Hey nropp ,hope ur summer was well and good luck on the upcoming season....any early leans today was looking at emich, loyola (md), nevada and belmont..tks
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Hey nropp ,hope ur summer was well and good luck on the upcoming season....any early leans today was looking at emich, loyola (md), nevada and belmont..tks
Hey nropp ,hope ur summer was well and good luck on the upcoming season....any early leans today was looking at emich, loyola (md), nevada and belmont..tks
I like your first two. Will have about 3100 words shortly.
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Quote Originally Posted by draw57:
Hey nropp ,hope ur summer was well and good luck on the upcoming season....any early leans today was looking at emich, loyola (md), nevada and belmont..tks
I like your first two. Will have about 3100 words shortly.
Already touched on some of these games, but it’s finally 11/11 so I will touch on only the games I’m interested in for the day. If you have questions about another game, feel free to ask and I’ll tell you why I laid off. The first game I’m interested in is probably going to be one of the ugliest games on the board.
UIC travels to Eastern Michigan in what is more than likely going to be two of the worst offenses in the country by season’s end. Howard Moore is in his second season for UIC and I expect him to do well once he gets his own recruits into the program, but he has yet to do that. Now, why will they suck this year? They don’t have any experience. Gone is Robo Kreps being on the court for 95% of the time. While he was a quiet leader, he was the main source of offense. Gone is Paul Carter, the only real post presence they’ve had in recent years. Zavion Neely was the court leader, the emotional leader. He was suspended for the 2nd half of last season, and it showed. They only won two ballgames after his suspsension. But he’s back this year right? Nope, he’s gone and he left school. Three huge pieces gone, and they lost two other top scorers, which makes that a grand total of their top five scorers being gone. They did bring in a transfer from Toledo for some bulk on the inside, and that transfer came from a 4-28 team where he barely played. Moore knows he’s in for a rough year. He had some local JUCO talent come in – and it should be pointed out these two were being looked at by not a single other Division 1 school in the country. Moore coached teams like to run when they get the chance (not often), and he loves some bubble pressure in a ¾ to full court press. Herein lies the problem. If you can’t score, you can’t use your strength which is pressuring the opponents guards. To put this into perspective, they’ve had two exhibition scrimmages against two of the worst D-II and D-III teams in the Midwest. In those games, they scored 61 and 57. Out of the four halves, they had one good half and that was a half they shot 62%. They also only made a total of four three-point shots in those two games. They have ZERO outside shooting. The team is made up of a bunch of slasher/scorers who really have no role in the grand scheme of things. One would think a young team like that would have no shot at going on the road for the opener and competing, and that should be the case. Key in on that slasher mentality that UIC brings, because it’s the #1 most important factor in this matchup. Anybody know who had the best defense in MAC play last year? Yup, EMU. UIC as a team is worse than any team the MAC fielded last year according to my preseason #’s. Now, why did EMU have the best defense? It can be attributed to a couple things. First, MAC offense was pitiful. Second, Jamell Harris is in the paint. When teams beat EMU last year, they did it from the outside, because if they came on the inside, they were more than likely going to get the ball swatted away. Which brings me to another important point, and something I’ve already touched on and that’s Rob Murphy taking the reigns as head coach. He will bring the Syracuse zone into the mix as I previously mentioned, but he will also deploy some man to man principles within that. That’s the perfect defense facing this UIC squad. Simply put, the offense is no better than UIC, but they have experience, they have quality PG play, they have the more talented backcourt, the better defense, and they’re at home.
1* Eastern Michigan -5.5
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11/11
0-0, +0.00
Leans: (0-1)
Already touched on some of these games, but it’s finally 11/11 so I will touch on only the games I’m interested in for the day. If you have questions about another game, feel free to ask and I’ll tell you why I laid off. The first game I’m interested in is probably going to be one of the ugliest games on the board.
