Hi Again. I'm Back.

So far I’ve had a pretty good CBB season.  Nothing spectacular, but a pretty solid record.  I live in Philly and am a passionate college hoops fan.  I love breaking down these games and finding the value where it exists, and I’m pretty decent at it I think, so please join me if you like to do the same.  In any case, I have three plays for tomorrow (Saturday) that I really like.  I may add another play or two tomorrow (even though 3 is my high for plays in a day so far this year), but for now these are what I feel are the three best bets on the board tomorrow:

NORTHEASTERN +1 @ DREXEL:  In this first conference game for both teams, obviously both will be looking to get their real season off on the right foot, and this figures to be an extremely hard fought contest, but I like Northeastern to pull out a close one.  Anyone who knows Bruiser Flint knows that the one thing his Drexel teams always do is defend.  And this team is no different:  while they don’t force many turnovers (Bruiser’s teams rarely do), what they do and do well is manage to force the opponent to take low percentage, contested shots.  What makes this particular Drexel team worse than most versions, however, is a truly anemic offense.  Give these guys credit for being grinders, but they are short on talent and ability, with Jamie Harris being the only playmaker they have on offense.  They don’t move the ball particularly well and are one of the worst shooting teams in the country.  Northeastern, on the other hand, is a more balanced team, playing at a slightly above average level on both offense and defense.  They do play a slow pace, one of the slowest in the country, which, when combined with Drexel’s no-O / great-D style, will give us a low scoring slugfest of a game.  Northeastern does possess several offensive playmakers, led by all-conference player Matt Janning.  They have every intention of contending for the league title this year, as they did last year with this exact same crew.  They bring one of the more experienced teams in the country into the DAC tomorrow, an intimidating place to play to be sure, but these guys are used to it and I trust the NE seniors to handle it well.  Also, in a game that will have a brawl feel to it, I love that Northeastern is one of the better FT shooting teams in the country and that Drexel is absolutely horrendous from the line.  If you’re looking for a prediction of a “lock,” you’re in the wrong place, since this game figures to be tightly contested, but I feel strongly that Northeastern is the right side here.  I think they’ll find a way to pull this one out (something along the lines of 58-53 Northeastern).

BOWLING GREEN -4.5 @ FORDHAM:  This is purely a fade pick of Fordham.  For those of you confused about this line, well, Vegas is just as confused.  I’m sure they had no idea what to do with a Fordham program in disarray.  Just yesterday (Thursday) they fired their coach, and their best player Gio Fontan has left the program (after their 2^nd and 3^rd best players from last year quit in the offseason).  In this, their first game sense, nobody has any idea quite how horrendous they’re going to be, but I’m betting that it’s going to be really really horrendous.  Like, worst team in D-1 kind of horrendous, since they were pretty freaking close to the bottom already before all this nonsense.  Bowling Green isn’t anything special, a young team (albeit one with some athletes) trying to find its identity, but this sure looks like a nice spot for the young kids over there to put a licking on someone while they’re down and build some confidence for the rest of their season.

PENN STATE +7.5 @ TEMPLE:  This is a gut feeling more than anything else, but I think this one is going to be a close game.  Temple has really struggled to find its offense in the early-going, and has been pretty dreadful from beyond the arc this season without Dionte Christmas leading the way on offense.  And from a matchup perspective, the teams that have been able to beat PSU have done so from beyond the three-point line, the weakness in their defense.  And I just don’t see Temple beating them from deep tomorrow.  Also, Temple’s biggest strength is its defense, specifically defending the three-point line, but PSU has a pretty balanced offense.  Everything goes through star PG Talor Battle, and Dunphy has no player on his Temple roster who can play him man-on-man.  Battle should be able to get into the paint and break things down a bit, really setting things up for them.  Without the benefit of the three ball, I have a hard time seeing how Temple can run away with this one to win by double digits (almost).  PSU also brings a decent contingent with them on the road in Philly, so the environment shouldn’t be entirely hostile.  Temple’s probably the better team, and deserves to be favored, but I have a hunch this thing will be really close and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if PSU wins outright.

Let the discussion begin.

I remember you. Good to see you back.

Good Luck.

I was leaning towards Temple...but interesting post. Going to the game tomorrow. I will think about it. GL

Welcome back and thanks for your insights.

There were reports Thursday that sophomore guard Jio Fontan had decided to transfer from Fordham after the fall semester ended.

"I think you could say he didn't understand what was going on," McLaughlin said of Fontan. "Jio and Dereck had their differences. Nobody knew about this. Jio was at the team meeting and we expect him to be at practice."