{"id":10690,"date":"2010-11-16T10:28:34","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T15:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=10690"},"modified":"2010-11-16T10:28:34","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T15:28:34","slug":"college-basketball-free-picks-virginia-tech-vs-kansas-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/college-basketball-free-picks-virginia-tech-vs-kansas-state-10690\/","title":{"rendered":"College Basketball Free Picks: Virginia Tech vs Kansas State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia Tech Hokies at Kansas State Wildcats
\nTuesday, 11\/16\/10, 4:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 ESPN
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Kansas State -6.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Kansas State -6<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kansas State slipped by James Madison in the opener and now host a capable opponent in the Virginia Tech Hokies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Virginia Tech enters today\u2019s game with a 1-0 overall record after a 70-60 win over Campbell on Friday night in Cassell Coliseum.\u00a0 The Hokies were picked to finish second in the ACC behind Duke and ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 1995, but head coach Seth Greenberg wasn\u2019t impressed in the opener.\u00a0 \u201cI was very disappointed in the second half,\u201d said Greenberg.\u00a0 \u201cOur commitment to defense was atrocious.\u00a0 We got lazy, we got out of our stance.\u201d\u00a0 This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools, as the Hokies are 5-8 all-time against teams currently in the Big 12 Conference.\u00a0 Virginia Tech has never played in the state of Kansas and is 0-1 on the home floor of a Big 12 opponent.\u00a0 The team is 12-8 ATS on the road the past three years and the college basketball lines page has them as an underdog.<\/p>\n

The Hokies are 27-136 all-time against teams ranked in the AP poll, including an 11-32 mark under Greenberg.\u00a0 Virginia Tech posted a 2-3 record versus ranked opponents during the 2009-10 season.\u00a0 Backcourt experience is a major strength for this squad, returning the highest-scoring set of teammates in the ACC with Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson.\u00a0 The duo averaged 35.4 points per game last season.\u00a0 Delaney is a talent, being the ACC\u2019s leading scorer in all games and conference games last year.\u00a0 Virginia Tech returns all five starters from last season and 89 percent of its scoring.<\/p>\n

Kansas State played like it was opening the season with its highest ranking ever because they actually were in a 75-61 win over James Madison on Friday night.\u00a0 Preseason All-American guard Jacob Pullen scored a game-high 20 points, but the team showed its a work in progress.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be perfect in a first game,\u201d said Pullen.\u00a0 \u201cWe lacked some energy and had some guys who were nervous.\u201d\u00a0 The Wildcats shot a disappointing 17 of 32 from the free throw line and allowed James Madison to shoot 50 percent in the first half.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a complete breakdown defensively,\u201d head coach Frank Martin commented.\u00a0 \u201cThose are things we\u2019re going to have to grow up with and overcome.\u201d\u00a0 The team is 12-9 ATS in non-conference games.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats will certainly face one of its stiffest non-conference challenges in playing the Hokies this afternoon and being part of ESPN\u2019s third annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.\u00a0 Kansas State owns a 86-22 overall mark as a Top 5 team nationally, boasting a 26-7 mark when playing as the nation\u2019s third-ranked team.\u00a0 The program is an even 8-8 against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference with the last matchup coming in the 1998 Maui Invitational.<\/p>\n

Bettors will find that the Hokies are 5-2 ATS as an underdog of 0.5 to 6.5 points, while the Wildcats are 6-1-1 ATS as a home favorite of 0.5 to 6.5 points.<\/p>\n

The college basketball handicappers at Maddux Sports are ready for a full-slate of hardcourt action on Tuesday.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss out and grab a package today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia Tech Hokies at Kansas State Wildcats Tuesday, 11\/16\/10, 4:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 ESPN Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Kansas State -6.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Kansas State -6 Virginia Tech enters today\u2019s game with a 1-0 overall record after a 70-60 win over Campbell on Friday night in Cassell Coliseum.\u00a0 The Hokies were picked to finish second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":9815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1444],"tags":[387,3233,3267,3880,2807,3879,3878,1926],"class_list":["post-10690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-basketball","category-headlines","tag-acc","tag-atlantic-coast-conference","tag-big-12-conference","tag-jacob-pullen","tag-kansas-state-wildcats","tag-malcolm-delaney","tag-seth-greenberg","tag-virginia-tech-hokies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10691,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10690\/revisions\/10691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}