Texas A&M Aggies in bad scheduling spot on road at Kansas State
This is a get-even game in the Big 12, and I don't mean Texas A&M winning at Bramlage Coliseum when the Aggies travel to face the Kansas State Wildcats.
My heart and wallet are in agreement Tuesday night when Texas A&M takes to the Big 12 road at the No. 13 Kansas State Wildcats.
My general rule when it comes to games involving Texas A&M is a very simple one: Stay away. With maroon blood coursing through my body since about nine months before birth, my heart can be too easily led astray with bias as far as the Fightin' Texas Aggies go.
Still, there are times that I can't pass up the win-lose/lose-win situation when a great opportunity to fade them comes around.
The Aggies come into the contest 12-3 straight up on the season, 7-4 against the spread, and have won three straight since losing Derrick Roland in a loss at Washington on Dec 22. All three wins have been on their home floor at Reed Arena in Mecca, er, College Station, and two of them were against softies Northwestern St. and North Dakota. The Demons and Fighting Sioux are a combined 7-23 with just four of those 30 games officially lined contests.
Texas A&M does come off a solid enough win in its most recent contest, taking down Nebraska on Saturday by a 64-53 final. The Aggies covered the seven points they were laying to the 'Huskers, thanks to Donald Sloan pouring in 26, half of those from the line where he dropped in 13 of his 14 attempts.
The team is still playing decent defense for coach Mark Turgeon even without Roland, who was one of the better defensive players in the Big 12. Saturday's win over Nebraska stayed easily below the 130 ½-point total and left A&M 3-6 to the 'under.'
But this is the wrong place and the wrong time for the Aggies to be counted on to win a game or even cover a spread.
Bramlage Coliseum has never been kind to Texas A&M. The Ags are winless in eight contests there, 0-9 in Manhattan overall. Bramlage isn't a fun place for anyone to play right now with the Wildcats on a 29-game win streak at home, second-longest in the country.
The Aggies are also catching a Wildcats team that is not in a good mood after dropping their conference opener on the road at Missouri. K-State (13-2 SU, 7-3 ATS) had worked its way into the coaches Top 10 with a 10-game string of wins before going to Columbia last Saturday and losing to the Tigers, 74-68.
The Wildcats came up eight points shorter than Missouri from the free throw line, basically the difference in the game. Kansas St. carried a five-point underdog line into the contest against a pretty fair Mizzou squad.
Facing a mad team on the road is just one-half of the bad scheduling spot Texas A&M finds itself in for this one. The Aggies can't help but look ahead to their Saturday game in Austin against their biggest rivals who, oh by the way, just happen to have ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the latest polls.
While the leading scorers for both teams, Sloan for A&M and Jacob Pullen for the Wildcats, are obviously going to be counted on by their mates, the two players that could hold the keys to victory/cover are the Aggies' Dash Harris and Kansas State's Jamar Samuels.
Harris should be on Pullen a lot of the game, so it will be his job to keep Pullen's points down. The junior out of Maywood, Illinois is averaging over 20 a game for the Wildcats and on a 19-game run with at least 10 points.
Samuels will need to make his minutes count off the bench and counter any effect inside that A&M's Bryan Davis might be having.
K-State has a 15-6 lead in the all-time series, 6-4 SU and ATS record in the 10 recent meetings between the two, going 4-2 SU and 5-1 ATS if you cut recent history down a bit more.
The contest is slated for a 7:00 p.m. (ET) start on ESPN2. Kansas State -8.
This is a get-even game in the Big 12, and I don't mean Texas A&M winning at Bramlage Coliseum when the Aggies travel to face the Kansas State Wildcats.
My heart and wallet are in agreement Tuesday night when Texas A&M takes to the Big 12 road at the No. 13 Kansas State Wildcats.
My general rule when it comes to games involving Texas A&M is a very simple one: Stay away. With maroon blood coursing through my body since about nine months before birth, my heart can be too easily led astray with bias as far as the Fightin' Texas Aggies go.
Still, there are times that I can't pass up the win-lose/lose-win situation when a great opportunity to fade them comes around.
The Aggies come into the contest 12-3 straight up on the season, 7-4 against the spread, and have won three straight since losing Derrick Roland in a loss at Washington on Dec 22. All three wins have been on their home floor at Reed Arena in Mecca, er, College Station, and two of them were against softies Northwestern St. and North Dakota. The Demons and Fighting Sioux are a combined 7-23 with just four of those 30 games officially lined contests.
Texas A&M does come off a solid enough win in its most recent contest, taking down Nebraska on Saturday by a 64-53 final. The Aggies covered the seven points they were laying to the 'Huskers, thanks to Donald Sloan pouring in 26, half of those from the line where he dropped in 13 of his 14 attempts.
The team is still playing decent defense for coach Mark Turgeon even without Roland, who was one of the better defensive players in the Big 12. Saturday's win over Nebraska stayed easily below the 130 ½-point total and left A&M 3-6 to the 'under.'
But this is the wrong place and the wrong time for the Aggies to be counted on to win a game or even cover a spread.
Bramlage Coliseum has never been kind to Texas A&M. The Ags are winless in eight contests there, 0-9 in Manhattan overall. Bramlage isn't a fun place for anyone to play right now with the Wildcats on a 29-game win streak at home, second-longest in the country.
The Aggies are also catching a Wildcats team that is not in a good mood after dropping their conference opener on the road at Missouri. K-State (13-2 SU, 7-3 ATS) had worked its way into the coaches Top 10 with a 10-game string of wins before going to Columbia last Saturday and losing to the Tigers, 74-68.
The Wildcats came up eight points shorter than Missouri from the free throw line, basically the difference in the game. Kansas St. carried a five-point underdog line into the contest against a pretty fair Mizzou squad.
Facing a mad team on the road is just one-half of the bad scheduling spot Texas A&M finds itself in for this one. The Aggies can't help but look ahead to their Saturday game in Austin against their biggest rivals who, oh by the way, just happen to have ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the latest polls.
While the leading scorers for both teams, Sloan for A&M and Jacob Pullen for the Wildcats, are obviously going to be counted on by their mates, the two players that could hold the keys to victory/cover are the Aggies' Dash Harris and Kansas State's Jamar Samuels.
Harris should be on Pullen a lot of the game, so it will be his job to keep Pullen's points down. The junior out of Maywood, Illinois is averaging over 20 a game for the Wildcats and on a 19-game run with at least 10 points.
Samuels will need to make his minutes count off the bench and counter any effect inside that A&M's Bryan Davis might be having.
K-State has a 15-6 lead in the all-time series, 6-4 SU and ATS record in the 10 recent meetings between the two, going 4-2 SU and 5-1 ATS if you cut recent history down a bit more.
The contest is slated for a 7:00 p.m. (ET) start on ESPN2. Kansas State -8.
