Some news and notes for college basketball bettors as we head into the weekend.

1. North Carolina is not only 2-10 against the spread in their last 12 games, but those 10 non-covers have been by a combined 116.5 points to the pointspread.   How did this team beat Ohio State, blow out Michigan State, and lose to Kentucky in Lexington by only 2 back in December?   With yet another injury to one of their bigs, Ed Davis has a broken wrist and may be out for the season.  But on this team with 7 McDonald’s All-Americans, nobody is stepping up.

2. Pierre Henderson-Niles has left the Memphis basketball team with just 8 games left in his college career.  While the burly Henderson-Niles is best known for a near-brawl with fans at UAB last season, and is limited offensively, the Tigers do lose their second leading rebounder.  But when you look at the bizarre series of social media posts by Henderson-Niles you have to wonder if he was a malcontent and if the Tigers will be better off not having him around.

3. You’ve heard of road/home differential, but the Washington Huskies are ridiculous.  After their blowout loss at Cal on Thursday night, Washington remains winless away from Seattle.  Away from home, Lorenzo Romar’s charges are 0-7 straight up, 0-7 against the spread, and have lost those 7 games by a combined 78 and failing to cover the pointspread set by Vegas and online sportsbooks by a remarkable 74 points.   Unfortunately for our purposes, Saturday’s game at Stanford looks like a case of go-against vs. go-against.

4. Georgia is improving, but have trouble handling prosperity. If they win again, know that since Christmas they have lost immediately after all 4 of their wins.   3 of those were double digit covers.

5.  OK, amidst all this negativity, let’s point out a bright spot.  After a 5-11 start, including 0-5 in Missouri Valley Conference play, Drake has reeled off a 9-2 pointspread streak, failing only to cover in their two games against Valley dominator Northern Iowa.  Unheralded second-year coach Mark Phelps has done a great job keeping the Bulldogs together and competitive through the grind of a very physical conference.  

Good luck this weekend, and be careful.