A tip for fellow bettors out there…try to schedule your sweetie-time, or Valentine’s Day dates for the early dinner hours, as any other time on Sunday, you will miss out on some top-shelf sports action, be it the Daytona 500, the NBA All-Star Game, or a p

2010-02-12

A tip for fellow bettors out there…try to schedule your sweetie-time, or Valentine’s Day dates for the early dinner hours, as any other time on Sunday, you will miss out on some top-shelf sports action, be it the Daytona 500, the NBA All-Star Game, or a pair of nationally televised college hoops contests. In a key 1:00 PM ET tip-off, two of the front runners in the Big Ten will go head-to-head when Illinois hosts Ohio State. Let’s take a quick look at this game, including a Best Bet from the StatFox Platinum Sheet. Get more great betting info on this and all of the other 18 college tilts for Sunday on the LIVE ODDS, BETTING TRENDS, and TEAM STATISTICS pages of Sportsbook.com.

This matchup had Big Ten Network written all over two weeks ago, instead it’s an indicator of who might emerge as conference champions. Illinois (17-8, 9-13-1 ATS) was NIT bound after losing three league games in a row in the middle of January. Nobody gave them much a chance, since they still had the meat of their schedule ahead, however three wins gave the team confidence, which were followed by upsets of Michigan State and Wisconsin. Even an overzealous Brent Musburger has Bruce Webber up for coach of the year with this turnaround. What Webber really did is punish bad behavior from various players by giving them splinter time and they have roared back. The Fighting Illini are 12-1 in Champaign and perfect 9-0 as home favorites, though 3-6 ATS.

Ohio State (19-6, 12-13 ATS) has won eight of nine (5-4 ATS) to crawl back into the Big Ten title chase. The return of Evan Turner has made this team complete and they are hell-bent on winning it all since Turner is likely to enter the NBA Draft after the season. Turner’s ability to score allows William Buford and David Lighty to find more open shots. Illinois will also have to contend with center Dallas Lauderdale, who is a load in the low blocks. The Buckeyes are 3-7 ATS away from Columbus this season and 1-5 SU and ATS as road underdogs.

The Illini are 6-3 SU and ATS hosting Ohio State and swept them last season. The StatFox Power Line shows Illinois by 1 but this is what StatFox Steve had to say in the Platinum Sheet regarding this showdown: The most recent action in the Big Ten has two teams setting themselves apart, and neither of them is Michigan State, who lost twice this past week. At this point, I’d have to say the top team in the league is Ohio State, and the Buckeyes will face the same test that the Spartans failed on when they travel to Illinois on Sunday. They figure to be a pick or slight road favorite, which could be good since: Matta is 10-2 ATS (+7.8 Units) as a road favorite of 3 points or less or pick in all games he has coached since 1997. Ohio State has been on fire since Evan Turner returned. I don’t see them losing here.

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