UIC travels to Eastern Michigan in what is more than likely going to be two of the worst offenses in the country by season’s end. Howard Moore is in his second season for UIC and I expect him to do well once he gets his own recruits into the program, but he has yet to do that. Now, why will they suck this year? They don’t have any experience. Gone is Robo Kreps being on the court for 95% of the time. While he was a quiet leader, he was the main source of offense. Gone is Paul Carter, the only real post presence they’ve had in recent years. Zavion Neely was the court leader, the emotional leader. He was suspended for the 2nd half of last season, and it showed. They only won two ballgames after his suspsension. But he’s back this year right? Nope, he’s gone and he left school. Three huge pieces gone, and they lost two other top scorers, which makes that a grand total of their top five scorers being gone. They did bring in a transfer from Toledo for some bulk on the inside, and that transfer came from a 4-28 team where he barely played. Moore knows he’s in for a rough year. He had some local JUCO talent come in – and it should be pointed out these two were being looked at by not a single other Division 1 school in the country. Moore coached teams like to run when they get the chance (not often), and he loves some bubble pressure in a ¾ to full court press. Herein lies the problem. If you can’t score, you can’t use your strength which is pressuring the opponents guards. To put this into perspective, they’ve had two exhibition scrimmages against two of the worst D-II and D-III teams in the Midwest. In those games, they scored 61 and 57. Out of the four halves, they had one good half and that was a half they shot 62%. They also only made a total of four three-point shots in those two games. They have ZERO outside shooting. The team is made up of a bunch of slasher/scorers who really have no role in the grand scheme of things. One would think a young team like that would have no shot at going on the road for the opener and competing, and that should be the case. Key in on that slasher mentality that UIC brings, because it’s the #1 most important factor in this matchup. Anybody know who had the best defense in MAC play last year? Yup, EMU. UIC as a team is worse than any team the MAC fielded last year according to my preseason #’s. Now, why did EMU have the best defense? It can be attributed to a couple things. First, MAC offense was pitiful. Second, Jamell Harris is in the paint. When teams beat EMU last year, they did it from the outside, because if they came on the inside, they were more than likely going to get the ball swatted away. Which brings me to another important point, and something I’ve already touched on and that’s Rob Murphy taking the reigns as head coach. He will bring the Syracuse zone into the mix as I previously mentioned, but he will also deploy some man to man principles within that. That’s the perfect defense facing this UIC squad. Simply put, the offense is no better than UIC, but they have experience, they have quality PG play, they have the more talented backcourt, the better defense, and they’re at home.
...While I started out with two teams that are awful, I might as well continue the pattern. Southern Utah travels to San Diego State to take on UC Davis in the opening round of the Basketball Traveler’s Classic. There are a few interesting scenarios that play a pivotal role in my selection here. First, Southern Utah has revenge. They played pretty even basketball for both halves in last year’s matchup that occurred AT UC Davis. They lost that game by 9 points, and UC Davis attempted a whopping 18 more foul shots. So, we have a nice tiny revenge angle going on. Secondly, as crazy as it sounds, I think we get a Southern Utah team that has a bit of momentum on opening night. Last year about midseason, this team had 4 wins, and Coach Reid totally switched around the lineup, and finally found a lineup that he liked. They won 5 of their final 8 conference games, with losses coming to Oakland (twice) and Oral Roberts, who were probably the top two teams in the conference. They lose one senior, the rest of that squad is back, so the offense should be stable to a point. Reid coached teams always work hard, crash the glass like crazy, get to the foul line, and take what the defense gives them. To the contrary, UC Davis was a team I was really high on in certain matchups last year because of the height of their backcourt. With Payne and Harden in the backcourt, they had matchup advantages out of this world as both stood 6’8”. But they were horribly coached. However, the loss of those two in the backcourt could be and might be the biggest backcourt loss in all the country. Both players set career Big West marks in not only scoring, but assists, and FG’s, minutes, etc…How do they account for that loss? I’m eager to find out. It must also be pointed out that the resurgence of Eddie Miller last year really raises some question marks going into this year. Last year, he was the third scoring option playing alongside those two in the backcourt. Teams really didn’t key on him b/c of the other two players, so he was able to take advantage of that. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case this year. He’s pretty much their only returning offensive weapon, and he will be the one that’s keyed on this year. I think it’s pretty safe to say that those open shots he was able to get last year, won’t be there this year, and his shooting percentages should fall. If they don’t, then I will drink the kool-aid, but I don’t think that’s the case. As for the rest of the team, they’ll be making the nropp leap of freshman to sophomore, so normally you would see a pretty good improvement both offensively and defensively, but a majority of these freshman barely saw time last year. UC Davis’ leap of improvement probably comes next year. I shall also point out that the head coach at UC Davis now is Jim Les. For those familiar with my stuff, I’ve written what seems like a book on the guy having been close to his Bradley teams for years. Les is just a weird coach in general. His teams appear to be solid defensively, in fact, a lot of his scoring has come from turnovers on defense. The half-court offense has always been a lacking part of in-game philosophy. If they defend well, it opens up the offense, and that’s probably what he’s going to have to do here at UC Davis, which really raises a few more question marks. Not having a real PG with quality experience hurts this kind of style, and hurts the fast break opportunities that he’s expecting to get. Of course, it also hurts ball movement on offense as well. Add in the fact that this is a fairly young team learning both a new offense and defensive philosophy, and I’m not sure how this team comes out of the gates guns blazing. Note: Eddie Miller’s questionable to play in the opener. I’m playing this regardless of his status.
