to.
12:35It was the last time a Big Ten team has not lost on the road.
12:39They're not losing this game against Iowa.
12:41This isn't the McCaffrey, you know, Iowa teams of years past.
12:46I think Michigan wins.
12:47And I would look in the team total market, Donnie, as well.
12:51I got no problem thinking they can reach 90 points in this game.
12:56And I think they'll do it rather easily.
12:59By the way, some mismatch years for Michigan as an offense here.
13:02The team that fouls the most in Big Ten play here, it's actually Iowa.
13:05You know who gets the line the second most amount of times here?
13:07It's Michigan.
13:08You take a look at inside the paint.
13:09There's 18 teams in the Big Ten.
13:1116th at defending inside the paint.
13:13And who's number one at scoring inside the arc?
13:15It's the Michigan Wolverines.
13:16And, Joe, we always like to point out these concepts between, let's just say,
13:19FanDuel and DraftKings and what you can and can't do in the predictive markets here.
13:22If you feel that Michigan is going to run away and you want some plus money in your pocket,
13:26how about sliding it over to have Michigan win by 11.5 points, Joe?
13:30That's trading at 41%, which means a $100 investment would pay you back $244 plus money in your pocket.
13:39I got no problem with that.
13:40I mean, listen, they are, Donnie, the outside of Duke, right?
13:46They are the best team in the country from one of the best conferences here.
13:50I have no doubt that, yes, that game against Michigan State is going to be a war, but at the
13:56same time,
13:57they've done a great job of handling business against the teams they're supposed to beat.
14:01They'll beat Iowa, and they'll beat them rather easily.
14:05How about this next game, Joe?
14:07We're going to talk about South Florida and Memphis as we opened up the show saying,
14:10wait a second, would you know if South Florida is on an extended win streak or Memphis is on a
14:14losing streak?
14:15You probably think that would be reversed.
14:17Not the case.
14:18Memphis can't get out of their own way, and South Florida, Joe, comes in absolutely scorching hot.
14:23To win this game outright, trading at a 71% chance, that's South Florida.
14:2729% for Memphis, if we look at the line itself, minus 6.5 listed here as a favorite for
14:33South Florida.
14:34That's trading at 50% even at this point.
14:37The total looks high at 160.5, Joe.
14:40One team going in one direction, one team going in another.
14:43Yeah, and then the big question remains, right?
14:46Are we watching the last Penny Hardaway coach game at Memphis, their final home game?
14:52It's a possibility, or though there are some that believe and there are some rumors that he will stay.
14:58But if you want to look at some of those markets where, you know, coaches being fired or replaced,
15:05Memphis and Penny Hardaway might be one of those places to look.
15:09But ultimately, too inconsistent for Memphis.
15:12South Florida offensively, you said it, Donnie, has been unreal this year.
15:18They will have no problem scoring on this Memphis team, who's playing a lot of guys that shouldn't be.
15:24They've already had to let some guys go on this roster.
15:28It has been a rough season for Memphis.
15:30I think South Florida handles business.
15:33I think they handle it rather easily.
15:35And it wouldn't shock me if this game goes flying over that total.
15:39And by the way, South Florida's defense showed number one in efficiency.
15:42There's only 13 teams in conference play.
15:4412th in efficiency on offense is Memphis.
15:46And here's the issue we always run into.
15:47South Florida will turn you over.
15:49And you know who turns the basketball over more than any team in their conference?
15:52It's Memphis at close to 20%.
15:55That means one out of five possessions.
15:56They don't need to get a shot up here.
15:58That's never going to work in your favor.
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