The Skinny on the Butler...

BUTLER BULLDOGS

The Butler may not do it in the Madness with the Upset this year, but they will continue to develop this year, and we will see where they're at vs. Indiana tomorrow.

They still have super mid-major coach in Brad Stevens. They have some young talent that overall will be mismatched vs. a "BCS" conference team, but the Steven's defence is solid and their offense is patient. Overall, the Butler Bulldogs are just that, they're a bulldog team that will grind their way to constant improvement throughout this non-conference sked and throughout an improved Horizon Conference sked. As far as the Madness in March? Stay tuned for future Insanity Reports to track their progress.

The Bulldogs are led by SR. PG Ronald Nored. He's starting this season as a distributing guard who is not looking for his shot whatsoever. He's dropping 4-6 dimes per game but he is needed to come out of his shell if the young freshmen and sophomores of Butler are going to develop.

The developing talent includes SOPH. G Chrishawn "Make up your mind, is it Chris or is it Shawn" Hopkins who is capable of 20 point outbursts, but is still young and will have deer-in-the-headlight-itis vs any sort of pressure from a more experienced defender.

SOPH. F Khyle "Don't call me me Minogue" Marshall is a smooth wing who can find the odd drive from the elbow or the wing. Either he can't find his jumper or it's not within the Butler offense, but I haven't seen him utilize it as much as he could.

There is also a smooth wing in FR. Kameron "Don't call me Kirk" Woods. He can turn into a silky smooth scorer later in the year and definitely into his Sophomore and Junior seasons, but he has to gain some much needed l.b's as he will get pushed around in the blocks with those olive oil arms. He's having an alright start to his career with 4 ppg and 4.5 rpg. He will improve these stats once Steven's is more comfortable with upping his minutes.

Closing out the guards is JR. G Chase "Don't call me Milt or Hugo" Stigall who is a chucker. A pure hot and cold chucker from down down. If he gets hot then the Butler will use this to get on a roll, but when he's cold, he will be forcing up shots like Paulsen at last call at the Lamplighter!

The kicker for Butler is JR. C Andrew Smith who is leading the Bulldogs so far at 12 ppg. He is a presence in the pain, but moreso the short corner. He can score and board, but he has a body and game that will get out-muscled by bigger posts such as OSU's Jared Sullinger and Indiana's Cody Zeller.

The Butler is pretty much the Butler, a team that is lacking in UNC/Duke/OSU/etc-like talent but is extremely well coached and after this year's developing season after losing super talents such as Gordan Hayward, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack, they will develop into a force, but it's up in the air who else will step up off the bench, there is still a freshmen trio in F Roosevelt "E. Roosevelt" Jones, Wing Andy "Light as a " Smeather and G Jackson "Heeeeee Heeeeee" Aldridge that will have a say into where the Butler will be at come the New Year.

Stay tuned!

The Skinny on Stanford

STANFORD CARDINAL

If they can find the right combo of players within their deep bench, the Cardinal could be offishall if they play around SR Fwd. Josh Owens. He shows a skillset that is very similar to that of Derrick Williams from Arizona last year. Josh has a post game with both his back to the hoop and facing the rim. Although defense is not his strong suit, he positions well while ensuring he won’t get into foul trouble. An underrated strong suit is his passing game with Soph. Fwd Dwight Powell.

Soph. Guard Aaron Bright is a great, great spark plug who can penetrate well and shoot the trey while stopping on a dime. He is a young guard prone to turnovers and will get flustered easily when an opponent’s defensive pressure will take him out of his comfort zone. Add in Freshman talented guard, Chase Randle, and there will still be some growing pains for the Cardinal backcourt.

Sr. Fwd. Andrew Zimmerman is a mountain-man spark plug off the bench with nothing but hustle and energy and a big ol’ urban-omish beard. You’ll see when you see him, it’s very omish yet you can notice the chin strap.

