Bubble News: Crazy 4:00 Window (Saturday Part Two With Pick$)

Posted on February 6th, 2010 by jamiemac No Comments

(Check out Part One of today Bubble’s setup. And you absolutely must check out our new twitter powers.)

Any chance you have, like, eight TVs set up? You do? Oh, well then you’re in luck, you can put all these games on that tip off at 4pm and track the bubble yourself. As always, the Bracket Matrix guides you as to the current shape of the ever fluid February bubble. With this many great games going on, I’m bound to have a pick or two or five. As always, check the bottom of the post. A post for the night games will follow shortly. If you’re snowed in up north, I hope you’re enjoying the day inside watching hoops.

Clemson at Virginia Tech. Lines, VT -1.5, O/U 134

The Hokies are a half game ahead of Clemson in the ACC standings, but are a ways behind them in the bubble. Clemson is a unanimous selection, seeded on the 8-line. The Hokies received just nine total votes and arent even in the Final Eight Out group. Virginia Tech has a lot of resume games upcoming. They can easily play their way into the field if they can bag enough big scalpes like they have on the line today. It’s imperative to hold serve at home. This is more important for their cause than the win over North Carolina earlier in the week.

Old Dominion at VCU. Lines: VCU -2.5, O/U 132

I talked about the Atlantic 10 creating bubble arguments over the next several weeks as a record number of prospects pushes for the league’s most invites ever. You might as well brush up on your Colonial Athletic Association numbers as well. There are five teams in this league–ODU, VCU, William/Mary, George Mason and Northeastern that I think could win games should they make the tournament. Unlike the A10, there wont be close to enough room for them all. It’s going to be hard just to get a second bid, making the regular season title chase, currently a three-way 10-2 tie between ODU, Mason and Northeastern one of the more intriuging to watch. And it will make the CAA Sectional, one month from now during the first weekend of March, one of the best league tournaments from start to finish during Championship Week. Let the debate begin on on the worthiness of this mid-major league. VCU is just two games behind the three-way pack, so they can gain some ground. They’re also in great shape to make an at large case if they close the season strong and gets wins over some of the contenders ahead of them like the Monarchs. Meanwhile, also tipping at 4 are Northeastern at Hofstra and George Mason at Drexel. If the road teams snag wins, then the top of the CAA becomes stronger and the liklihood of multiple bids higher.

Wisconsin at Michigan. Lines, UJM -1, O/U 115.5

Ok. This is stretching the Bubble so far you’re tearing its hamgstrings right off. But, the Badgers did re-open the Big 10 race the other night. So, this game at least will impact the Big 10 title chase. Wisconsin has to be on letdown alert after the big win over Sparty. What mood will Michigan in after that disastrous second half in Evanston? Besides, I am thinking of starting a new NIT Chase diary series at Mgo. This game may go a long way towards that. Is this really just a Failsketball game? That’s a little over the top, but its obvious Michigan’s season has been a great disappointment so far. A win over the Badgers would be a nice way to at least finish strong. Michigan is 1-4 since their alleged breakthrough win over UConn last month. The culprits in that funk have been Manny Harris and team shooting woes. Check that Vegas line, with the .500 Wolverines favored over the contending Badgers. Are the oddsmakers handing out free money? We’ll find out, but this will be a big test for the unranked favorite over a ranked team system.

BYU at UNLV. Lines, UNLV -1.5, O/U 146.5

This is not a bubble game. UNLV and New Mexico are one game behind BYU for first place in what’s been a pretty high end MWC chase. All three could be tied when the day ends. The Rebels know they will be in no worse than first place should they hold serve at home today.This is game for first place and to build a resume towards a better tournament seed instead of merely a place on the bubble. As for the Matrix, BYU and New Mexico are both 5 seeds and UNLV is an 8-seed. The Lobos and Cougar are unanimous selections, while the Rebels are close with 55 out of 56. All three of these teams can play into the Sweet 16, and it wouldnt surprise me. I dont know if their are enough losses out there in MWC to knock any of these three down enough pegs to kick them out of the tournament. The Cougars are a Basketball Prospectus darling. It’s hard not to fall for a team with a guady 22-2 record after crushing TCU earlier in the week. Vegas only lost by 4 to BYU in Provo one month ago. Can they return the favor on their home floor?

