College Basketball Betting: Top-Five Teams Look To Avoid Stumbling

It might still be early in the college basketball betting season, but already the shifts and movement at the top are giving a good indication of how the year could play out. The Syracuse Orange are no longer at the top of the table following their first loss of the season, falling all the way down to No. 4 after dropping a game at unranked Notre Dame, and in their previous spot is the red-hot Kentucky Wildcats at No. 1. The Missouri Tigers climbed up to No. 2, continuing their hot pace, while the No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks look to remain relevant as they find their identity.

(1) Kentucky Wildcats @ LSU Tigers

Saturday, 4:00 PM ET

They beat the Alabama Crimson Tide last week, and now they have to travel to face the LSU Tigers. Good thing for Kentucky this is basketball and not SEC football, or they might be in trouble. The Wildcats make the trip to Baton Rouge looking to extend their season-high 12 game-winning streak in the second of three-of-four on the road, and given the play of the tandem of Doron Lamb and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist there is no reason to think they will slow down any time soon. Kentucky is blessed with one of the easier schedules among the top teams in the country, so they need to make sure that they deliver every time they are on the floor as pay head favorites.

College Basketball Betting Pick: Kentucky Wildcats

Texas Tech Red Raiders @ (2) Missouri Tigers

Saturday, 1:30 PM ET

One of the most unlikely teams in the top-five at this point in the season is Missouri, but they have rebounded well from a loss to Kansas State to pull off four straight wins, including a tight 89-88 win at Baylor earlier this week. The Tigers had some time off to regroup before Oklahoma State, and will now return home hungrier than ever for a chance to keep pace with Kansas in the Big 12 as they entertain Texas Tech.

College Basketball Betting Pick: Missouri Tigers

West Virginia Mountaineers @ (4) Syracuse Orange

Saturday, 1:00 PM ET

It is incredible not only how fast they fell, but how far they fell when considering that the Orange had won a record 20 straight per head contests to open their season. Syracuse faltered under the pressure of a packed house at Notre Dame, but regained its composure quickly and had no problem with Cincinnati. Kris Joseph and company now return home to take on a West Virginia team that has been surprisingly dangerous early on in the Big East, and the atmosphere should be electric.

College Basketball Betting Pick: Syracuse Orange

(5) Kansas Jayhawks @ Iowa State Cyclones

Saturday, 2:00 PM ET

The Jayhawks still haven’t overcome their early season struggles in terms of their place in the national rankings as two of their three losses came against Kentucky and Duke, with the other to unranked Davidson, but they have regrouped with 10 straight wins overall. Kansas State and Baylor were each no match for Thomas Robinson and company, and Kansas will want to flex its muscle as Bet online favorites ahead of games at Missouri and Baylor early next month.

College Basketball Betting Pick: Kansas Jayhawks

NFL Pro Bowl Preview: Sizing Up the AFC and NFC

Online Betting Overview

Before we can get to the Super Bowl betting, we must first get through the Pro Bowl. It is a game that means nothing played by men that have earned a free vacation to Hawaii. While they are on that vacation, they are forced to stop off at Aloha Stadium and go through the motions of pretending to play football. Even the NFL has admitted that the game is largely useless by implementing rules such as no blitzing and no rushing the kicker. But, even though it is all pageant and no substance, the Pro Bowl still gets its fair share of viewers. When the NFL moved the Pro Bowl to the Sunday before the Super Bowl, it increased ratings even more.

The AFC, dressed in red will take on the NFC dressed in blue. The price per head sportsbook experts know that many of the best players in the league will not play in this game because they will be playing in the Super Bowl. Most betting sites do not assign odds to this game because there is no competition. Still, if you like offense and the potential for spectacular defensive plays in the secondary, then the Pro Bowl is a fun thing to watch as you wait for the week-long Super Bowl preview show to start. Even though guys like Tom Brady will not be playing in the Pro Bowl, this game will still be fun to watch.

AFC

Cincinnati rookie quarterback Andy Dalton will replace Tom Brady on the AFC’s roster, but it is doubtful that Dalton will be the first starter at quarterback for the AFC. More than likely, Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger will start the game and be relieved by San Diego’s Philip Rivers. A sportsbook review of the AFC roster shows a definite advantage for the AFC at running back. The AFC’s roster features running backs Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville, Arian Foster of Houston, Ryan Mathews of San Diego and a surprise appearance by Willis McGahee of the Denver Broncos. Still, the AFC should be strong on offense and give the NFC a challenge. But he NFC is so deep in all positions that this could be a Pro Bowl blow out.

NFC

At quarterback, the NFC fans wisely chose Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. As of now, there has not been a replacement named for Eli Manning’s spot. While defense is not a huge priority in a game like this, the defense that the NFC has put together could severely limit the NFL scores of any opposing offense. If the NFC can find a way to incorporate the extremely talented aspects of its defense into the rules of the Pro Bowl then the AFC might not be able to score a single point. But playing defense in the Pro Bowl is difficult and it often winds up being a shooting gallery for the quarterbacks.

The Bottom Line

Watching four of the best quarterbacks in the game going head to head and airing out the ball makes for some great television. If this game were being played for real, then the NFC would be a lopsided favorite. But since this is played as an exhibition, this will be a high-scoring but close game.

Gambling Advisor blog Pick: AFC