I’d like to see their defense better as they were given gifts from the lackadaisical passing from the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Wednesday at the Pre-Season NIT opener. The Cardinal, especially Owens attacked the passing lanes well, but rather then being great defense, it was more of a great scouting report, so alas I say they might be well coached by Duke-alumnus Johnny Dawkins.

The Cardinal have some talent, and learned some valuable lessons last year as a young team, so the turnovers that will be coming from the Cardinal backcourt may be short-lived. In a wide open Pac-12, this could be a great opportunity for Stanford to take over the Andrew Luck Campus of Palo Alto come the Pac-12 schedule in the New Year.

The Skinny on Duke

The hatred for Duke runs free and clear due to the fact that they have a huge sweat factor. The Puke Blue Devils will either cover the spread or lose the spread by 1-3 points. Plus they have many questions to answer such as where Austin Rivers stands in his freshmen season, is Ryan Kelly for real and can Duke play defence?

As a card carrying Tar Heel Honk, it's tough to do this, but much respect must be extended to Coach K for his NCAA Men's Hoops Wins record he achieved with his win vs. the current best coach in college sports, Tom "to the" Izzo and Michigan State.

Coach Sha-chef-ko-whats-going-on-in-the-kitchen-ski gets the absolute most out of his players. Many examples can be made but most recently getting a top recruit in Kyrie Irving last year. However, upon Kyrie's toe injury that took him out for the rest of the regular season after 8 games, Nolan Smith parlayed this opportunity as the new starting PG into a 2011 Outhet Player of the Year Award season. Nolan was a distinct untapped talent that Coach K schemed into using as the new penetrator for the Poo Devils into a 20 ppg guy.

Coach K will have to perform some more miracles with this years team. It looks like he is running a similar offensive and defensive playbook, but as of now Duke doesn't have the horses to repeat any deep run into the Madness.

First off, Freshman G Austin Rivers is a talent. He's getting some great box scores to start his career, but it seems like he is forcing many drives and shots similar to the shots Kyrie took last year. Right now, he seems like a poorman's Kyrie Irving and until Austin can find a niche within the Duke offence, he'll be resorting to forced drives to the hoops and long range jumpers shot out of the rhythm of the offence. He will still find his own game, but it remains to be seen when that will happen.

The Blue Devils came into the season with these questions at guard especially after losing Smith and Irving. So the consensus was that they would need to depend on their forwards, especially Jr. Fwd Miles Plumlee. The issue with Miles is he is still a talent. He can drive to the hoop, hit the odd jumper form the short corner and he can bang on the blocks and score in bunches. But he seems to be the Tony Romo/Mark Fraudchise of the NCAA. He'll perform well in easy situations, but it remains to be seen how he'll react to pressure cooker situations in ACC action or the Madness. Right now, he is a fair weather player. I don't see him as a reliable focal point for the Doo-doo Devils come winning time.

Then there's the other Plumlee brother, SR. Mason Plumlee. He has developed into a huge body but has not fulfilled his potential as he still has awkward one-on-one post moves and lacks full control of his body causing him to get into early foul trouble.

Mason has already been replaced in the starting lineup by Jr. Fwd Ryan Kelly. Last year, Kelly was out of his element in the paint but could shoot the long range jumper. This year he has found some much needed foot speed and has an improved first step for both ends of the court. He's had consistent 15-17 games, using the improved game to go with his proven shooting ability.

The x-factor with Duke is the remaining guards in Jr. guards, Andre Dawkins and Seth Curry. Curry has a lot of pressure on him and he's stepping up as Duke's leading scorer so far at 16 ppg. His strength is his 3-pt shot, but he has worked hard at increasing his point guard responsibilities, and it remains to be seen, like Miles Plumlee, how this new role will fit Curry deep into the gauntlet that is the ACC season and March.

Dawkins seems like this year's Nolan Smith with his untapped talents and patience to unleash his potential once he get more opportunities. He won't be the penetrator to the hoop like Nolan Smith, but moreso a 3-pt assassin.

Finally, as with tonight Maui Invitational clinching 3 point shot, Soph. G Tyler Thornton is a huge spark. He's a limited talent but has the hustle that Coach K can't keep on the bench.

