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With seven Top 25 teams in action tonight, there’s plenty to wager on this Tuesday in college basketball. Tonight is more about seeding than the bubble, with some ranked teams needing to hold serve to keep their dreams alive. This is not the time of year when you want a Q3 loss.
The Kentucky Wildcats are rounding into shape, as they are wont to do with their greater-than-average roster turnover every year, but they get the strangest team in the SEC tonight in the Vanderbilt Commodores. And we don’t just mean that because the benches are behind the baskets and you’re playing on a stage in Nashville: the ‘Dores just beat LSU at home to get Jerry Stackhouse’s first SEC win. They lost by 6 to Florida, but by 20 to Texas A&M, both at home. They’re a roller coaster of covering, but seem to be rounding into shape.
Right now the sharp money is behind UK: only 32% of the tickets but a whopping 68% of the action is on the ‘Cats at DraftKings Sportsbook. And #BBN is 29 in KenPom, 21 in NET... and No. 12 in the AP Poll. We can hear the crying of #bias from the college basketball collective from our desk this morning.
Perhaps the most intriguing number this morning is the Michigan State Spartans being favored on the road against the No. 22 Illinois Fighting Illini. The Illini have dropped two straight to fall to 8-4 in the Big Ten, which has the bettors siding with the unranked team. But what makes that weirder is Sparty is in freefall, having lost three in a row themselves, and getting dusted at Crisler Arena on Saturday vs. Michigan.
The sharps still slightly believe in Tom Izzo: 46% of the tickets and 50% of the cash are on MSU.
They used to call an 11:00 p.m. EST tip between the New Mexico Lobos and San Diego State Aztecs a “Late Night Snack from The WAC.” Though it’s now a Mountain West game, insomniacs can see the #4 team in America face a team they just beat by 28 on the road two weeks ago. They’re only spotting the UNM 15.5 here, and the bettors like that number: 56% of the bets and 71% of the dollars are on an undefeated SDSU.
You can check out all of today’s lines at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Morning Line Feb 11
| Spread | Road | Home | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spread | Road | Home | Time |
| +5 | Penn State | Purdue | 6:30 |
| -12 | Kentucky | Vanderbilt | 7:00 |
| +1 | Mississippi St | Ole Miss | 7:00 |
| +2.5 | Arkansas | Tennessee | 7:00 |
| +4.5 | NC State | Syracuse | 7:00 |
| +6.5 | Bowling Green | Akron | 7:00 |
| +8 | Northern Illinois | Ball St | 7:00 |
| +8.5 | Miami Ohio | Toledo | 7:00 |
| +14 | Fordham | Davidson | 7:00 |
| -7.5 | St. Bonaventure | St. Joseph's | 7:00 |
| +6.5 | Eastern Michigan | Central Michigan | 7:00 |
| +6.5 | Western Michigan | Ohio | 7:00 |
| +10 | Rhode Island | Dayton | 7:30 |
| -1.5 | North Carolina | Wake Forest | 8:00 |
| +16.5 | Nebraska | Maryland | 8:30 |
| -1.5 | Michigan State | Illinois | 9:00 |
| +11 | Missouri | LSU | 9:00 |
| +3 | Oklahoma State | Kansas State | 9:00 |
| +5 | Notre Dame | Virginia | 9:00 |
| +10.5 | Air Force | Boise State | 9:00 |
| -2 | Utah State | Colorado State | 9:30 |
| +15.5 | New Mexico | San Diego State | 11:00 |
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