LaSalle Explorers vs. Temple Owls
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Two squads hoping to assert themselves as forces in the Atlantic-10 crack skulls on Saturday in the City of Brotherly Love, where the #15 Temple Owls (17-4, 12-9 ATS) look to keep the LaSalle Explorers (11-9, 5-10 ATS) at bay. LaSalle enters this game with a very unassuming 3-3 record in conference play, but considering that those losses were to Charlotte by two, Richmond by four, and Xavier by six, the Owls know that this is no walk in the park. As for those Owls, they’re still flying high at 5-1 in A-10 play, but that one loss came in their most recent NCAA basketball gambling affair, a 74-64 loss at Charlotte on Wednesday night.

If recent offensive form is any indicator, the Explorers should put up a good fight against Temple. They have scored at least 76 points in each of their L/3 games, averaging 79.3 per contest and shooting at least 55% from the floor in two of the three. Leading scorer G Rodney Green is having a heck of a year. He has scored in double digits in all but one game this year, and has tallied at least 13 in 18 of his 20 appearances. Green’s biggest bugaboo is that he turns the ball over too much, a trend that is becoming all too popular for LaSalle. He is averaging over four turnovers per game by himself.

Temple’s defense will look to shoot down LaSalle’s potent offense and will likely do so by forcing those turnovers. The Owls hold opponents to just 57.1 points per game, the seventh best mark in the NCAAs. Look out for the inside presence of F Lavoy Allen in this one. He is averaging a double-double on the season at 10.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, and he can dominate in the post. There isn’t anyone on the Explorers that should be able to body with him, which could open up things on the outside for Gs Ryan Brooks (16.2 points per game) and Juan Fernandez (13.0 points per game).

Revenge will clearly be on Temple’s mind after it lost at home to the Explorers 70-63 last year. The Owls had covered three straight college basketball wagering lines against LaSalle prior to that defeat and are a solid 15-5 SU against it since 1996.

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Louisville Cardinals vs. West Virginia Mountaineers
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College basketball betting on Saturday afternoon heads to Morgantown, WV where the West Virginia Mountaineers (16-3, 7-11 ATS) will put their #9 ranking on the line at home against the Louisville Cardinals (13-7, 5-10 ATS). WVU knows that it is going to the NCAA Tournament barring an epic collapse down the stretch, but it will still look to build on its three-game winning streak going forward. The Cardinals are a different story though; HC Rick Pitino’s team may really be on the outside looking in right now. They snapped a three-game skid in conference play with a 68-60 win against Cincinnati, but that win didn’t make their NCAA basketball gambling fans any happier. Louisville has failed to cover every game it has played since January 6th (0-5 ATS).

Louisville’s offense isn’t its problem. The unit is scoring 80.0 points per game and is flying up and down the court against some of the better defensive teams in the Big East. However, even though the Cards put up 77 points against Seton Hall, 77 against Pittsburgh, and 84 against Villanova over the L/3 weeks, they still went 0-3 SU and ATS in those games. The magic number seems to be 70 points for the defense. When opposing teams surpass that number, they’re 6-2 SU against Louisville. The Ville only has one loss to its credit when holding opponents to 70 or fewer.

West Virginia may become the second team to hand the Cards a loss by scoring less than 70 points in a game this year. The Mountaineers are used to playing low scoring games even though they are averaging 73.5 points per game this season. They’ve only scored more than 71 points twice in conference play, and those games were against teams that are defensive sieves (Seton Hall & Rutgers). Scoring against this team is virtually impossible when it locks in that patented zone ‘D’. The ‘Neers are holding teams to just 61.5 points per game and have kept their L/3 opponents to an average of just 57.0 PPG.

Since the Cards moved to the Big East, they’ve had great success against WVU. Their only loss in this series SU came back in 2006 at Morgantown 68-64. In last season’s Big East Tournament, Louisville knocked off the Mountaineers 62-59 to complete a season sweep (it won 69-63 at Freedom Hall on January 31st).

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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Slumping squads in Big East play slug it out in Piscataway on Saturday evening, when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-6, 7-7-1 ATS) take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-11, 5-11 ATS). The Irish have only won one of its L/4 conference college basketball betting battles and only have one win in Big East play away from South Bend this year (@ South Florida). Meanwhile, the Scarlet Knights are just looking to find their first BE win of 2010, and that includes both SU and ATS! It’s becoming increasingly clear that the oddsmakers are going to have to hang huge numbers in Rutgers games since it hasn’t stuck inside of any of the five double-digits spreads it’s faced this conference season.