1* Southern Utah +1.5
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...While I started out with two teams that are awful, I might as well continue the pattern. Southern Utah travels to San Diego State to take on UC Davis in the opening round of the Basketball Traveler’s Classic. There are a few interesting scenarios that play a pivotal role in my selection here. First, Southern Utah has revenge. They played pretty even basketball for both halves in last year’s matchup that occurred AT UC Davis. They lost that game by 9 points, and UC Davis attempted a whopping 18 more foul shots. So, we have a nice tiny revenge angle going on. Secondly, as crazy as it sounds, I think we get a Southern Utah team that has a bit of momentum on opening night. Last year about midseason, this team had 4 wins, and Coach Reid totally switched around the lineup, and finally found a lineup that he liked. They won 5 of their final 8 conference games, with losses coming to Oakland (twice) and Oral Roberts, who were probably the top two teams in the conference. They lose one senior, the rest of that squad is back, so the offense should be stable to a point. Reid coached teams always work hard, crash the glass like crazy, get to the foul line, and take what the defense gives them. To the contrary, UC Davis was a team I was really high on in certain matchups last year because of the height of their backcourt. With Payne and Harden in the backcourt, they had matchup advantages out of this world as both stood 6’8”. But they were horribly coached. However, the loss of those two in the backcourt could be and might be the biggest backcourt loss in all the country. Both players set career Big West marks in not only scoring, but assists, and FG’s, minutes, etc…How do they account for that loss? I’m eager to find out. It must also be pointed out that the resurgence of Eddie Miller last year really raises some question marks going into this year. Last year, he was the third scoring option playing alongside those two in the backcourt. Teams really didn’t key on him b/c of the other two players, so he was able to take advantage of that. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case this year. He’s pretty much their only returning offensive weapon, and he will be the one that’s keyed on this year. I think it’s pretty safe to say that those open shots he was able to get last year, won’t be there this year, and his shooting percentages should fall. If they don’t, then I will drink the kool-aid, but I don’t think that’s the case. As for the rest of the team, they’ll be making the nropp leap of freshman to sophomore, so normally you would see a pretty good improvement both offensively and defensively, but a majority of these freshman barely saw time last year. UC Davis’ leap of improvement probably comes next year. I shall also point out that the head coach at UC Davis now is Jim Les. For those familiar with my stuff, I’ve written what seems like a book on the guy having been close to his Bradley teams for years. Les is just a weird coach in general. His teams appear to be solid defensively, in fact, a lot of his scoring has come from turnovers on defense. The half-court offense has always been a lacking part of in-game philosophy. If they defend well, it opens up the offense, and that’s probably what he’s going to have to do here at UC Davis, which really raises a few more question marks. Not having a real PG with quality experience hurts this kind of style, and hurts the fast break opportunities that he’s expecting to get. Of course, it also hurts ball movement on offense as well. Add in the fact that this is a fairly young team learning both a new offense and defensive philosophy, and I’m not sure how this team comes out of the gates guns blazing. Note: Eddie Miller’s questionable to play in the opener. I’m playing this regardless of his status.
