Quick writeup on tonight's two college plays, as I'm sick as a dog (probably from the rainy/chilly Pats game Sat night). This is a different Rick Barnes team then we've seen in the past. High powered and explosive, trying to get up and down the floor ASAP. We've seen some crazy outputs by the Longhorns already this season and I don't have any reason to believe they'll slow the game down tonight vs. Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers. Texas has only scored below 70 points in 2 of their 16 contests this season, while they boast the nation's 34th most uptempo team combined with quality efficiency and despite being a horrible free throw shooting team. If they can get this same output tonight and just shoot a LITTLE better from the line, I like our chances. I loved the total drop from 149 to 145.5 and I waited it out as long as I could. I think we see this game get into the 150s with WVU making a high percentage of three-pointers tonight and Texas driving to the bucket with some ease.
Texas/West Virginia O145.5
Value play time. I'm merely putting my money on the young guys from Kansas tonight to take advantage of this opportunity at Iowa State. Most likely the biggest game in these young mens lives (so far), I'm expecting a total effort tonight to show the Big 12 they've turned that corner from talented recruits to a quality Big 12 team. I think this is the statement game for Bill Self's squad. After the home-loss to San Diego State, the Jayhawks refocused and earned quality conference wins at Oklahoma and vs. in-state rival Kansas State. I really liked what I saw late in those two games and it showed me two things: 1) Team is more mature than 6 weeks ago when they lost to Villanova and 2) They're learning how to hang tough on the road, which is uber-important in conference play. Again, I waited for this line to get as high as it could and I don't think it'll get to +3 (odds seem to have it heading back to +2 late). If you get +3, that's awesome! I considered playing ML, but in a road game like this, it could very well come down to the final shot. I'll taking the points tonight and feeling good about it
Kansas +2.5