There are some unorthodox parts to the gears that turn Duke, but Coach K will most likely find a way to make the Poo Devils' Top 25 talent into a Top 10 ranked team. But Duke horrible lack of defence upon giving up too many drive-n-dishes almost at will, will ensure an early exit in March with a one and done Madness.

On a roll.....here's some takes.....

Get the straight jackets out! My apologies for a lack of takes on games bet on. To start the season the Insanity Report Staff is 8-3 ATS including a 2-0 day today with Kentucky -19.5 vs Penn State today which covered by at least a billon-million points today.....as we say in the blog bizness: EASY COVER!!!!! Also Duquesne covered over Akron by 5 points today when the spread was 3 points. Tight cover, but a cover is a cover......is a cover

So with tomorrow's games we have one game we like:

It's not on the menu as of yet, but on other sites we like:

WASH ST (Pick) vs. PORTLAND

Wazoo is coming into the season losing two players who left to go pro. Klay Thompson parlayed his early entry into the draft with a first round selection into the "nuclear winter" league of the NBA. (Somewhere, Homer Simpson is heard, saying, "It's pronounced, NEEE-YOOK-LEE-ERR.........NEEE-YOOK-LEE-ERR") Either way, he's gone and according to the preview mags and handicappers, Washington State is destined for a massive rebuilding year ......hold up....not so quick.......

The Insanity Staff was scouting Gonzaga/Wazoo and Gonzaga had an easy win vs. the Cougars of Pullman, but Wazoo has a great passing game on the offensive end showing basketball IQ and competent guards and forwards. Their main scoring threat is a smooth shooting SR. G Faisel Aden with a solid frontcourt with SR. POST Charlie Enquist and JR. FWD Brock Motum. Wazoo plays competent defense and the Portland Pilots have lost their top 2 scorers from last year and also had a 30 point drubbing by the hands of UDub.

We like Wazoo to win easy tomorrow!

Bye-bye NBA. Hello the Madness.

Commish A-Dish out!

Oh Carolina!!!!

#1 NORTH CAROLINA 67 vs. MICHIGAN STATE 55

Closing Spread: UNC -8.5

Result: UNC -8.5 (Won by 3.5)

Bet: UNC -11 and UNC -9

Result: Won both bets

This was a great event upon the Aircraft Carrier, USS Vinson. A fitting place to launch the USS Tar Heel which left for deployment amongst the NCAA landscape on Friday night showing just how dominant they will be for the upcoming season within the whole nation and ACC.

Here's the skinny on UNC. Once again there's the Super Frontcourt of Soph. Harrison Barnes, Jr. John Henson and Sr. Tyler Zeller. And the run of UNC depends pretty much on the health of Soph. PG Kendall Marshall! If Kendall stays healthy, then UNC will be cutting down the nets in New Orleans! It's as easy and that.

The strengths of UNC? Their frontcourt offers 3 different weapons.

Barnes will take over spurts of every game with a flurry of transition lay-ups and jumpers. Plus, he can hit the odd jumper within the halfcourt set.

Tyler Zeller will use the advantage of the collective wingspan of the forwards to cheat one extra step towards the helpside and draw 2-3 charges a game. Once he gets position and receives a well led entry pass, he'll get many hoops in the blocks.

And Henson? His wingspan led to 9 friggin' blocked shots vs. MSU. He altered twice as many shots with his albatross like twigs. He was his usual self on the boards, but then showed a turn around jumper from the short corner and the wing that may show some foreshadowing towards a Player of the Year (Outhet Award) season if he can consistently make those jumpers for the whole season.

The collective wingspan of the Super Frontcourt makes it difficult for any team to get comfortable shots within 15 feet of the hoop. It pretty much forces a team to HAVE to shoot the lights outta the gym from down town just to have a chance vs. the Tar Heels. This may very well be their greatest strength. This will lead to blocked shots, and many rebounds off altered shots that will lead to their identity, which is the fast break.

