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Jim Sez : 2/16/2011 Valentine's Day Massacre Now 6-2 Over Tue & Wed! Cashline Goes 2-0! THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL MID-WEEK REPORT IS HERE - CATCH OUR KEY WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY PREVIEWS INCLUDING #3 TEXAS HOSTING OKIE STATE PLUS THREE TEAMS RIGHT NOW THAT ARE ON THE"WRONG SIDE OF THE BUBBLE" By Jim Hurley: Okay, so maybe the recent results prove that it's not such a great idea to have #1 attached before your school name - go ahead and ask Ohio State and Kansas about that! - but the fact remains there is a mad scramble these days for those four #1 seeds in next month's NCAA Tournament and right here/right now we'd say the teams getting those top seeds still would include the aforementioned O-State Buckeyes and KU Jayhawks along with the Texas Longhorns and than either Pittsburgh or Duke - depending on whomever wins their respective conference tournies or whomever goes further in those said mini-tournies. Meanwhile, it's become increasingly clear that there will not be an absolute"monster" in the upcoming NCAA Tournament - anyone and everyone in that field of 68 teams could"be had" and now here's a couple of question to mull over while we get nearer to Selection Sunday on March 13th... Is the Big East Conference really as good as advertised? There continues to be non-stop chatter regarding the possibility that as many as 11 Big East teams could find their way into the NCAA Tournament - folks, that ain't gonna happen and we'll go on record now to say this bloated 16-team conference will get only 8 or 9 teams into the field. No doubt the seven teams listed in this week's Associated Press - we'll wait while you look 'em up! - are lead-pipe cinches for the"Big Dance" but there will be a major battle royal for the other one or two spots between the likes of West Virginia, Marquette, Cincinnati and St. John's and the deciding factor here could well be head-to-head verdicts or else who's the hottest side while coming down the stretch. Finally, what about the so-called mid-majors now that there are three additional teams in this new 68-team field? Gut feeling is that these mid-majors will be the big winners as odds are the likes Colonial Athletic, West Coast and Missouri Valley Conferences will also get more-than-usual representation and we can already see the smiling faces on the campuses at Old Dominion, Gonzaga and Northern Iowa. Just remember that Jim Hurley and his Network of Handicappers and Bloggers get you all the College Basketball and NBA Winners this winter week when you check in on Game Days anytime after 1 p.m. ET on Mondays-through-Fridays and after 10 a.m. ET on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays right here online or else at our exclusive toll-free telephone # of 1-800-323-4453. Make sure to be with America's #1 Handicapper all through this thrilling and profitable b-ball ride that lasts till June! COLLEGE BASKETBALL MID-WEEK PREVIEWS There are lots of high-quality mid-week matchups on the College Basketball schedule and here are a few key tilts: On Wednesday, it's... Texas did have to battle its way to a 69-60 non-cover win against 11-point underdog Baylor last Saturday as freshman Tristan Thomas was a stat-sheet stuffer with 17 points and 13 rebounds but how about the fact that the Longhorns shot below 60 percent from the foul line (see 22-of-37) and still won handily? If Oklahoma State - a 15-point pup at press time - is gonna send any type of shock waves through Rick Barnes' crew than draining all its FTs is key and note sparkplug G Keiton Page has converted 31 of his last 34 charity stripe tosses... just thought you'd like to know! #9 GEORGETOWN (20-5, 9-4 Big East) at #13 CONNECTICUT (19-5, 7-5 Big East) - 7 p.m. ET On Thursday, it's... What to watch for with Washington State? Well, Ken Bone's crew better make 'em when they hoist up their triples as State actually shot a combined 9-of-42 from beyond the arc in recent games against Stanford and California - hey, State has alternated wins and losses in its last seven games and here the Coogs come off last Saturday's 75-71 non-cover win against 6-point road dog California. Will WSU now stop that win, loss, win, loss bit here? Not likely!
COLLEGE B-BALL NEWS & NOTES - HERE'S A TRIO OF TEAMS ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKIN' IN RIGHT NOW AT THIS YEAR'S NCAA TOURNAMENT One thing about being/getting this deep into a College Basketball season: It may seem like time is running out on the season but there are still opportunities to sway the course of public opinion - a/k/a the NCAA Tournament Committee folks. In other words, there's a batch of major-college hoop teams that right now are on the"wrong side of the bubble" when it comes to this year's tourney but they can turn the beat around with a fast finish these final 11 or 12 days in February and right into early March. Now here - without further ado - are Three (3) College Basketball Teams right now on the outside lookin' in at this year's NCAA Tournament but still with time/games to snag an at-large berth: UNLV (19-7, 7-5 Mountain West Conference) - College hoop fans are well aware that the UNLV Rebels will be host (as usual) to this year's Mountain West Conference Tournament next month but short of winning the automatic bid by winning the whole ball of wax then, Lon Kruger's club has its work cut out for 'em these days after dropping two of its last three games (at BYU and than to San Diego State) prior to Tuesday's unimpressive 49-42 non-cover win against 15-point dog Air Force. The odds are UNLV needs to at least split its four remaining regular-season games and losses at New Mexico and/or at Utah are bound to hurt. TENNESSEE (15-10, 5-5 SEC) - Don't count out Bruce Pearl's club just yet... but the funny thing is the Volunteers played better without their rather loud-mouth head coach on the sidelines. Now that Pearl's getting his legs back after serving an eight-game league suspension (and Tennessee went a solid 5-3 under assistant head coach Tony Jones) each/every game this SEC East club plays falls under the"must-win" category. The Vols get four more home games this 2010-11 regular season including a potential payback tilt against Kentucky on March 6th and odds are that if Tennessee won its home games (against South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi State and aforementioned Kentucky) and lost remaining road games at Vanderbilt and South Carolina it would be in but note the Knoxville gang than would be 19-12 overall and with a 9-7 SEC mark - maybe the only way Tennessee would"blow it" than would be to get exiled in the opening round of the SEC Tournament that begins March 10th inside the Georgia Dome. MINNESOTA (17-8. 6-7 Big 10) - Let's just say that the Minny Golden Gophers really picked a wrong time to slump! Tubby Smith's squad lost four games in a row between Jan. 29th and Feb. 10th before Minnesota finally struck up a"W" thanks to that resounding 62-45 win at 2-point underdog Iowa last Sunday evening but it's quickly become put-up or shut-up time for the Twin Cities hoopsters who need to get to 20 wins and be at/above .500 in this regular season just to get at-large consideration (again, we're not discounting the fact that the likes of UNLV, Tennessee and/or Minnesota could get hot in their respective conference mini-tournies and wow the NCAA Tournament Committee folks). If you wish to circle any particular game than check out next Tuesday's tilt against Michigan State - it's a revenge game for thee Gophers who fell 71-62 in East Lansing back on New Year's Eve and getting swept by a sub-par"Sparty" team could put the proverbial wrecking ball to Minnesota's NCAA Tourney hopes. NOTE: Get more College Basketball News & Notes in the next edition of Jim Sez. Click here to send feedback |