...Let’s keep the theme of bad teams, but this time we aren’t going to choose a side. I’ve already pointed out the lack of offense that both Illinois State and Fresno State bring to the table, so we’re going to flip the script and I’m going to look at an over here. Fresno Coach Rodney Terry has never been a part of a program that didn’t run. Texas, UNC Wilmington, Baylor, all three programs that ran. Even if he didn’t want to run here at Fresno, I don’t think he could. They’re trotting out four, sometimes five guards on the court this year due to a lack of size (they are going to get burnt in the WAC against teams with good post play). They have had a consistent theme on the offensive side of the ball the last few years and that has been poor outside shooting, yet when they have been making shots, they have been getting them in the flow of the offense. So, at least half of the equation is fulfilled in the fact that they can run the offense, the shots just weren’t falling. I think they get some of those shots to go. Jonathan Willis is a tough matchup for ISU here on the wing, and I’m not sure how they defend him. The best offense should come from Olekaibe, who’s making that freshman to sophomore transition. We also have another guard who is in that transition and that would be the Johnson kid who transferred from New Mexico. Aside from that, they aren’t really that deep, and the post players are borderline awful, which leads me to the strength of ISU – and that’s post play. With Carmichael, Wilkins, and Ekey down low, it’s pretty clear the Redbirds will have a strong advantage down low. Continuing the theme, they have zero guard play. That’s right. Fresno has guards and no bigs. ISU is the exact opposite. That right there should lead us to some value in pointing to over the total. “Extra opportunities” is the theme here. ISU should continue to turn the ball over at an extremely high pace leading the fastbreak for the Fresno guards which is exactly what they want to do. When ISU doesn’t turn the ball over, they’ll get into the half court setting and pound the ball inside where they have a huge advantage. It’s a slightly dangerous play with the snail pace that ISU plays at, but I should get ample opportunities for this one to go over.
1* Illinois State/Fresno State Over 127.5
Other game notes: I think Montana is better than Colorado State both offensively, and defensively, however, their defense takes a hit if the 7 footer Selvig doesn’t play, and it sounds like he is not going to be ready with an ankle injury, so I’m laying off. Western Kentucky takes a huge hit by losing Patillo (74), Pettigrew (84), and Kerusch (77). Those numbers in parenthesis are the % of time they spent on the floor last year and is the largest combination of any top three minute getters in the country that will be gone to graduation. Who was #4 on that list? Guard Caden Dickerson at 70% of the time, and it looks like he won’t be on the court for game #1 due to a shoulder injury. The #5 guy last year came it at 56% of the minutes, and that was another guard McDonald, who has barely practiced due to a sprained knee, but he did play in their last exhibition. Stay clear of the Hilltoppers for a few weeks, sort of feel bad for Coach McDonald who took a $100,000 paycut last year and vowed to turn around the basketball program. Enjoy the Missouri State and Nevada matchup. Weems and Burton should make for a great game. I can’t really trust the others from Missouri State quite yet outside of Weems, so I need to learn a few things. I’m also curious to see how Nevada defends Weems, b/c they have quite a few matchups down the road where they’re going to have to deplore the same game plan...