For all of Notre Dame’s opponents, the question is exactly the same: How are you going to stop F Luke Harangody? The best method may be to just try to contain the other four players on the court. Harangody is going to get his numbers one way or the other. He is one of the elite scorers in the entire nation (24.5 points per game), and he’s hauling in just under 10 boards a game to boot. Beyond him and F Tim Abromaitis (16.7 points per game), there just aren’t any prolific and consistent scorers on this roster. Scoring against the Irish hasn’t been a problem this year, as their foes are putting up an average of 71.9 points per game.

Rutgers has been about as brutally disappointing as a team can be in its own conference. In eight Big East betting battles, the Scarlet Knights are averaging getting outscored by the score line of 83-64. They’ve scored more than 70 points only once in conference play, and have only held one opponent under 70 (and only two under 80). Bottom line: That just isn’t going to cut it, especially in a conference like this one. G Mike Rosario is averaging a team-high 15.3 points per game, but he’s only shooting 36% from the floor to reach that point total.

If there’s something for Scarlet Knights’ betting fans to latch onto, it’s that they are 9-2 ATS in their L/11 NCAA basketball gambling meetings with Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have won five straight SU though, including LYs 61-50 win in the first round of the Big East Tournament.

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Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Missouri Tigers
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Even though both the Oklahoma State Cowboys (16-4, 9-4-1 ATS) and Missouri Tigers (15-5, 8-6 ATS) both look good for the NCAA Tournament, a college basketball betting victory for either team on Saturday will certainly push them closer to a lock for the Field of 65; the loser will move closer to the bubble. The Cowboys took a major step in the right direction last week by posting a victory in Manhattan 73-69 against Kansas State and following that up with a 76-69 at home against Texas A&M on Wednesday night. The Tigers have dropped two out of three, including a miserable 84-65 loss at Kansas as a part of Big Monday.

If the Pokes are going to do any more damage in the Big XII this year, it’s going to rely on the shooting prowess of G James Anderson. Anderson is averaging 22.1 points per game, making him the top scorer in the Big XII. He has scored at least 10 points in every game that he has played this year, but Okie State has yet to win a game in which he has scored fewer than 15 points this season. This team boasts a very strong defense as well, as OSU is holding foes to 64.4 points per game and just 40.3% shooting from the field.

Whereas Anderson can be a one-man wrecking crew at the time, the Tigers prefer to throw everyone on their bench at you. Nine players are averaging at least 13 minutes of court time for Mizzou, which is why the patented “40 minutes of hell” is so hard to overcome. Seven players score at least eight points per night, led by G Kim English, who is scoring 14.6 points per game. Defense is the name of the game for a team that presses all night long. The Tigers are averaging a shade fewer than 12 steals per game, many of which are forced before the opposition ever makes it past half court.

Mizzou has gone a sparkling 6-2 SU and 7-1 ATS against Okie State over the teams L/8 NCAA basketball wagering battles; including a pair of victories both SU and ATS last season. The Tigers boast a stellar 6-2 ATS record in Columbia this season against just a 1-3 ATS road mark.

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Pacific Tigers vs. UC Riverside Highlanders
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Big West betting action will take center stage on Saturday night at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside, where the Pacific Tigers (13-6, 9-9 ATS) will look to put a bigger gap in their conference lead over the rest of the field when they take on the Cal Riverside Highlanders (8-12, 5-9-2 ATS). The Tigers come into this one having suffered just one loss in conference play, that coming at Cal Santa Barbara back on January 10th (68-67). On Thursday night, they disposed of UC Irvine 64-51 for their fourth straight victory.

Things haven’t gone as well for the Highlanders in Big West play. They are only 2-6 SU and 2-5-1 ATS in their eight conference basketball betting duels and were dropped by 10 points by UC Davis on Thursday.

Pacific looks good right now to take the automatic bid from the Big West Conference into the NCAA Tournament, but there is still plenty of work left to be done. The Tigers have one of the best defenses in the conference, holding their opponents to just 60.6 points per game. Only one foe has cracked the 70-point barrier in the Big West against them. It’s not often that you see a team that doesn’t have a single player averaging double digits in scoring, but Pacific fits that mold. Six players chip in at least seven points per game, but at the slow rate that the Tigers play, no one is asked to be a hero on the offensive side of the court. They’re only averaging 10.7 turnovers per game, a sign that they take care of the basketball and just work for the best shot available, no matter who’s taking it.