A fast break that is led by Kendall Marshall. Marshall's thread-the-needle outlets mine as well be Joe Montana passes to Jerry Rice. Marshall fills in the gaps that will connect the UNC Frontcourt Trio's Trix; He has got to stay healthy! Plus he will compliment Barnes' open J's in the half-court set with timely drives to the hoop.

The weaknesses of UNC?

Their defensive strengths of cheating one step more towards the helpside and altering shots forces the bigs to play straight up in the air and a bit off the rebounding lane to effectively block out on the glass. This led to UNC giving up 19 offensive rebounds to The Brave 300 of the Michigan State Spartans. But this will be remedied by simple hustle and preventing the true weakness of UNC....which is the possibility of UNC defeating UNC.

If they rely purely on their out-of-stratosphere talent, then they will be outworked by one of the many teams out there that are capable of shooting the lights out from 3-point land. This will also land the Tar Heel's into a slowed down half-court game which stalls their strengths and forces them to force jumpers and one-on-one post moves that Zeller and Henson rarely convert. But, Roy will get the fella's hustling. If they maintain an adequate level of hustle, they will be able to force their fast tempo and rhythm that will lead to the Dance in New Orleans in March.

Also, the Tar Heels must develop a threat from downtown to further make opposing defences from clogging the key making things difficult for the Three Tar-Heel-go Frontcourt. Soph. Wing, Reggie Bullock didn't impress too much on the USS Vinson from downtown, but Freshman, G PJ Hairston has come into Chapel Hill as gun slinger from the three-point line.

Finally, the most freaky aspect of UNC is their 2 McDonald All-American freshmen in PJ Hairston and forward, James McAdoo can be phased into the UNC line-up rather then being thrown to the wolves like John Henson and Harrison Barnes were as freshmen. The expectations on Henson and Barnes over the past 2 seasons were unrealistic and added needless stress onto their development. Now that McAdoo and Hairston will be coming off the bench, they will be able to adapt to the rigors of the national spotlight.

This may lead to an aspect even more dangerous for the NCAA landscape, a post-National Championship UNC team with continuity. Uh oh!

First Takes for Tonight's Games

4 Games on the Menu:

North Carolina -9.5 vs. Michigan State

Taking North Carolina hard on this game!!! The Insanity ReportStaff Betting Manifesto has Law #2 stating: "Never Bet against the Izzo!.....you don't have to bet for the Izzo, but NEVER bet against the Izzo!"......until tonight!

Sorry Izzo, I love you, you're the best coach in College Basketball and you get the most out of your players year in and year out. But from a personel point of view, I see this game as a UNC ass whoopin'!

UNC's front court of Tyler Zeller, Harrsion Barnes and John Henson have a combined rebounding stat of 80 rebounds a game. MSU has Draymond Green who is a great great talent at forward, but he's a guard/wing trapped in a forwards body. So once he has his match-up, most likely vs. Tyler Zeller, then Barnes and Henson will go off on the boards.

The x-factor for UNC is PG Kendall Marshall who is a perfect fit for this team as a pass first PG who can mae the odd jumper. Michigan State has underwhelming and under-perfoming talent last year and they bring in little to address that. Other than Valpo transfer, Braydon Wood, there is little talent for the Brave 300 to keep up with juggernaut talent of Carolina tonight,

Liking UNC by 15 tonight

Valparariso -3.5 @ Georgia Southern

Valpo kept up with Arizona a couple nights ago, where Georgia Southern is coming off a 1-17 season last year in their shit conference.

3.5 points is a gift!

Connecticut -23 vs. Columbia

National Champs at home to a shit Ivy Leaguer team? UConn by 35!

Ohio State -27.5 vs. Wright State

Jared Sullinder, William Buford and Aaron Craft vs. a Wright State team that returns no one from a weak roster last year. They have no bigs, so Sullinger goes off tonight!