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...Let’s keep the theme of bad teams, but this time we aren’t going to choose a side. I’ve already pointed out the lack of offense that both Illinois State and Fresno State bring to the table, so we’re going to flip the script and I’m going to look at an over here. Fresno Coach Rodney Terry has never been a part of a program that didn’t run. Texas, UNC Wilmington, Baylor, all three programs that ran. Even if he didn’t want to run here at Fresno, I don’t think he could. They’re trotting out four, sometimes five guards on the court this year due to a lack of size (they are going to get burnt in the WAC against teams with good post play). They have had a consistent theme on the offensive side of the ball the last few years and that has been poor outside shooting, yet when they have been making shots, they have been getting them in the flow of the offense. So, at least half of the equation is fulfilled in the fact that they can run the offense, the shots just weren’t falling. I think they get some of those shots to go. Jonathan Willis is a tough matchup for ISU here on the wing, and I’m not sure how they defend him. The best offense should come from Olekaibe, who’s making that freshman to sophomore transition. We also have another guard who is in that transition and that would be the Johnson kid who transferred from New Mexico. Aside from that, they aren’t really that deep, and the post players are borderline awful, which leads me to the strength of ISU – and that’s post play. With Carmichael, Wilkins, and Ekey down low, it’s pretty clear the Redbirds will have a strong advantage down low. Continuing the theme, they have zero guard play. That’s right. Fresno has guards and no bigs. ISU is the exact opposite. That right there should lead us to some value in pointing to over the total. “Extra opportunities” is the theme here. ISU should continue to turn the ball over at an extremely high pace leading the fastbreak for the Fresno guards which is exactly what they want to do. When ISU doesn’t turn the ball over, they’ll get into the half court setting and pound the ball inside where they have a huge advantage. It’s a slightly dangerous play with the snail pace that ISU plays at, but I should get ample opportunities for this one to go over.
1* Illinois State/Fresno State Over 127.5
Other game notes: I think Montana is better than Colorado State both offensively, and defensively, however, their defense takes a hit if the 7 footer Selvig doesn’t play, and it sounds like he is not going to be ready with an ankle injury, so I’m laying off. Western Kentucky takes a huge hit by losing Patillo (74), Pettigrew (84), and Kerusch (77). Those numbers in parenthesis are the % of time they spent on the floor last year and is the largest combination of any top three minute getters in the country that will be gone to graduation. Who was #4 on that list? Guard Caden Dickerson at 70% of the time, and it looks like he won’t be on the court for game #1 due to a shoulder injury. The #5 guy last year came it at 56% of the minutes, and that was another guard McDonald, who has barely practiced due to a sprained knee, but he did play in their last exhibition. Stay clear of the Hilltoppers for a few weeks, sort of feel bad for Coach McDonald who took a $100,000 paycut last year and vowed to turn around the basketball program. Enjoy the Missouri State and Nevada matchup. Weems and Burton should make for a great game. I can’t really trust the others from Missouri State quite yet outside of Weems, so I need to learn a few things. I’m also curious to see how Nevada defends Weems, b/c they have quite a few matchups down the road where they’re going to have to deplore the same game plan...
...I think the Elon/Umass game has possibility of seeing some points put up. I think Elon will be able to score, but they can’t defend at all and I don’t expect it to improve at all, which definitely helps a Umass team who has some experience, but lacks consistent scoring. Umass is pretty much a mirror of Fresno, their defensive philosophies allow their offense to score, yet their half court offense is abysmal. In non-conference games like this you will have those opportunities that you don’t get in conference games where teams are familiar with you. I was pretty excited to take a look at the Miami FL and Tennessee Tech total, and the possibility of it going over, especially with a few decent offenses and less than stellar defenses. But, I think if Tennessee Tech is going to have a shot, or any smaller school team is going to have a shot going in against a BCS school, you have to knock down some outside shots. Here is the # of three’s that Tennessee has hit in recent non conference games: 5, 4, 5, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 4 ,5, 4, 2, 2, 5, 6, 4, 6, and 6. Sorry, if you aren’t accustomed to hitting the three point shot, let alone attempting it, you are probably going to struggle. I’ve looked at St. Peter’s a bit more and I still can’t figure out how they’re going to score. This has got to be one of the worst offenses in all of college basketball, yet probably one of the best defenses. I flirted with an under, and still am b/c I’m not really sold on Buffalo at the PG spot. St. Peter’s will force them into a half court game and while Buffalo is pretty talented offensively and didn’t lose much, not having a PG could prove costly. Buffalo has had plenty of experience playing the snail type of ballgame, and haven’t really tried getting away from it or speeding the pace. If St. Peter’s wants to play slow, then this game will be played slow and Buffalo will try to beat them at their own game. Northern Illinois lost to a D-III team in its scrimmage…at home. Towson State has scored 51 and 43 in their two scrimmages despite playing a pretty fast style last year. On a side note, they were the worst defense in the country last year and have only given up 43 and 50, respectively. Kansas should name their #. Wright State doesn’t have a single player with more than 1 year of Division 1 experience. They play the #3 team in the country…Ohio State…on the road…on national TV. There are currently 1200 students camping out for the USU-BYU game. These are the types of games I like to sit back and watch. Curious to see if the court setting at Vanderbilt (along with the travel) messes with Oregon at all, but they play on that ugly court of theirs at home, so it may not be a factor. USC 7 footer Dedmon has been cleared to play. If UC Irvine’s defense didn’t improve from last year (which I don’t expect to improve), there is a pretty good chance Cal hangs close to 100. South Carolina took a major offseason hit. They lost their leading defensive player to graduation. Starting guard Galloway transferred to LaSalle....
