Gonzaga and Michigan Lead Thrilling College Basketball Slate

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00:00Live right here on this Thursday morning on the Early Line on Sports Grid. We end out our show

00:06with a break from the division around. We've previewed the five-game slate in the NBA.

00:10How about some more college basketball on this Thursday? Maybe not as good of a slate on this

00:17Thursday evening as we have seen on Tuesday or Wednesday around the country, but still

00:22some very intriguing matchups. How about Gonzaga? Top 20 team, the Bulldogs under Mark Few.

00:28It's what we've come to expect in the past two decades in a West Coast Conference game,

00:34WCC action in Corvallis against Oregon State. The Beavers and the Cougs, that would be of

00:41Washington State, of course remained in the Pac-12, if you will, but rather independent

00:46throughout the FBS college football season in college basketball. They are legitimate conference

00:52members in the WCC. They had a scheduling alliance in football with the Mountain West,

00:58but legit members in basically every other sport including basketball in the WCC. A conference

01:05that Gonzaga has thoroughly dominated for the last decade plus. Gonzaga is perfect this year in WCC

01:12play 5-0, but a double-digit favorite in all five conference games for the Dogs this year,

01:19and the Zags are just 1-4 against the spread. This a single-digit number on the road in Corvallis

01:26and Oregon State as an underdog this year, 3-1 ATS. I do believe that line is telling,

01:34maybe expecting a more competitive game between Gonzaga and Oregon State tonight. Memphis eight

01:40and a half point favorite in American action as they head on the road to take on Temple in Philly.

01:46Now a little bit of Big Ten basketball, if you will. Michigan, number 20 in the country. I do not

01:53believe that ranking is truly reflective of how good Dusky May and his Wolverines have been in

01:59his first year in Ann Arbor. They are ridiculous, and they are so efficient offensively because they

02:07have a unicorn in the Yale transfer in Danny Wolfe. He is seven feet tall, but he plays the

02:13game like a six-foot point guard. He distributes, he facilitates, he orchestrates an offense that

02:20is performing at a very, very high clip, and it's not just the one seven-footer in Danny Wolfe that

02:26does everything. It's the other seven-footer that followed his head coach, Dusky May,

02:32from Boca Raton. That's Flad Golden, who has been a physical and dominant presence

02:37presence, excuse me, in the interior and in the post this year for the Mays and Blue. Now,

02:44Minnesota is perhaps the worst team in the Big Ten. The barn is always a difficult place to win

02:51in conference action. This line probably inside the Chrysler Center in Ann Arbor would be closer

02:57to 13 and a half, 14 points. It's still double digits. I do believe Michigan wins this game.

03:04Is it a trappy spot? Eh, I do believe the Wolverines remain undefeated in the Big Ten.

03:10If Michigan wins tonight, as their arch rivals at Michigan State did yesterday night,

03:15both the Spartans and the Wolverines would be the only undefeated team still standing

03:20in Big Ten play. Perfect at 6-0. That is going to make for a very compelling storyline throughout

03:27the remainder of this Big Ten slate. Two teams of the Wolverines and the Spartans battling it out

03:33for a Big Ten title. Now, that would be very, very fun. Nebraska at home, inside Pinnacle Bank

03:41Arena. Well, a difficult place to win for Big Ten foes and regular foes alike. Twenty consecutive

03:48wins for the Cornhuskers inside the vault in Lincoln inside PBA. It's why the Huskers are

03:54laying eight and a half points against Rutgers. A critical win for the Scarlet Knights over the

04:01weekend inside Pinnacle Bank, or excuse me, inside Jersey Mike's Arena, otherwise known

04:08as the Rack. A game that Rutgers had to have. A game that Rutgers got. Now, with that being said,

04:15the Scarlet Knights on the road, a very different story, especially heading to Lincoln. But if

04:21Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, the outstanding true freshmen from Steve Peichel, can perform,

04:27might this game be close tonight? Our boss, Greg Sussman and his Terps, a precarious start to this

04:33Big Ten slate, only laying a point and a half, a short spread as they head to Northwestern tonight

04:39against the Wildcats in that matchup. We'll see what Chris Collins and his Cats have tonight

04:47for the Terps. How about some CUSA action? Liberty, one of the better mid-major programs

04:52in this sport, laying nine and a half points against UTEP. So, not exactly the most marquee

04:59of slates on this Thursday night in college basketball, but again, some really great games

05:05to pay attention to. And it sets the stage for tomorrow, a football Friday live right here on

05:11the early line starting at 8 a.m. Eastern. Picks, previews, best bets for the entirety of the

05:17round. We'll talk to you then.

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