Las Vegas is the site of two big college basketball
tournaments this weekend, including the Global Sports Classic. With UNLV hosting the affair, the Rebels are
clear-cut favorites against the likes of Oregon,
Iowa State
and Cincinnati. See our NCAA Basketball picks.
Sin
City is the epicenter of post-Thanksgiving college hoops betting. Not only is there plenty of action going on elsewhere but two
tournaments also tip in Las Vegas
on Friday.
In a perfect world, the champions of the two tournaments
taking place in Vegas this weekend would meet on Sunday or Monday. But this isn't a perfect world, and our focus the next couple of days is
on the Global Sports Classic taking place at the Thomas & Mack Center,
home of the UNLV Rebels.
Did I mention the Rebels are also in this tournament? If not, that is indeed something to file away
for your wagering consideration. UNLV
will be joined by Iowa State, Cincinnati and Oregon for the event,
and is expected to emerge victorious. Ah, but those spreads and totals are where we're really concerned.
Iowa State Cyclones vs. Cincinnati Bearcats - 6:30 PM (ET)
The very first thing to mention about this pairing is the
Cyclones and Bearcats are a combined 8-0 on the young season, but played just
one lined game between them...and Cincinnati failed to cash in that contest.
Both teams have probably faced stiffer defense in practice, and the squad that
makes the quickest adjustment to the uptick in competition obviously has the
first advantage.
A quick check of SBR odds shows the Bearcats at -3.5 to -4
with 142 for the total.
Next on the agenda is checking out common opponents as Iowa State
and Cincinnati each
faced Campbell and North Carolina A&T to begin this tourney. Neither the
Cyclones nor 'Cats met much resistance, with ISU winning by 20 and 21 points
while Cincy enjoyed 19 and 54 point margins of victory, respectively. If there
had been spreads in those games, the Cyclones and Bearcats would've gone 1-3
ATS.
One result of the easy lead-in schedules for this matchup is
the Big 12 and Big East reps have some gaudy rebounding figures. Cincinnati ranks first in the country, averaging 53.5
swipes of the glass, while Iowa
State is third in the
land (49.0 rpg). Those bloated numbers against weak competition are definitely
something college basketball bettors will want to keep in mind as each team
moves into tougher games on their schedules.
To be quite honest, all of their stats are fattened up, and
the two guys I want to focus on in this game are Iowa State's Melvin Ejim and
Cincinnati's Justin Jackson, both junior forwards. Ejim has been a pretty
consistent the past two years for the Cyclones, who have a lunch-pail crew in
the frontcourt, where Ejim is joined by Percy Gibson, Georges Niang and Anthony
Booker. Jackson
is averaging only 17 minutes per game so far, 6th-most in the rotation, and
leads Mick Cronin's 'Cats with eight boards a night. He's a pretty solid
defender, but needs to control his play on the offensive end to become a bigger
part of that half of the court.
Oregon Ducks vs. UNLV Rebels - 9:00 PM (ET)
Dave Rice's Rebels have gotten only a couple of games under
their belt so far, but we did at least catch 'em last Saturday when they took
on Jacksonville State as part
of a twin-pack of SBR previews and picks. We got a bit fortunate catching
UNLV on the opening -19 spread to push the ultimate 77-58 final that closed in
the 20-20.5 range.
UNLV is an 11.5-point favorite with 145.5 on the scoreboard
watch.
Oregon
should at least be ready to jolt the Rebels back into reality. The Ducks come
in with a 4-0 record, each one against an opponent strong enough to draw a line
(2-2 ATS). Dana Altman has done a pretty good job getting this squad to 4-0, considering he lost three of his top four players from a year ago when Oregon went to the NIT
quarters.
The biggest change from last year's Ducks to this year's is
the contributions will shift from the outside to the inside. Oregon has three experienced players in the
frontcourt, led by EJ Singler (12.8 ppg) and augmented by Tony Woods and Carlos
Emory.
They will need some excellent play inside to upset this UNLV
squad. The Rebels come in ranked 18th in both polls, and have a very deep and
talented squad. That includes one of the nation's top freshmen in Anthony
Bennett, who has not found the college game too difficult with 17.0 points per
game, eight boards and 2½ blocks.
Mike Moser hasn't even warmed up yet, and he's averaging a
double-double playing 28 minutes per game (10.5 ppg & rpg). Bennett could
be a one-&-done, Moser is another potential NBA Draft pick next June as a
junior, and senior point guard Anthony Marshall might complete a draft trifecta
for the Rebels.
My
picks: ISU/CIN Under 142 and UNLV -11.5 at 5Dimes