COLLEGE HOOPS!!! FINALLY

My head is spinning!!! We're going through a great (and as of the past 3 weeks, profitable) NFL Season. The NHL season is up and running (but call me in the New Year, there's still a Stanley Cup hangover). And then there's the NBA lockout....or is it a strike? Doesn't matter, no one cares. That goes to show how much the NBA is a free-falling stock as the media surrounding their Plaxico Burress like mess. Whatever deal gets done, either soon or next summer, both sides have shot themselves in the foot (or thigh)! And then there's the horrible and possible sports landscape changing story over in Penn State!

So lets get right into it......COLLEGE HOOPS!!!!!

No NBA hoops? No problem...there's real basketball goin' on in campuses across the country!

There is not much of a preview this year as the keyword for this year is: TOP HEAVY!

The national rankings are top heavy with UNC at #1 and everyone waaaaaaay behind. Looking at all of the 6 major conferences, they are all top heavy.

The ACC has UNC and Duke and alot of teams with 1st/2nd year coaches, so they're in rebuilding mode. The prognosticators are trying to shove Virginia down our throats, but no....not Virginia. The one thing that scares me for UNC's run is that they will have little competition in the ACC. But watch out for Florida State to continue their defensive style run towards another Sweet 16 run.

The Big 12 has Baylor set at #1 almost by default being the only team returning any experience. KU will have something to say about that, but there's also new coaches in Texas A&M, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. Texas lost their whole roster as did K-State. Iowa State will be interesting with a surprisingly good team last year with a lot of new transfers coming in.

The Big East is the Big East and is microcosm of what these eventual super conferences will be like. They will eat up everyone in the conference from the top-down. but there is a tough UConn defending their title with Jeremy Lamb taking the reigns from Kemba. Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt and Marquette lost some bug talent, but have reloaded. Look for rising teams like St John's and Cincinnati to make some noise into the Top 8 of the 16 team conference.

The Big 10 is as top heavy as Kim Kardashian! There's Ohio State with Jared Sullinger, William Buford and Aaron Craft. Wisconsin has Jordan Taylor at PG but lost alot of big men. In a conference where Michigan was an up and comer last year sky rockets to 3rd or 4th in the pre-season previews......yeah that's a conference that's reloading as well. Never and I mean never count out the Izzo in Lansing, Michigan though!

The SEC has Kentucky reloading with a McDonald All-American freshmen crew with Terence Jones coming back to Lexington. Jones has all the potential in the world to dominate the SEC at wing, but he will be tested due to his much needed, but untested leadership required from Coach Calipari.

And the PAC-10? Get a dominant big man someone! The Pac-10 has been on a downward spiral the past couple years but they have some interesting teams with depth in California. Arizona has had 2 games already and can't take care of the ball. But their talent and depth will get into a groove. Zona Head Coach, Sean Miller will make sure of that. I'm not sold on UCLA with them losing 2 guys to the NBA draft from a season last year where they barely escaped the Izzo in the Round of 64 (1st Round) of the Madness.

So there is so much room for the obligatory mid-major conference/team to make a good run. Look for teams in the Colonial Conference with Final 4 darlings VCU and George Mason reloading. There's the Horizon Conference with the Butler.

Never forget the Atlantic 10 conference with Xavier, Temple and a slew of teams that will give many Top 25 teams fits this season pushing the conference RPI through the roof. Also the Conference-USA has more talent then just in Memphis. Marshall and Central Florida have opportunities to make some noise. If UCF does make some noise then look for the media darling stories of His Airness' son, Marcus Jordan at the helm for UCF.

This is the first of many takes to come, so lets see how tonight goes with the first round of games.

CrazyDavo out

Week 4 Morning Takes

It's been a while for posts by CrazyDavo, so lets get back at it with a quick overview of the morning games:

DET 34 @ DAL 30

CLOSING LINE: DAL -1

RESULT: DET +1

Easycovers Bet: DET +1 (Won)

Two things:

1.) Romo went Romo with his 2nd half meltdown today. As a neutral fan for Romo and the 'Boys, I just feel sorry for Cowboys fan who stays faithful to their Cowboys loyalties. Romo will win games for Dallas. He'll chalk up tonnes of fantasy points for Fantasy League honks. But, IT IS A GIVEN that Romo will implode and single handedly cost the Cowboys the game. You can't predict when it'll happen, you just know it's inevitable. Sucks being you Cowboys fan

2.) MEGATRON is taking over the NFL! His large hands are just one decepticon weapon for Calvin Johnson. His routes are precise which hides the subtle throwing mistakes of Matthew "Starscream" Stafford! Megatron will always keep Starscream in check!

