LAS VEGAS — South Dakota State secured its second consecutive FCS football championship and 29th triumph in a row Sunday by beating Montana, 23-3, in Frisco, Texas.
Which prompted someone’s social-media post about seeing the Jackrabbits’ footballers in FBS, eager to gauge how they’d compete with the big boys.
Well, in hoops, the Rabbits do compete with the big boys, and they hold their own.
This season, they were 4-point underdogs to Wichita State and shocked the Shockers, 79-69. They got 6.5 against Central Florida and covered in an 83-80 defeat. They gave 2.5 to Southern Mississippi and won, 65-54.
As a measure of respect given them as much as the power ratings themselves, “the other SDSU” was favored, by 4.5 points, over Wyoming. The Cowboys won, 78-65.
I say the other SDSU because I attended the one in San Diego most people think of when they see those four letters. Plus, San Diego State hoops holds a 2-0 lifetime edge over South Dakota State.
South Dakota State to cover spread at home typically a good bet
Digging deeper, we find evidence of further excellence by the Rabbits, who hail from Brookings, SD, near the Minnesota border.
At home, inside their cozy and aptly named Frost Arena, the northern SDSU is 169-17 (.909) since 2010. Only Kansas (205-12, .945), Gonzaga (199-15, .930) and Belmont (169-14, .924) have been better in their own barns.
And the Rabbits have been better than Kentucky (211-22, .906), Duke (200-22, .901) and Arizona (204-24, .895), even San Diego State (195-24, .890).
It gets very interesting, however, involving the point spread. Among Division-I programs that have had more than 100 home games lined since 2010, the Jackrabbits are best, at 91-56 (.619), against the number.
Iowa (129-82-4, .609), Houston (111-74-6, .597), Furman (87-60-2, .591), Middle Tennessee State (102-71-3, .588) and Michigan State (121-85-2, .587) round out the elite six-pack.
(The Aztecs check in at 100-84-7, according to Team Rankings; at 54.2%, they still qualify as a healthy money-maker—just not in the Rabbits’ class.)
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Zeke Mayo: Cool name, great player
The current Jackrabbits are coached by fifth-year boss Eric Henderson, who played for Greg McDermott (now at Creighton) at Wayne State College in Nebraska and is 94-43 in Brookings.
The Rabbits capped ’21-22 with a 66-57 defeat to Providence in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In 15 D-I seasons, SDSU North is 0-6 in the NCAAs.
Right now, the Rabbits are very efficient shooters (54.9%, 44th among 362 D-I programs), and decent defending inside the arc (47.7%, 97th) and shooting beyond it (35.1%, 102nd). They are brutal, at 65.2% (324th in the land), at the free-throw line.
Their star is Zeke Mayo, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound junior from Lawrence, Kan., who sports one of the game’s cool names. He leads the Rabbits with 17.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 3.3 apg, plus he logs a team-high 32.2 minutes a game.
St. Thomas, 10-4 ATS this season, figures to wage a big battle for control of the Summit League, but the Tommies are one of the most deliberate, slow-it-down teams in the nation. Denver and Oral Roberts also will joust for the crown.
Give SDSU North extra consideration when it plays host to Oral Roberts (Feb. 10), Denver (Feb. 22) and St. Thomas (Feb. 24) inside Frost.
South Dakota State college basketball futures odds
While the Jackrabbits are clear favorites to win the Summit Conference, they are obviously priced long in NCAA Tournament futures odds.
College basketball odds to watch for this week
Thursday, Pacific (6-11) visits Pepperdine (7-10) and the Waves should be favored by about 13. We recommend the home favorite, since the Tigers have dropped their past five road games by an average of 21.6 points.
Stats guru Ken Pomeroy has UOP rated No. 342 on his list of the nation’s 362 D-I hoops programs, a strong descent from the days of coaches Bob Thomason, Stan Morrison and Dick Edwards.
Third-year boss Leonard Perry has proven to be a slip from even Damon Stoudamire, the former Arizona guard who made Pacific respectable, especially on the West Coast, in 2019-20.
Georgia Tech has a winning record this season, Stoudamire’s first with the Ramblin’ Wreck.
Also Thursday, San Francisco plays at San Diego, with a likely total around 140. We are solidly on OVER, as the Dandy Dons have been scoring at a high rate lately; 92, 92, 77 and 91 points over their past four games.
Keep an eye on USF’s Jonathan Mogbo, 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward from Florida who started out at Missouri State and is rated, by one service, as the country’s fifth-best player in NBA efficiency.
He averages 14.8 points, 10.6 boards, 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks. He has tallied 85 points in his past five games, shooting 37-for-55 (67.3%) from the field. He scored 30 the last time out in an overtime victory at Pacific.
Last season, in Steve Lavin’s first as coach at San Diego, Toreros games went OVER at a 72.4% clip (21 of 29), third highest in the nation, and by nearly 9 points per game.
They allowed 101 at Gonzaga and 81 to Saint Mary’s, and Utah State (108) and Stanford (88) also lit up the scoreboard on USD this season.
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Teasing college hoops lines leads to profitable weekend
When I wager on college hoops, I usually tease. I will never consider myself to be a professional bettor and I always respect that number, even on a Saturday menu full of scores of options.
For insurance, I nab those additional six points. I know I need those half-dozen points, no matter the reduced return.
That’s how I won last week’s Austin Peay wager, having pumped +4.5 points to +10.5; so I squeaked out a victory with its 10-point defeat to Eastern Kentucky.
I concocted a four-teamer (Nevada, St. Thomas, UNDER in Pacific-Portland and Over in Denver-Northern Colorado) and another parlay with Peay +10.5 and Alabama State -5.5. All six won.
Overall, I doubled my investment, making the toil — and extra padding — worth it.
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