LSU is gonna need to eat a lot of these to keep up today!

Tennessee -11 @ LSU

Are you friggin’ kiddin’ me Vegas!! When I saw this I turned into text mode and thought….OMG I need to let my BFF’s at IS.com know about this!! Okay, I’m settled down now, so let my vomiting of knowledge begin. Tennessee is one of the most sensational teams to watch this year cuz under the leadership of ‘The Pearl’ they have mastered the ability to play defense, run an offense, AND be straight up athletic ballers. The Vols are led by Chris Lofton and the Smiths, all who avg in double digits, but they play 12, yes 12 people that all avg more than 10 minutes a game. With that kind of fresh legs I am afraid that LSU won’t know whether they are playing offense or defense. For LSU, their absolute hands-down leader, Marcus Thornton(34 minutes, 20 pts, 6 boards), is sitting today for reasons unknown, in addition they are w/0 two others. When you take them out of the mix it turns the Tigers lowly 8 wins into about 4. This one will be ugly early. Vols by 25.

The Aggies are going to make themselves comfortable on the Tigers turf!

Texas A&M -4 @ Missouri

While this spread would have been the other way about a month ago, the Tigers have placed their backside firmly on a mudslide and unfortunately are only about half way down the hill. Meanwhile the Aggies have quietly moved to 19-4 and have slaughtered their last 3 opponents(Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa State). I do think this one will come down to the Aggies ability to get their big guys involved early both on the offensive side and defensively for some solid rebounding. I look for the Aggies to play some tight man along the arch forcing some dribble drive by the Tigers that lead to ill-advised turnovers. Aggies by 6.

TEASER SPECIALS

I love my Hawk Girl, and dammit, she loves me!!!

Iowa teased to +12 @ Minnesota

Here is the thing, this is a border rivalry from way back and it affects all sports equally. While Lickliter’s Hawkeyes have not been posting ‘W’s as often as he would like, he has taken a walk-on squad and turned them into defensive disciplinarians. This type of play has proven to be very frustrating for opposing teams, more times than not they throw up a hurried three to try to quicken the pace just to watch Tony Freeman walk the ball up the court and not start the offense until 15 seconds is left on the clock. I don’t like to watch the games, but it does keep them close and has covered 5 of the last 6 for them. Game on for me, Hawks lose by 5.

Looks like a Cougar to me, and when Cougars are home they are tough to beat!

USC @ Washington State teased to pick ‘em

I feel like I should be sitting in a Chicago 40-something bar singing…Where O where have my little Cougars gone, where O where could they be? The mighty Cougars have dropped 4 of 5, and 3 straight at home, so this is clearly a time when I think the trends are going to change. With their senior laden starting core I firmly believe that WSU gets back to their winning ways in the PAC-10 today. I like the ova at 120 also. WSU by 5.