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Las Vegas - We absolutely love Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola-Chicago’s 101-year-old chaplain and good-luck charm, but gotta roll with Illinois in a two team 6-point teaser. Sure, Sister Jean is a feel good story, and I'm praying to hit triple digits like her, but this Illini team is just WAY TOO talented. Loyola had a solid win against Georgia Tech, but Tech had to play without star forward Moses Wright, who was sidelined for COVID-19 protocols. And beating an ACC team this year is apparently no biggie, because the conference came up with a big fat OH & FOUR bagel on Friday night. Four games, ZERO WINS! So, just in case Sister Jean has been able to connect with a higher power, we will drop the Illini from -7 to -1 point over the Ramblers, and ask Brad Underwood's kids to JUST WIN BABY. The second part of the tease will be my BEST BET from Friday night, Oregon State. Gonna take the Beavers from +6 to +12 points against Oklahoma State. Sure, the Cowboys have maybe the best player in the country, Cade Cunningham, but the kids from Corvallis have been INSANE against the spread, covering 11 of the last 12. And at 92%, you can't ignore the Beavers.

Next up, you can expect another miracle. Well, maybe not an outright win for Oral Roberts, but the Golden Eagles should be able to cover a +14.5 point spread against Florida. Yes, we added six points to the eight and a half point line. ORU has the leading scorer in the country, Max Abmas, and Kevin Obanor, another sharpshooter who scored 30 points in the upset against Ohio State. At PLUS fourteen and a hook, Oral should have no trouble. Lock that in with Syracuse, and take the Orange from +4 to +10 points against West Virginia. Jim Boeheim is a fabulous coach, and his kid, Buddy, can light up the scoreboard. He drained seven of 10 from downtown (70%) and 11 of 15 overall to reach 30 points against a pretty solid San Diego State team. "I'm proud to have him as a son," Jim said, "but I'm really happy I have him as a player." Also love Bob 'Huggy Bear' Huggins and can tell you that his Mountaineers are plenty good. But gotta believe that even if WVU wins, it ain't gonna be by more than a half dozen.

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