THE SPORTS MEMO
BRENT CROW (1/26)
Georgetown at West Virginia
Recommendation: West Virginia
West Virginia could be a small home dog to Georgetown today,
but laying a short price with the Mountaineers is an attractive
wager as well if they are installed as the favorite. West Virginia
has a very solid home court advantage, as they have won 42
of their last 45 home games, including a 9-0 mark this year
(Loss to Oklahoma was not on campus). In Big East play they
are 3-0 with wins over Syracuse, St. Johns and Marquette in
impressive fashion. With a Georgetown team ranked in the top
10 coming in, the Mountaineers and their crowd will be fired up
for another home win. Georgetown has shown some chinks in
its armor on the road against quality teams this season, losing
at Memphis and at Pittsburgh. They were able to beat bottom
rung conference teams Rutgers and DePaul away from home,
but neither of those teams are as good as West Virginia, nor
do they have the home court edge that the Mountaineers do.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has his team playing solid defense,
especially at home, where they hold the opposition to
37% FG shooting and just 21% accuracy behind the arc. The
Mountaineers are also lighting it up behind the arc this season,
hitting 38.6% of their three point attempts at home and
37.4% for the season. The have hit at least eight threes in all
of their conference home games thus far and that should be a
huge factor in them getting a solid win today over the Hoyas.
ROB VENO (1/26)
Texas A&M at Oklahoma State
Recommendation: Texas A&M
After a pair of humiliating road defeats last weekend, expect this
veteran Texas A&M squad to regroup and rebound with a big effort
in this enemy venue. Both the offense and defense abandoned
the Aggies in the losses as their usually strong shooting (50.3%
from the field this season) failed to eclipse the 38% mark and
their stout defense (allowing just 59.1 points per game) yielded
68 and 75. Look for a return to the norm in this contest as they
match up very well with the poor shooting Cowboys (Big XII worst
44.1 FG%). Oklahoma State has had severe difficulties with top
flight teams predicated on defense as both Pittsburgh and Illinois
shredded OSU by 17 and 16 points. Head coach Turgeon?s Aggies
figure to play with some urgency here which means they?ll turn
up the defensive pressure on the Cowboys perimeter players.
With no true low post threats, expect the size and experience of
A&M?s senior Joseph Jones to combine with 7-foot freshman De-
Andre Jordan and dominate inside. That fundamental edge will
open things up for Josh Carter and Dominique Kirk whose combination
of outside shooting and drive to the basket ability should
lead to double digit scoring performances. Additional situational
factor exists here as Okie State is likely to give a maximum effort
in their home ?Big Monday? contest against Texas (check result).
That focus for that high profile game probably doesn?t get
matched here, and A&M takes advantage with a decisive victory.
TEDDY COVERS (1/26)
Oklahoma at Baylor
Recommendation: Baylor
We?ve bet on Baylor several times already this young college basketball
season, and Saturday?s game against Oklahoma gives us
another excellent opportunity to back the Bears in a game that
they should be able to control from start to finish. The Baylor
program has come a long way in a very short time. When head
coach Scott Drew came over from Valparaiso to take the job before
the ?03-?04 season, his Bears were hit with serious NCAA
sanctions, including a complete forfeiture of their ?05-?06 nonconference
slate. No surprise then, that the Bears were unprepared
for conference play, finishing the season with a grand total
of four wins. Last year, able to play a full schedule, Baylor improved
to 15-16, still lagging well behind the Big 12 powerhouse
programs. That is no longer the case. Baylor is 15-2 this season.
Their only losses came in a hotly contested game against Top 10
powerhouse Washington State, a game that Baylor led most of
the way, and an equally tight game against Arkansas. While the
Baylor program is rising, the Oklahoma program is falling, rather
dramatically. The Sooners streak of 25 consecutive years earning
a postseason bid (either NIT or NCAA) ended in Jeff Capel?s
first year on the job, last season. The Sooners have yet to cover
a pointspread in Big 12 play, and suffered ugly losses in their
only two true road games against quality foes, losing to Kansas
and USC by a combined 41 points. This one won?t be much
easier for the overrated Sooners against the underrated Bears