It’s hard to say many good things about the way the Highlanders have come out of the blocks in Big West play. They haven’t scored 70 points once this conference season and have been held in the 50s themselves in five of their L/7 NCAA basketball gambling clashes. The entire offense revolves around F Kyle Austin. Austin easily plays the most minutes of anyone for UCR (he averages six minutes per game more than his closest teammate), and he is scoring over double the points of any of his mates as well. His 17.2 points per game is one of the top marks in the conference, but he can’t do the work alone. As a team, Riverside is only averaging 62.7 points per game.

Last year’s 66-63 triumph at home marked the first time that the Highlanders won a game in this series either SU or ATS since 2006. Pacific had gone 6-0 SU and ATS in its previous six NCAA basketball wagering battles with Cal Riverside.

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Vanderbilt Commodores vs. Kentucky Wildcats
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SEC East supremacy will be contested on Saturday afternoon in Lexington, where two teams suddenly look a lot more comparable to one another than they did a few weeks ago engage in battle. The Vanderbilt Commodores (16-3, 11-6 ATS) will invade Rupp Arena, where they will take on the Kentucky Wildcats (19-1, 9-9 ATS) in an NCAA basketball betting showdown. Surprisingly, it is Vanderbilt and not Kentucky that currently sits in the catbird seat in the conference. The ‘Dores won their tenth straight game on Wednesday night and ran their SEC record to a perfect 5-0 with an 85-76 win at Rocky Top. Meanwhile, the Wildcats are coming off of their first loss of the season in a six-point defeat at South Carolina.

It’s hard to pinpoint just one reason why Vanderbilt is on such a tear, but one glance at the scoreboards will show that the offense is certainly excelling. The Commodores have topped the 80-point barrier eight times in their L/10 games and have averaged 84.0 points per game in that stretch. The team is shooting a lights-out 49.7% from the field on the season, the sixth best mark in the nation. It’s not just one player doing all of the damage either. Six Commodores are adding at least six points per game to the scoring effort. All six scored at least nine points in the upset at Tennessee on Wednesday.

The Wildcats may not be unbeaten any longer, but they’re certainly still a force to be reckoned with and have to be considered a potential Final Four team. G John Wall is coming off of a rare game in which he had more turnovers (four) than assists (two), but he is still one of the most explosive guards in the entire country. The real advantage for this team against most opponents comes in the paint, where Kentucky is averaging right at 10 rebounds per game more than its foes. Forwards DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson are combining to average 17.4 rebounds per game, which is less than a dozen short of what opposing teams are averaging against the Cats.

Surprisingly, the Wildcats have had very little luck against the Commodores of late. Vandy won last year’s basketball gambling clash between these rivals 77-64 at home. Kentucky has both won and covered its L/2 home meetings with the Commodores though, and will surely be looking to bounce back from its only loss of the year.

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Harvard vs. Columbia
Free Pick: Columbia +8.5 (-110 odds)
Fri January 29th 2010 7:00p
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The Harvard Crimson are a nice 13-3 overall and 2-0 in Ivy League play, while the Columbia Lions are just 6-10 including 0-2 in conference, but there are a couple of matchups here that makes Columbia look like a nice play getting this many points at home.

First of all, taking a peak at the Pomeroy Ratings, Harvard has not protected the ball well despite their impressive record. The Crimson are turning the ball over on 23.8 percent of their possessions, which ranks 312 out of 347 schools in that category. That becomes significant here because the Columbia defense ranks a very good 42 in the country in steal percentage at 12.1 percent, and they force turnovers on 22.5 percent of possessions, which ranks 86.

On the other side of the ball, the Lions are hitting an impressive 41.7 percent of their three point shots, which is remarkably the sixth best percentage beyond the arc in the entire country. Furthermore, that three-point percentage rises to an unbelievable 46.2 percent here in New York City, which should make it very difficult for Harvard to pull away here.

Now there is no doubt that Harvard is the better team here and they have faced a much tougher schedule. However, we still believe this is too many point for the Crimson to be giving on the road, especially when you consider that they have lost outright in this building each of the last two seasons, and that Harvard is only outscoring their road opponents by an average of +3.7 points this year.

So while Columbia may have a tough time pulling off the upset, we do see them hanging well within single-digits all the way to the final buzzer.

CBB Free Pick: Columbia +8.5 (-110)