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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.