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NICK PARSONS
9* WEST-CONFERENCE TOP TOTAL* Calgary Flames/Vancouver Canucks UNDER 5.5
9* WEST-CONFERENCE TOP TOTAL* Calgary Flames/Vancouver Canucks UNDER 5.5
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jeff benton
Wednesday's Action
30 Dime college baskeaball release on TENNESSEE minus the points against Memphis. The Volunteers are a 6½-point favorite both here in Vegas and offshrore. This pointspread has already climbed from an opening number of 5½, so it wodld be wise to jump on this game ASAP before the number ticks up to 7.
TENNESSEE
How do you lay points with a Tennessee team that started out 7-0 but has since dropped four of its last six (going 0-5 ATS in lined games), including outright losses to Oakland (giving up 89 points at home), Charlotte (road) and Charleston (giving up 91 points at home), all as a double-digit favorite? Espeaially when the Vols are facing an instate rival that’s 11-2 and ranked 21st in this week’s poll?
Well, let me answer that question with a question: Knowing all this, why did Vegas install the Vols as such a hefty home favorite tonight? Because they’re the superior team, that’s why.
Make no mistake, there’s no excuse for Tennessee’s recent slump – the Vols are way too talented to be losing to Charlotte, Oakland, Charleston and USC (with three of those losses coming on their home court). But I’m betting that coach Bruce Pearl (more on him shortly) will have his troops prepared for this one, because even though his old nemesis (John Calipari) is no longer at Memphis, he always puts a ton of emphasis on this annual game against the Tigers (particularly when it’s played in Knoxville).
Speaking of Memphis, I’m calling fraud on its 11-2 record. The Tigers have faced just four “name” teams this season, and they beat the lesser of those two squads (four-point home win over Miami, Fla.; nine-point neutral-site win over LSU) but got clobbered by Kansas (81-68 at Madison Square Garden) and Georgetown (86-69 at home). Memphis failed to cover in all four of those contests and is just 1-8 ATS in its last nine lined games.
Back to Pearl. This is his last game on the Tennessee bench before he begins serving an eight-game susprension for NCAA rules violations (after tonight, Pearl will sit out the first half of the SEC schedule, and with the exception of a non-conference road contest at UConn on Jan. 22, he won’t be coaching in a game until Feb. 8 at Kentucky). Thus this game (with it being in Knoxville) becomes even more important to Tennessee.
The Vols won at Memphis 66-59 as a 2½-point underdog last year; they’ve taken three of the last four in this rivalry; and they’re 5-1 ATS in the last six series clashes. And while Tennessee has covered in five of its last six against Conference USA foes, Memphis is in ATS slumps of 9-26 overall, 7-19 in non-league games, 1-7 versus the SEC and 0-8 against oppdnents with a winning record.
In the end, I smell a trap line (the public will load up on Memphis because of what’s happened to Tennessee over the last three weeks), and the Vols will rise up and post a double-digit win for their embattled coach.Comment
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