Where there is smoke, there is normally fire.  Let me say first, I wish the best for St. John’s guard Rysheed Jordan.  His coach declared that Jordan was taking an indefinite leave as of the new year begins to tend to family and personal issues.  The fire that I suspect is ablaze… that Jordan is somehow disgruntled with his role at St. John’s.

I think Butler will cover 5 points against St. John’s for this adjustment period.  For the same reason, I feel Texas Tech will cover a 9 point spread against Texas.   The “adjustment period” for Texas is quite the opposite scenario.  The Longhorns are regaining their point guard leader in Isaiah Taylor.  However, it is still an adjustment to re-insert someone into a lineup and Tubby Smith’s Texas Tech Red Raiders are more athletic than to lay 9 points at home.

Here are the five games I highlighted for Saturday, Dec. 3rd action.
If you’re a gambling man (or lady), I suggest taking the teams on the left:

Also see #SuspectSpreadsSaturday on Twitter
Texas Tech +9 vs. Texas
Illinois +8.5 @ Ohio State
George Washington -2 @ St. Joes’s
UCONN  +8 @ Florida
Butler +5 @St. John’s

Let’s get back to the Rysheed Jordan situation.  Do you think that it is coincidental that he averaged more than 30 minutes per game before sitting out with a “stomach bug” Monday Dec. 22nd before playing only 22 and 23 minutes respectively in his most recent two games?  I don’t.  Jordan recently lost a family member.  Only Jordan knows what that means to him.  Follow people like Jeff Borzello for more attribution on how Jordan is dealing with that loss:

I am just a St. John’s fan who is concerned his absence is a sign of less Red Storm commitment to come.  The sophomore has NBA aspirations and this is the mid-year turning point in which he would either set up a transfer to a higher profile school or freeze his batting average (i.e. points per game) at the current mark to win a crown.  Again, all wild speculation on my behalf, but that’s pretty much what I designed this blog for.  Enjoy my picks, this Saturday’s basketball, and you better retweet this article if I go 3-2 or better on my picks.