Posts Tagged ‘South Florida Bulls’
Super Bowl Sunday is here, but Bang the Book takes a look at who the hottest and coldest teams and players are through the first week of college basketball betting action in February. Check out who’s hot and who’s not this week, sponsored by Bet Phoenix! ATS Power Poll ATS Power Outage The Good
1: Northeastern Huskies (16-6-1 ATS): The Huskies may just be the hottest team in the country you’ve never heard of. The CAA reps are trying hard to get into the NCAA Tournament discussions just in case they don’t win their conference crown, and covers in 12 of their L/14 (13-1 SU) are only helping that cause.
2: UNLV Rebels: UNLV probably punched its ticket to March Madness with a dominant 88-74 win over BYU on Saturday. It was the Rebels’ tenth cover in their L/13 games, most of which have come in the very competition MWC.
3: Villanova Wildcats (15-6 ATS): It was a bad week to be from Villanova. The Cats were hooked by Seton Hall to kick off the week, and then were trounced at the Verizon Center by Georgetown to end it. It was just the second time all year that ‘Nova failed to cover two games in the same week (@ St. Joseph’s 12/9, @ Temple 12/13).
1: Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks (2-16 ATS): Hey, the Skyhawks are in the win column! A 74-69 loss at home against Austin Peay was worth rejoicing over for UTM, which finally beat the NCAA basketball betting odds at home for the first time on the year. Things returned back to normal on Saturday with a loss both SU and ATS to 5-20 Tennessee State.
2: LSU Tigers (5-14 ATS): The losses just keep piling up for the Bayou Bengals, but at least they found a way to beat a spread during the week when they pushed Tennessee to the brink. The good news is that LSU is far better off on the road for bettors (2-4 ATS) than it is at home (3-8 ATS), so maybe these two roadies this week will yield fruitful results.
3: Washington Huskies (7-15 ATS): U-Dub may have finally turned the corner, as it is starting to play like the NCAA Tournament team that everyone expected it to be at the start of the season. The Huskies have won four straight and are 2-1 ATS in that stretch (with the fourth game being an unlined 123-76 victory against Seattle). However, this week will be the first time they’ve hit the road since 1/23, and they haven’t covered the CBB betting lines as guests all season.
G Dominique Jones & the South Florida Bulls: With just a few seconds left in the game, USF’s superstar was shouting into the stunned Verizon Center crowd, “They came to see Dominique Jones play!” Jones went for 29 points and eight boards as South Florida upset Georgetown on the road 72-64 for its sixth straight cover and fourth straight SU victory in the crowded Big East. A win on Sunday against Notre Dame might even put this team back on the NCAA Tournament map for what would be the first time ever as a member of the Big East.
The Bad
Being a Top-25 Team on Saturday: Just check out this list of Top-25 teams that were knocked off to start this weekend SU… #2 Villanova (L 103-90 @ Georgetown), #5 Michigan State (L 78-73 @ Illinois) #10 Texas (L 80-71 @ Oklahoma), #12 BYU (L 88-74 @ UNLV), #17 Temple (L 71-54 @ Richmond), #20 Vanderbilt (L 72-58 @ Georgia). Add that to the list of teams that won outright but didn’t cover their basketball betting lines, #1 Kansas, #9 Duke, #11 Kansas State, #19 Georgia Tech, #22 Northern Iowa, #23 New Mexico, and #25 Cornell, and ranked teams went a grand total of just 8-13 ATS on Saturday.
The Ugly
Bryant Bulldogs & Alcorn State Braves: It’s not often that you see NCAA basketball gambling spreads on either Bryant or Alcorn State games, but the prospects of both teams pulling off totally winless seasons is starting to look more and more possible. The Bulldogs, dropped to 0-24 with two losses this week to Central Connecticut State by an aggregate score of 121-82. They’ve lost 26 straight dating back to last year. Meanwhile, the Braves have dropped 27 straight overall including ‘08-’09 after losing by 21 to Jackson State on Saturday. It doesn’t get much uglier than these two teams, and it doesn’t look like either has the ability to win anything anytime in the near future.
NCAA Football Betting Preview Betus.com betting line – West Virginia -3.5 Just two weeks ago South Florida had hopes of bringing home a Big East Title this season. The Bulls fell to Cincinnati in a big Thursday night game, but still held those hopes close even after that big loss. However, a week ago the Bulls were destroyed by Pittsburgh in a huge 41-14 loss putting the season back in perspective. South Florida now turns their focus back towards just getting a win as they have dropped two straight and face a tough West Virginia team this Friday night with the possibility to drop yet another game. West Virginia sports the no. 20 ranking in the country and their only loss this season was a close battle with Auburn when the Tigers where playing well earlier this year. Still, the Mountaineers have yet to face the quality portion of the conference schedule and many feel that West Virginia has yet to prove them selves. However, the Mountaineers will get that opportunity in front of the nation this Friday night against a South Florida team who is hungry for a victory. The Bulls have won two of the last 3 games over the Mountaineers and look to keep that momentum alive when they get the luxury of hosting the contest Friday night. South Florida did not exactly have a great game plan in last week’s loss to Pittsburgh as they allowed the Panthers to score on all 5 first half possessions. The Bulls rush defense could not stop running back Dion Lewis and they will have their hands full again this week with the Mountaineers talented running back Noel Devine. Devine has 912 yards on the season which is 2nd in the Big East behind Lewis and ranks 7th individually in the country. Devine will look to rip apart the Bulls defensive front as he has to most defenses all year. The Mountaineers top rusher over the past few seasons is averaging a stout 6.7 yards per carry and has 10 touchdowns on the ground. Devine will definitely be the big difference for West Virginia in the ball game, but also look for WR Jock Sanders to get some action as well. Sanders leads the conference with 53 receptions and he consistently gets his hands on the football. QB Jarrett Brown has been fairly solid this year completing 67% with 8 scores, but does have 6 interceptions on the season as well. If Devine is shut down it will give the South Florida defense some confidence back. However if the ground game does deliver, look for the rest of the offense to benefit in a big way. The Bulls offense is rather simple. Keep the ball in the hands of B.J Daniels. Daniels has performed very well in his first year, but is coming off a fairly terrible outing last week against Pittsburgh where he completed just 4 of 8 passing. Daniels has proven he can make throws with his arms this year, but his biggest threat remains his ability to run the football. Daniels leads the team in rushing with 415 yards and did not even play the first two games of the year as Matt Grothe was the starter until suffering a season long injury. Daniels must throw the ball better this week and make some plays to compliment their heavily favored rushing style. The Bulls were held to a season low 212 yards last week, but they will look to bounce back this Friday night and topple a West Virginia defense that is allowing over 21 points per game. Pick – South Florida +3.5
No. 20 West Virginia Mountaineers (6-1) at South Florida Bulls (5-2)
Friday October 30th, 8:00PM Eastern
Tags: South Florida Bulls, West Virginia at South Florida Preview and Pick, West Virginia Mountaineers
