1-2 day on Friday brings our 10-2 run to a screeching halt ...
Miami-Fla. -1: Brown already deemed inactive for Louisville, who have struggled on the road even with their freshman star. Lucas has the Canes playing great team ball right now and they will be a tough out in both the ACC tourney and NCAA tourney. Think they take care of the Cardinals pretty easily at South Beach in this one. 0.75 units.
Missouri -1.5: Gonna take a shot with the Tigers at home against an Arkansas team that will be without Knox AND Acuff. Cal has been very reluctant to use his bench, leaning heavily on 6 or 7 guys for much of the conference season. He isn't going to have much choice but to lean on a few more reserves as they go into a very tough environment against a motivated team that plays fast and aggressive. 0.5 units.
UTEP -1: UTEP in a 3-way tie with FIU and New Mexico State for the last 2 spots in the C-USA conference tournament. Miners have already beaten Jacksonville State on the road, while the Gamecocks are already in the tourney and would need a lot of things to fall their way to move up and get a bye. Can't see them being able to match UTEP's desperation in a very, very challenging road environment. 0.5 units.
Western Carolina +2: Catamounts come in riding a 6-game winning streak, that includes a win over Mercer as well as a 20-point beatdown of Furman. It all turned when senior PG Soumaoro got injured and was replaced by this freshman Tahlan Pettway kid, who has stepped in and instantly been fantastic as a scorer and facilitator. He's had a couple of 20-plus point games during the streak and has played with the poise of a veteran. WCU has a solid frontcourt and can play some defence. Mercer has some terrific offensive talent -- they played great in non-conference and at one point I thought they were going to win this conference -- but their reluctance to guard has been problematic. Not sure they are going to be able to flip a switch at this point. 0.5 units on Western Carolina.
Maybe have a few more tomorrow but doing most of the heavy lifting tonight...
Frustrating day ... 1-3, losing the 3 games basically on last possessions, including one OT game. I do prefer to play games with short lines, but sometimes when games go down to the wire, they go against you. Gotta reset quick and bounce back tomorrow. Apologies to those who may have tailed...
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