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...I think the Elon/Umass game has possibility of seeing some points put up. I think Elon will be able to score, but they can’t defend at all and I don’t expect it to improve at all, which definitely helps a Umass team who has some experience, but lacks consistent scoring. Umass is pretty much a mirror of Fresno, their defensive philosophies allow their offense to score, yet their half court offense is abysmal. In non-conference games like this you will have those opportunities that you don’t get in conference games where teams are familiar with you. I was pretty excited to take a look at the Miami FL and Tennessee Tech total, and the possibility of it going over, especially with a few decent offenses and less than stellar defenses. But, I think if Tennessee Tech is going to have a shot, or any smaller school team is going to have a shot going in against a BCS school, you have to knock down some outside shots. Here is the # of three’s that Tennessee has hit in recent non conference games: 5, 4, 5, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 4 ,5, 4, 2, 2, 5, 6, 4, 6, and 6. Sorry, if you aren’t accustomed to hitting the three point shot, let alone attempting it, you are probably going to struggle. I’ve looked at St. Peter’s a bit more and I still can’t figure out how they’re going to score. This has got to be one of the worst offenses in all of college basketball, yet probably one of the best defenses. I flirted with an under, and still am b/c I’m not really sold on Buffalo at the PG spot. St. Peter’s will force them into a half court game and while Buffalo is pretty talented offensively and didn’t lose much, not having a PG could prove costly. Buffalo has had plenty of experience playing the snail type of ballgame, and haven’t really tried getting away from it or speeding the pace. If St. Peter’s wants to play slow, then this game will be played slow and Buffalo will try to beat them at their own game. Northern Illinois lost to a D-III team in its scrimmage…at home. Towson State has scored 51 and 43 in their two scrimmages despite playing a pretty fast style last year. On a side note, they were the worst defense in the country last year and have only given up 43 and 50, respectively. Kansas should name their #. Wright State doesn’t have a single player with more than 1 year of Division 1 experience. They play the #3 team in the country…Ohio State…on the road…on national TV. There are currently 1200 students camping out for the USU-BYU game. These are the types of games I like to sit back and watch. Curious to see if the court setting at Vanderbilt (along with the travel) messes with Oregon at all, but they play on that ugly court of theirs at home, so it may not be a factor. USC 7 footer Dedmon has been cleared to play. If UC Irvine’s defense didn’t improve from last year (which I don’t expect to improve), there is a pretty good chance Cal hangs close to 100. South Carolina took a major offseason hit. They lost their leading defensive player to graduation. Starting guard Galloway transferred to LaSalle....
