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Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week – December 11th Edition
.@WVUhoops up to #8 in CBS rankings. College basketball rankings: Sunday brings a mea culpa, reshuffle and No. 1 Villanova https://t.co/JYC1di3QwW via @CBSSports
— TonyCaridi (@TonyCaridi) December 11, 2017
Michigan at Texas
When: Tuesday, 9 PM ET (ESPN2) Good non-conference matchup of schools that should make the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines come off a very impressive 78-69 overtime win over UCLA. Michigan trailed by 15 points with 14:48 to go in regulation and tied the game with 10.9 seconds left to force overtime. U-M then outscored UCLA, 13-4, in overtime. Michigan had two 20-point scorers for the second time this season, Moritz Wagner (23) and Charles Matthews (20), while Zavier Simpson added 15 points. The Wolverines forced 20 UCLA turnovers, with 12 coming off of steals. Simpson and Duncan Robinson each recorded four steals, setting a new career best for Simpson and matching Robinson’s career high. Somehow, UM won despite shooting 8-for-22 from the foul line. Texas is off a good 71-67 win at VCU, the former school of Horns coach Shaka Smart. However, sophomore guard Andrew Jones suffered a right wrist injury that is still undergoing evaluation. His status is up in the air for Tuesday. Late in the game against the Rams, Jones fell on his wrist when he was fouled. After missing both free throws, he once again hit the court and landed on his injured wrist during a subsequent possession. Jones scored 19 points in the game, including hitting 4-of-6 attempts from three-point range. At 15.3 points per game, Jones is leading the ‘Horns in that category, as well as three-point percentage at 43.2 percent. Smart recorded his 200th career collegiate victory in the win. Smart enters the Michigan contest with an overall record of 200-93 (.683) in his ninth season. Freshman forward Mohamed Bamba registered his second double-double this season with 13 points and 13 rebounds to go along with 4 blocks at VCU. Bamba ranks fourth nationally (thru games of Dec. 8) and leads the Big 12 in blocked shots (4.0 bpg) and also leads the league in rebounding (10.1 rpg). He’ll be a high draft pick in 2018. Texas has made a point of emphasis on the defensive end of the court to guard the three-point shot. The Longhorns lead the Big 12 and rank 22nd nationally in three-point FG percentage defense at 28.2% (50-177). Th e Wolverines hold a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series vs. Texas. Michigan registered a 53-50 win in Ann Arbor last season in the first year of a home-and-home series. UT is 28-10 at home during the Smart era, including a 4-0 mark in the 2017-18 season.Kansas at Nebraska
When: Saturday, 8 PM ET (Fox Sports 1) What’s going on with the Jayhawks? They will fall a long ways from No. 2 in the new polls as KU lost twice last week. First it was 74-65 to Washington and then on Sunday, 95-85 at home to a pretty good Arizona State team. It’s the first time KU has lost back-to-back games since December 2013. Coach Bill Self will need to diagnose what went wrong in a hurry, with the start of conference play just three games away. Kansas hadn’t lost consecutive home games under Self. In fact, the last time it happened was in February 1989, in Roy Williams’ first season as Kansas’ coach. The Jayhawks also had never lost consecutive home games as a ranked team. During November, Kansas was arguably the best team in college basketball. The Jayhawks beat Kentucky on a neutral court and then beat their other five opponents by at least 30 points apiece. Kansas severely lacks frontcourt depth. Five-star freshman Billy Preston has been held out while Kansas looks into an on-campus incident that involved a car he was in. Things have gotten so barren up front that Kansas football player James Sosinski was added to the roster.
It’s a good thing that KU had nearly a week off after the ASU loss as starting guard Malik Newman took a knee to the head late in the game, sending him to the floor for a couple minutes as he was evaluated by medical staff. After the game, Self said that he was told Newman suffered a concussion, but that he didn’t know the severity or much of a concrete timetable for his recovery.
Nebraska has three losses on the year, coming off a 75-65 defeat at a good Creighton team on Saturday. The Huskers were coming off an upset of No. 14 Minnesota. In the loss to the Jays, Nebraska finished with nine turnovers, the third time in four games that NU had less than 10 turnovers. It marked the first time NU lost when putting at least three players in double figures.
“I believe in our team,” said Nebraska coach Tim Miles, who fell to 0-6 against this instate rival. “I think Creighton is very good, but I believe we can beat a lot of teams. Honestly, I looked at this game as an opportunity for our guys to go out and get a high-quality win. We just didn’t do enough.”
