March 13 CBB Lines

The February 9 CBB lines are up at BetRviers.com, and in any other season, the Tuesday night slate of college hoops would be absolutely stacked. But with Duke, Kentucky, and Michigan State scuffling and out of the top 25, tonight’s slate of games has considerably less luster than one would expect.

But with No. 7 Texas Tech hosting No. 14 West Virginia, fans and bettors alike have a marquee game to look forward to.

Rob Dauster, a longtime national college basketball writer, and co-founder of the Field of 68 Podcast Network breaks down the February 9 CBB lines, featuring West Virginia at Texas Tech, St. John’s at Butler, and a reminder to fade the Blue Devils and Big Blue Nation.

Did you know that with BetRivers you can earn money in multiple ways? You can bet on sports, bet on online casino games and play slot games.

February 8 CBB Lines: Tuesday Special

  • #7 Texas Tech vs. #13 West Virginia Over 15.5 Made 3-Pointers (Was -110, NOW +105)

Tuesday, February 9 CBB Lines & Predictions

#14 WEST VIRGINIA (13-5, 6-3) at #7 TEXAS TECH (14-5, 6-4), 9 p.m. ET
MONEYLINE: Texas Tech -265, West Virginia +215
SPREAD: Texas Tech -6
OVER/UNDER: 141 points
Click here for the full list of Texas Tech vs. West Virginia Odds.

The last time these two teams squared off, it was one of the best games of the college basketball season. West Virginia won thanks to a late bucket from Deuce McBride, but it was a back-and-forth battle between him and Mac McClung that turned into a shootout.

I expect much of the same here.

The thing about both of these teams is that, defensively, they allow people to shoot threes. For Tech, it’s due to the no-middle defense that they play. For WVU, it’s largely due to the fact that they allow a bunch of penetration leading to drive-and-kick triples. Either way, that’s a very bad thing for the Red Raiders — West Virginia is the second-best three-point shooting team in the conference to Baylor, who is the best three-point shooting team in the country.

So I like the points here.

Six is too many for what I expect to be a close game.

But I also like the over.

The Mountaineers are not the same team that they were. They’re not guarding the same way. Now, a lot of that is already baked into the line, but I fully expect both offenses to operate at a highly-efficient level in this one.

ST. JOHN’S (13-7, 7-6) at BUTLER (6-10, 5-8), 9 p.m. ET
MONEYLINE: Butler -132, St. John’s +112
SPREAD: Butler -2
OVER/UNDER: 138.5 points
Click here for the full list of St. Johns vs. Butler Odds.

Butler is not a good basketball team. The Bulldogs are 6-10 on the season, although they have been a little bit better in Big East play, where they’re currently sitting at 5-8. But their only win on the season against a team that is currently in the top 75 on KenPom came at home against Creighton on a day when the Bluejays did not have their best player available. Butler has lost three of four and five of eight. They haven’t beaten someone not named DePaul in more than three weeks.

The Johnnies, on the other hand, have been the hottest team in the Big East for the last month. They’ve won six straight games. They’ve won four straight in the Big East for the first time since Ron Artest was on the roster. Four of those six games came on the road. One of the home games came against Villanova. Posh Alexander and Julian Champagnie have developed into one of the best inside-outside duos in the country.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why they are still getting points.

The Moneyline is +117. That’s where you’ll find me.

FADE KENTUCKY AND DUKE

Those of you that have been reading this space all season know how profitable we’ve been fading Duke. We’re getting back on that bandwagon today. They’re laying 7.5 points at home against Notre Dame (Click here for the full list of Duke-Notre Dame Odds), and Mike Brey has, historically, had success against his former boss.

But I also like Arkansas (+1) at Kentucky tonight (Click here for the full list of Kentucky-Arkansas Odds).

The Wildcats are crumbling. Yes, they are 5-13, but things have gotten worse now that Terrence Clarke has made it clear that his season is over. Arkansas should not be getting points here. But they are. I think they’ll win.