Good morning Pregame! It's nice to be back after technical glitches to my browser update proved too much for my feeble computer skills to overcome. Many thanks to JD and the tech support team at Pregame for their help in resolving the issue.
I am back with one college hoops play so far, and several more smaller plays as follows:
Baylor -4 at Texas Tech Tech has been pesky this conference season, more than expected. Yet they are 0-3 in Big 12 play and so they take on the wounded animal syndrome. Tech could be dangerous at home tonight. However, Baylor bounced back nicely on Saturday after losing to Iowa State. Baylor is a veteran team, and I expect them to take care of business tonight in Lubbock. It won't be easy, but the Bears eventually pull away for a 75-65 win.
Smaller Plays
Auburn +13 at Tennessee I like the way Auburn has been playing lately, even with a couple of tough losses in the last week. As for Tennessee, they could either win by 25 or by 2, you never know what you will get with this team. With the Tigers playing better lately, I look for the 2 point margin as much more likely than the 25. I'm taking Auburn and the points here.
Virginia Tech +3 vs Clemson I look for a Clemson letdown after beating Duke over the weekend. I might, in the words of VR, "sprinkle a little on the money line" here.
Missouri State +10 at Indiana State Not completely sure what Missouri State's frame of mind will be here after giving away the Wichita State game last weekend, then having to go on the road. But I see a tough, resilient team here and I believe they give the Sycamores all they can handle.
Dayton -7 at Fordham I normally do not like laying this many points in a conference road game, but I like Dayton and they take care of business here.
Buffalo +8 at Toledo I have seen Toledo play this year, and they are a good team - on offense. However, the Rockets are soft on D, and 8 points is too many to lay to this Buffalo team. I see a 3-4 point game here.
Big 12 notes - Living here in the middle of Big 12 country, I thought I'd give a couple sentences of commentary on the other Big 12 game tonight. First, earlier this week, I did play Texas at +6 at West Virginia and the Horns came away with the outright win, 80-69. However, I also played Iowa State at +1 vs Kansas and I played Oklahoma at +5.5 against K-State. I still think OU covers that spread 9 times out of 10, even in Manhattan. Very frustrating loss.
Oklahoma State -22 vs TCU TCU has started off the Big 12 season very poorly, so the Cowboys winning by 22 is very realistic here. However, I lean to TCU to cover this spread. OSU will start very quickly, but by the middle of the second half, with the game well in hand, their minds will be on the trip to Lawrence this weekend. I see a backdoor cover here. OSU 70 TCU 51.