...Holloway who transferred in a year ago and sat out a year transferred back to Ole Miss. And, the leading scorer from last season Ellington is still playing football. They’ll be young and have no experience. Will Coach Cal and the Wildcats back off the gas pedal against Marist considering Marist coach Martin was an assistant at one time for Calipari? Don’t hold your breath. Cal beat Drexel by 44 last year, and Drexel was coached by another Cal assistant in Flint. Pitino is going for win #600 tonight. Despite half the team being injured in some capacity, he’ll probably get it rather easily. Tennessee hasn’t lost a home opener in nearly 20 years. With a new look, and a new coaching staff, tonight won’t be as easy as you think. Elon is in all out lookahead mode. I really like their chances against Umass. They matchup really well. But, it’s 100% clear they’re looking ahead to their next game when they welcome South Carolina to their home gym. It will be the first time in the existence of their program that any BCS school will come into their home gym. Little things like that can’t be overlooked, and not sure we get their best effort tonight. It has been a rough week for Valpo. They played across the country at Arizona, had a three hour flight delay, got home at 9:30pm the next day, woke up, attended class, and back on the plane for a flight to Atlanta and a three hour bus ride to Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern is marketing the game as pack the place, and they return quite a bit of offense. If Valpo is a bit tired from the 4400 mile travel in the last few days, then Southern has a nice shot and makes a strong case for an outright win here. Game of the day, as far as from a watching standpoint could very well be Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee State. I really like the backcourt of Austin Peay, and I really like the frontcourt of Middle Tennessee State (they brought in Dendy from Iowa State and Walker from Oklahoma State, although Walker is suspended for the first three games this year). I really wanted to roll with Austin Peay here, as their offense should more than outscore Middle Tennessee State, and their defense while not decent, is probably still top ten in the lower mid-major schools and should not lose much. Middle Tennessee State I struggled with last year. I thought their offense would be a lot better than what it was, and they struggled immensely. Curious to see if the big boys in the middle open up some more shots from the outside. Then we’ll know if last year was just a down shooting year, or if that’s the case with these guards throughout. This one should be a good game, and I’ll lean Austin Peay based on that offensive production, but as with the case of the Raiders, they can go off offensively at any point, hence, the non-investment.
I’m only interested in a total of six games for Saturday and Sunday combined, will get to them when I can.
GL
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...Holloway who transferred in a year ago and sat out a year transferred back to Ole Miss. And, the leading scorer from last season Ellington is still playing football. They’ll be young and have no experience. Will Coach Cal and the Wildcats back off the gas pedal against Marist considering Marist coach Martin was an assistant at one time for Calipari? Don’t hold your breath. Cal beat Drexel by 44 last year, and Drexel was coached by another Cal assistant in Flint. Pitino is going for win #600 tonight. Despite half the team being injured in some capacity, he’ll probably get it rather easily. Tennessee hasn’t lost a home opener in nearly 20 years. With a new look, and a new coaching staff, tonight won’t be as easy as you think. Elon is in all out lookahead mode. I really like their chances against Umass. They matchup really well. But, it’s 100% clear they’re looking ahead to their next game when they welcome South Carolina to their home gym. It will be the first time in the existence of their program that any BCS school will come into their home gym. Little things like that can’t be overlooked, and not sure we get their best effort tonight. It has been a rough week for Valpo. They played across the country at Arizona, had a three hour flight delay, got home at 9:30pm the next day, woke up, attended class, and back on the plane for a flight to Atlanta and a three hour bus ride to Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern is marketing the game as pack the place, and they return quite a bit of offense. If Valpo is a bit tired from the 4400 mile travel in the last few days, then Southern has a nice shot and makes a strong case for an outright win here. Game of the day, as far as from a watching standpoint could very well be Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee State. I really like the backcourt of Austin Peay, and I really like the frontcourt of Middle Tennessee State (they brought in Dendy from Iowa State and Walker from Oklahoma State, although Walker is suspended for the first three games this year). I really wanted to roll with Austin Peay here, as their offense should more than outscore Middle Tennessee State, and their defense while not decent, is probably still top ten in the lower mid-major schools and should not lose much. Middle Tennessee State I struggled with last year. I thought their offense would be a lot better than what it was, and they struggled immensely. Curious to see if the big boys in the middle open up some more shots from the outside. Then we’ll know if last year was just a down shooting year, or if that’s the case with these guards throughout. This one should be a good game, and I’ll lean Austin Peay based on that offensive production, but as with the case of the Raiders, they can go off offensively at any point, hence, the non-investment.
Nropp thank you so much for your write ups! With 150+ games over the next two days a guy like yourself is more than valuable to a guy like me! Very glad to see the EMU pick as that was a game I had originally circled for today! Good luck and Ill be tailing all year!
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Nropp thank you so much for your write ups! With 150+ games over the next two days a guy like yourself is more than valuable to a guy like me! Very glad to see the EMU pick as that was a game I had originally circled for today! Good luck and Ill be tailing all year!
at myself
my friend!!! GREAT WRITE UP ALWAYS !!!!
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