Texas at Oklahoma. Lines, Texas -6.5, O/U 148.5

At 12-9, if Oklahoma wants to return to the tournament in the post-Blake Griffen era, they need to score this win over the hated Longhorns. The Sooners arent near any mock brackets. This is one of five chance the Sooners have to pick up bigtime resume home wins. They need to win as many of those as possible. Texas has been scuffling lately and has a game with Kansas Monday night. There is a lot toalso learn about the Horns, a Matrix 3-seed, in the next couple of days.

Cal at UCLA. Lines, Cal -3.5, O/U 143.5

The Bruins have had a terrible season by their standards. Much of it has been spent below the .500 mark. But, they’re at level par today with an 11-11 record. They’re hosting Cal today with some shocking stakes on the line: First Place in the Pac 10. The Bruins, so much a laughingstock this season that people have felt bad putting them on a ‘most disappointing team’ list is one of four teams atop the Pac 10 standings with 6-4 leagues records. Cal, along with Arizona and Arizona State share the 6-4 record. An angry Bears team visits Pauley, still smarting from being run off the USC court against the Trojans in the first stop of their LA trip earlier in the week. The Bruins contention for the crown probably speaks to the weakness of the league right now. I really have no idea how this chase will play out, or if any more than a couple will emerge as tourney bound. The Matrix has just one Pac 10 team in its field. Conviently for this game, it’s the Cal Bears, as a #9. Arizona is fifth from last out with a dozen votes. Arizona State and Washington each have tallied support in three mocks. The Bruins have a chance to make the Pac 10 look even weaker today. That’s something the rest of the bubble is united in cheering for.

Baylor at Texas A/M. Lines, TAMU -2, 137.5

These teams are a combined 33-10 and both have winning records in the Big 12. As such, both are entrenched in the tournament field. Baylor is a 6-seed and unanimous selection, while the Aggies are a 9-seed and in 55 of 56 mock brakcets. I dont think we get to Selection Sunday with these teams out of the field. I think they’re quality clubs and probably wont suffer any tailspin that would put them on the outside part of any bubble they fall too. But, I think this will be one of the more fun games to watch today, so I just had to point it out. I do think Baylor is more upper echeleon Big 12 team, while the Aggies are in the good, but hardly great class below them. We’ll find out just how far the Aggies can go by the result today.

NC State at Georgia Tech. Lines, GT -10.5, O/U 137.5

By virtue of their overall record, nice OOC performance and the many chances the ACC provides for quality wins, the Wolfpack arent out of bid contention. But, they are in last place in the ACC. They’re been a hard out at various times and they catch a Tech team after the beatdown at the hands of Duke. NC State has to get back to level par in the ACC. They need to pull out a few road upsets like this one would be along the way.

Gonzaga at Memphis. Lines, Memphis -5, O/U 143.5

Will this be the year Gonzaga finally beats Memphis? They’re 0-4 against the Tigers in this modern hoops rivalry. If they want to get off the schnide today, they’ll have to win on the road against a desperate Memphis outfit. No brand name program needs a big win today as much as Memphis does. Right now, they are nowhere near being a consensus tournament team. They have three votes overall in the Matrix, but they are also a clear #4 in the line just among Conference USA contenders for a bid. Only Memphis has made the field from this league in recent years, and yet this season, three teams–UAB, UTEP and Tulsa–have seemingly passed them. The Tigers can make a whole lot of ground up in that regard by taking down the Zags, a Matrix 5-seed. They need this win or else you have to wonder if they can compile enough spice for their resume down the stretch. The Tigers grip on the league and their consecutive tournament streak are both up in the air. Today’s result will help clear things up in one way or another.

Picks? Picks!

The theme here is unranked favorites over ranked teams. A had a wise old sharp tell me those were the way to go during the college basketball season. Well, we’re on Richmond -2 over Temple, a pick updated via our new twitter powers, in a game going on right now. But, in this 4:00 window, we have four of these suckers. We’re grabbing a pice of them all. What could possibly go wrong?

UNLV -1 over BYU

Michigan -1 over Wisconsin

Texas A/M -2 over Baylor

Memphis -5 over Gonzaga

Va Tech -1 over Clemson.

VCU -2 over ODU…..late addition vis the twitter page.

The Hokies arent an unranked favorite over a ranked team, but I like this team and I think they break a Clemson team thats always so fruity on the road. Like I did earlier today and got rid of hooks and stuff on a couple of those lines, jsut for symetry sake, I suppose. Those are all for one unit apiece.

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