Ben Burns' 7* AFTERNOON ANNIHILATOR

VANDERBILT COMMODORES (-3.5) over Cincinnati Bearcats

Reason: I'm laying the points with VANDERBILT. The Bearcats and Commodores tip-off the opening round of the Maui Invitational. While I respect Cincinnati, I feel that Vanderbilt will have the advantage. Both teams come in at 2-0. However, the Commodores 2-0 record is much more impressive. While Cincinnati has defeated a pair of weak opponents (Praire View and Toledo) Vanderbilt comes off a victory at St. Mary's. Considering that the Gaels have been practically unbeatable at home in recent years, that win was fairly significant. I also like that the game was so close at the end. Not only did it help to keep this line a little lower than it would have if Cincinnati had won by double-digits, but it also gave the Commodores some close game experience, on the road, vs. a quality opponent. I expect that to serve them well in tournament play. The Bearcats haven't played a quality opponent yet and they haven't played outside of Cincinnati. They also really struggled with lowly Praire View. While I do feel they'll be a solid team this season, I feel this early season matchup will be a tough one. The Bearcats have also struggled in November in recent years. They're 2-5 ATS their last seven November lined games and 12-22 ATS their last 34. Conversely, the Commodores are 8-4 ATS (13-1 SU) in November the last few seasons and 29-18 ATS (54-9 SU!) their last 63. The Commodores are 5-1 SU/ATS the last six times that they were neutral court favorites in the -3.5 to -6 range. I expect them to improve on those numbers here. *7 Annihilator