FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT BROKEN UP LIKE ME. I imagine talking to NROPP with him going a mile a minute LOL!
1/7 Notes: All conference games again. It should be a pretty good ballgame between Cleveland State and Butler obviously as they’re the top two in the Horizon. I’m going to shy away from this one and enjoy it. This is a really tough stretch for Cleveland State in their next five games. They go on the road for three with Butler, Valpo, and Youngstown (probably a good thing the end of the roady ends with the worst conference team) then they come home to play Detroit and Wright State. I have my eye on Cleveland State’s outcomes today and the Valpo game b/c I think the performances will depend on D’Aundray Brown redshirting or not. I think if they can win the next two, they’ve built themselves a decent lead in the conference and they don’t rush him back. I think if by chance, they drop both, he’s going on the shelf for the season. Just a hunch. I think the two teams are about as even as you can get, but the home court’s worth quite a bit here, especially coming off a bad loss (which was the highest point total they’ve given up in conference in FIVE years). It’s pretty tough to avoid pointing to the under here too, but both teams have great offenses and Brown makes CSU so much better defensively.
Northern Iowa just simply does not impress me this year and I’ve stated my case on Indiana State. In a game that should be played at a snail’s pace, I can’t trust either team. Indiana State’s shot it awfully well at home, but the defenses they’ve gone against are far from special.
I am officially off of Illinois State until I can figure out the rotations and what Jankovich is doing. I’ve thought about it quite a bit and the only thing I can think of is that he has somewhat thrown in the towel already. He’s stated that he wants to get the younger guys more minutes because the current lineup isn’t working, but I take that as, lets give up on this year and build for next. Problem is, I’m not sure he’ll be coaching the next, LOL. I point to the over for the sole fact of previous mentioning that ISU wanted to get out and run a bit more, and they’ve done so in all 3 conference games to an extent. I just don’t like the massive amount of substitutions which hurts any value on the over.
I point to the Bradley under, although I am a bit hesitant b/c of their style of play since losing a few key players. They’ve been getting up and down quite a bit and they’re built around a bunch of slasher-type scorers who can get to the bucket and finish. They don’t really pose an offensive threat outside of Warren, including little to no consistent outside shooting. As for Drake, I don’t really expect much from them this year but their defense has made magnificent strides, and a lot of that is due to the big man in the middle in VanDeest. I like Bradley’s taller guards matched up on Drake’s shorter ones, also noting Drake is lacking a true PG. And even though Rayvonte Rice is a freshman for Drake here, his best attribute is his defense and I fully expect him to draw the task of guarding Warren. Both teams advantages in this game, but both teams advantages are on the defensive side of things. Bradley can’t slash to the hoop with last year’s leading shot blocker in the paint, and Drake will have trouble scoring with one of their best offensive players drawing the task of defending Bradley’s only offensive threat, coupled with the fact that they’ll be shooting over much taller guards. On a side note, Rayvonte Rice played against a majority of these Bradley kids through his high school days, so familiarity is at play.
I’m off of Evansville for a while. I thought we would see massive improvement this year, but apparently, I am still one year away probably. They’ve shown signs, but not all there yet. If this game can get a decent pace, they might be able to hang here. I think they’ll like playing up and down more.
Creighton has been playing better and a large part of that is the return of Echenique. Teams shot 46% from inside the arc against this Creighton team without him, and since he has joined the lineup, teams are shooting a mere 37% from inside the arc. This is a pretty important stat concerning tonight’s game b/c the Salukis feature a few slashers that probably aren’t going to get as good of looks as they have been with the trees inside (Lawson’s pretty darn good too). Ultimately defense wins games in this conference, and this is a pretty good test for both teams. It’s usually tough to win in Carbondale, but Creighton’s done it the past two years. And on a side note, somewhat of a mini-sandwich game for Southern Illinois. I don’t expect a letdown but this game comes in between a victory at rival Bradley the other night and a game on deck versus even bigger rival Illinois State.
Awesome picks, I had a big night myself (finally) with Detroit pounding Loyola, and was on your picks with Troy +7.5 and UCSB -3 ! Thanks for all the writeups, wish I had tailed you more often. 
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