League Play Leads A&m Against League

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Erick Green scored 15 points, helping Virginia Tech pull out a 47-45 victory over No. 15 Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena. Dorenzo Hudson totaled 12 points, including a three-pointer in the closing moments that made it a two-possession contest and helped the Hokies (12-7, 1-4 ACC) pick up their first conference victory.

 

Lawrence, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas Jayhawks will try to remain undefeated in league play as they host the Texas A&M Aggies in a Big 12 battle on at the Allen Fieldhouse this evening. This will be the 19th meeting in the series history. The Jayhawks have won all but one of the previous encounters. Texas A&M has not defeated Kansas since Feb. 3rd, 2007.

 

Texas A&M comes into the matchup with a 11-7 overall record after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 81-75 in an overtime thriller on Saturday. The victory was the second of the year in league play for the Aggies, as they now carry a 2-4 mark in Big 12 action. Head coach Billy Kennedy has a strong defensive philosophy which have given his team has the worst scoring offense in the conference (62.8 ppg), but the best scoring defense (59.2 ppg). The victory over the Sooners was the second in three games after an 0-3 start to the Big 12 Conference season. The Aggies had only scored more than 80 points twice this year, in their opening two games of the season. A&M is one of just 12 schools in the nation to have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the past six seasons.

 

Kansas has an array of weapons at the offensive end. Thomas Robinson is the team's top scorer (17.7 ppg) and the Big 12's top rebounder (12.1 rpg). The junior forward recorded his Big-12 leading 13th double-double of the season in the team's win over Baylor before finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds against Texas. Tyshawn Taylor has been a big factor to the Jayhawks' success as well. Taylor has been absolutely on fire lately as he has averaged 26 ppg and 5.3 apg in his last three outings. Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson are both helping the cause with scoring averages above nine points per game.

 

Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off its first loss of the season, the Syracuse Orange will look to avoid a losing streak as they head to Fifth Third Arena for a Big East battle with the dangerous Cincinnati Bearcats. This will be just the ninth meeting between the Orange and Bearcats. Syracuse holds an 8-2 edge in the series after winning the last three encounters. The Orange handled Cincinnati in last year's contest with a 67-52 decision in a game played at the Carrier Dome.

 

Syracuse will be without its rebounding and shot-blocking center Fab Melo for the second straight game as he attends to academic issues. Although he does not score an overwhelming amount of points, Melo's inside presence was missed against Notre Dame on both ends of the floor. Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters will need to step up with Melo out. Joseph is the team's leading scorer with an average of 13.6 ppg, but he will need to do better than 4-of-12 from the field to score 12 points, as he did against the Irish. Waiters scored in double-figures for the ninth-straight game against Notre Dame, but also shot a poor percentage to do so. The Orange's 7-1 record in the Big East has them in sole possession of first place, but another defeat would give them the same total of losses as five another teams in the league.

 

New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor remained a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll. The Lady Bears received all 40 first-place votes and a total of 1,000 points from a nationwide media panel, earning the undisputed top choice for an eighth consecutive week.

 

Notre Dame, Connecticut, Stanford, Duke and Kentucky held their places from second through sixth. Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio State and Miami-Florida complete this week's top 10. Miami moved up one spot from 11th.

 

New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kentucky is back at the top of the Associated Press men's college basketball poll. It's the second time the Wildcats have ascended to the No. 1 spot this season. They had a two-week stay as the top-ranked team -- earning the position for the last week of November and the first week of December before a one-point loss at Indiana on December 10.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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