Keep riding the Lions ATS, and if they're down, then lay some serious cheddar on 2nd half bets! Staying away from the Cowboys, because now it's an absolute coin flip on how Romo will respond, especially in 2 weeks after their bye weekend at New England who may be smelling blood.

BUF 20 @ CIN 23

CLOSING LINE: BUF -1

RESULT: CIN +3

Easycovers Bet: BUF -1 (Loss)

The man-crush on Bills QB, Ryan Fitzpatrick is still on. Fear the Beard! He didn't march the Bills in their last drive to even attempt a FG late in the 4th. And the Bills defense showed many chinks in their armour. Credit to the Bengals, they out-"gamered" the reigning Gamers of the NFL in B-Lo today. Should've seen this coming. As much as it's great to see a hard-working team like the Bills at 3-1, it was quite inconceivable to see them at 4-0.

But keep riding the Bills as they will win you more games then they'll lose. That'll garner some profits.

CAR 29 @ CHI 34

CLOSING SPREAD: CHI -7

RESULT: CAR +7

Easycovers Bet: Stayed Away

Great stay away game. Cam Newton is solidfying his NFL debut season as a definite ATS cover-er! His stats don't lie and the 4 weeks of backdoor covers will be quite interesting at home to Nawlins next week. And today's Devin Hester punt return TD solidifies Da Bears as a stay away team. Hester is Romo-esque in that you know he'll get his special teams touch downs, but the timing is always unpredictable. That, to go with Cutler being Cutler screams STAY AWAY from Daaaa Bears!!!

NO 23 @ JAX 10

CLOSING SPREAD: NO -8

RESULT: NO -8

Easycovers Bet: Stayed away.

This game was nullified with D$'s hunch in Nawlins to cover vs. the offensively woeful Jags. But I don't trust the Saints on the road, which might influence next weeks NO @ CAR bet. But the Saints are a quiet ATS covering team and are quietely 3-1. They're next 5 games involve a home-n-home with Jaaaaaash Freeeeeman and the Bucs, so we should get a great take on both teams by then. For now, riding the Saints should garner profits.

SF 24 @ PHI 23

CLOSING SPREAD: PHI -10

RESULT: SF +10

Easycovers Bet: Stayed Away

Let's re-iterate one thing from the pre-season takes: PHILLY IS NOT A SUPERBOWL FAVORITE! The pre-season hype was just due to the fact that they had the loudest pre-season transactions for a fanbase and media starving for NFL news other then the NFL lockout in the summer. This exploded the Eagles as the sexy pick.

But, they're hype is squashed almost as much Sidney Crosby's noodle. This is due to 3 things:

1.) The Eagles Offensive Line CAN NOT be trusted. They give no time for Vick to work in the pocket. Which is ironic since he is actually an improved pocket QB. The glass-jawed Philly O-Line allows for no running game and hence no deep ball threats for the DeSean Jackson, despite a 61 yard reception today.

2.) The health of Michael Vick CAN NOT be trusted. He was knocked out of Week 2 @ ATL with a concussion. Last week he was knocked out with a suspected hand fracture. This week Vick was limping noticeably all game. This is to due with Vick's playing style and his non-existent O-Line. As Chuck D said in 1991, Can't Truss it!!!!

3.) Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin IS A BONAFIDE ATS KILLER with the untimliest turnovers highlighted by his forced fumble due to his tucking the football like a friggin bread basket! A couple weeks back he made an unforgiveable drop on 4th down in their last drive at ATL. Chuck D can't truss Maclin either!