CBB: Ohio State at Michigan State (12:00 PM ET, CBS)

The Sunday college basketball action gets off to fast start with a dandy of a contest from East Lansing, Michigan, with the Ohio State Buckeyes taking on the Michigan State Spartans. The winner takes a big step towards a possible Big Ten title. Oddsmakers

2010-02-19

The Sunday college basketball action gets off to fast start with a dandy of a contest from East Lansing, Michigan, with the Ohio State Buckeyes taking on the Michigan State Spartans. The winner takes a big step towards a possible Big Ten title. Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com expect that to be Michigan State, installing them as the home favorite.

The Big Ten Conference has taken on the appearance of one of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, loaded at the top. Two teams fighting to gain control of the league lead are the Buckeyes and Spartans. Ohio State (20-7, 13-14 ATS) has been like a stealth bomber, occasionally seen but seldom noticed. Coach Thad Matta compares this group to the year before Greg Oden and company arrived to advance be NCAA runner-up. “I think this team is probably more efficient than that (2005-06) team was offensively,” Matta said. Led by forward Evan Turner, a player of the year candidate, the Buckeyes are a robust 23-10 ATS when they force 14 to 18 turnovers in a game.

Michigan State (21-6) plays three of last four games at home and has to win all three if they want to maintain Big Ten title hopes. The Spartans are surprisingly not mentally sturdy, especially when Kalin Lucas isn’t on the floor. Durrell Summers, Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe have not been come back better players after finishing second to North Carolina last season, which is why coach Tom Izzo’s club has been play against club at 10-16 ATS, in spite of their lofty preseason status. Sparty is 13-1 at home, but just 4-9 ATS this year.

Michigan State has won eight of last 10 over Buckeyes at the Breslin Center and can effectively end OSU’s conference title hopes, yet have an uneasy 3-5-2 ATS record against the Buckeyes.

The StatFox Power Line shows Michigan State by only 2. However, StatFox Steve had this to say in the Platinum Sheet: The shooting woes in Madison a few weeks back combined with the injury to PG Kalin Lucas really threw HC Tom Izzo’s team for a loop recently. However, with the win last Saturday at Penn State, it appeared that the Spartans were finding their footing again. People forget, this team was in the national title game a year ago, and the favorite to win the conference this season. This game vs. Ohio State will have a major impact on whether or not Michigan State is able to achieve that goal. The Buckeyes have struggled to score on the road for most of the season, and there are few places tougher to get it going at than the Breslin Center. That’s the difference in this one.

CBB: Villanova at Pittsburgh (12:00 PM ET, CBS)
The Big Ten isn’t the only conference with a big game on tap for Sunday, as the Big East has one scheduled for noon eastern as well, with Villanova visiting rival Pittsburgh. The Panthers have flown under the radar most of the season but will be coming into this game on a roll and hungry for a shot at the potential league champ. This figures to be a game where if you can pick the outright winner, you’ve got the pointspread too. Check the latest line on the LIVE ODDS page.

Villanova (22-3, 16-8 ATS) has been undaunted in its pursuit of the Big East regular season championship and look to continue the quest on the road. As good as the Wildcats amazing guards are, they couldn’t possibly have such a tremendous record without help inside. 6’8 Antonio Pena is masquerading as a center for Villanova and is their only true low post scorer but does excellent work as a reliable interior defender. Taylor King, Isaiah Armwood and 6’11 Maurice Sutton all bring something most games to negate opponents frontline, letting Nova’s guards control the contest. The Wildcats are 11-5 ATS having won eight or more of their last 10 games this season.

Pittsburgh (20-6, 13-8-2 ATS) flew by preseason presumptions starting 15-2, but once it was game after game in the Big East, the Panthers looked very much like the squad prognosticators believed they would be, losing four of five at one point. With a favorable slate the rest of the way, Pittsburgh has a four-game winning streak and can further change minds and attitudes with an upset win here. What doomed Pitt in that losing spell was the offense going stagnant, lacking ball movement, and settling for too many contested shots. Gilbert Brown and Brad Wanamaker have since recovered and Pitt is 10-1 ATS at home playing teams with a winning record after 15 or more games.

Pittsburgh has tamed the Wildcats at home with a 5-0 SU and ATS mark.

The StatFox Power Line shows Pittsburgh by 4, indicating value with the hosts.

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