Short card for Thursday, but one line stood out to me
Uconn-5.5
Harvard has enjoyed a very nice start to their season and I commend them for that. But the deeper I delve into this matchup the more I like Uconn tonight. Harvard enjoyed a very nice battle or atlantis tournament win earlier beating Florida state and UCF. (no I don't consider utah a college basketball team). In that game Florida state shot a measly 36% from the floor. That's awful, but when you compare that to harvard's 27% it looks like gold. Yea that's right, 27%! Jesus that's god awful. Florida state managed a meager 41 points in this matchup, horrible, while shooting 4-10 from the free throw line as well. Harvard managed a measly 46 points in this matchup between bricklayers. I'm not trying to take anything away from Harvard here, but I attribute this win much more to Florida stats ineptitude to shoot the ball that night than harvard's defense. Why? Because Harvard has allowed opposing teams to shoot 41.7% against them so far this year. Uconn meanwhile averages 48.7% shooting so far this season and possesses three guards who I feel can take over this game at ANY point in Lamb Napier and Boatright. The added addition of boatright cannot be understated I feel. This is such an added scoring boost to this team. some will point to the common opponent angle of Harvard beating UCF who beat Uconn. Fair enough, but UCF may have played their best half in program history to beat Uconn and was in classic letdown spot the next night to Harvard. I give more credit to UCF than Harvard in this instance.
The next point I'd like to stress is rebounding, Harvard pulls down 33.6 rebounds per game, good for 252nd in the country. Uconn meanwhile pulls down 41 boards per game, good for 22nd in the country. This spells mismatch for Harvard as these bigs downlow for Uconn could have a field day. Who's going to stop them downlow while having to worry about those 3 shooters outside? Coach Calhoun made me feel good as well by stating that boatright will continue to come off the bench and coach will continue to run with a traditional lineup. This to me keeps chemistry intact and keeps a downright lethal scoring punch coming off the bench that Harvard will have no answer for tonight.
Home court advantage. This will play a very big role here tonight, as these crimson have yet to face any kind of big away game environment this year like they will see tonight (there might be more fans here tonight than in each game combined in the Bahamas) and I don't believe that Seattle and Loyola Marymount posed the same threat. Harvard gave up 70 points on the road to SEATTLE by the way. Anyway, Storrs will be rocking tonight in the pavilion and I feel will also be an added boost.
So there's my key points fellas. Rebounding edge, scoring edge and athleticism, and home court advantage. Add to that the fact this is on espn and the players have reiterated they will not be taking harvard lightly and I think Uconn comes out rocking.
Short card for Thursday, but one line stood out to me
Uconn-5.5
Harvard has enjoyed a very nice start to their season and I commend them for that. But the deeper I delve into this matchup the more I like Uconn tonight. Harvard enjoyed a very nice battle or atlantis tournament win earlier beating Florida state and UCF. (no I don't consider utah a college basketball team). In that game Florida state shot a measly 36% from the floor. That's awful, but when you compare that to harvard's 27% it looks like gold. Yea that's right, 27%! Jesus that's god awful. Florida state managed a meager 41 points in this matchup, horrible, while shooting 4-10 from the free throw line as well. Harvard managed a measly 46 points in this matchup between bricklayers. I'm not trying to take anything away from Harvard here, but I attribute this win much more to Florida stats ineptitude to shoot the ball that night than harvard's defense. Why? Because Harvard has allowed opposing teams to shoot 41.7% against them so far this year. Uconn meanwhile averages 48.7% shooting so far this season and possesses three guards who I feel can take over this game at ANY point in Lamb Napier and Boatright. The added addition of boatright cannot be understated I feel. This is such an added scoring boost to this team. some will point to the common opponent angle of Harvard beating UCF who beat Uconn. Fair enough, but UCF may have played their best half in program history to beat Uconn and was in classic letdown spot the next night to Harvard. I give more credit to UCF than Harvard in this instance.
The next point I'd like to stress is rebounding, Harvard pulls down 33.6 rebounds per game, good for 252nd in the country. Uconn meanwhile pulls down 41 boards per game, good for 22nd in the country. This spells mismatch for Harvard as these bigs downlow for Uconn could have a field day. Who's going to stop them downlow while having to worry about those 3 shooters outside? Coach Calhoun made me feel good as well by stating that boatright will continue to come off the bench and coach will continue to run with a traditional lineup. This to me keeps chemistry intact and keeps a downright lethal scoring punch coming off the bench that Harvard will have no answer for tonight.
Home court advantage. This will play a very big role here tonight, as these crimson have yet to face any kind of big away game environment this year like they will see tonight (there might be more fans here tonight than in each game combined in the Bahamas) and I don't believe that Seattle and Loyola Marymount posed the same threat. Harvard gave up 70 points on the road to SEATTLE by the way. Anyway, Storrs will be rocking tonight in the pavilion and I feel will also be an added boost.
So there's my key points fellas. Rebounding edge, scoring edge and athleticism, and home court advantage. Add to that the fact this is on espn and the players have reiterated they will not be taking harvard lightly and I think Uconn comes out rocking.
Classic letdown spot for Detroit here as they just beat st johns on a ceremonious night after naming the court after Dick vitale (fans even stormed the court after, wow)
This is a inter state game, and I just read that this series will come to an end after this one since WMU found out detroit was Invilved in the tampering to acquire two former bronco players. Interesting note.
WMU can score, and score often. Their 6 losses have been on the hands of the nations third thoughest schedules with 4 games against temple, purdue, Gonzalo and Iona. 6 points is a lot and I think public is all over Detroit after watching them on national tv the other night getting a win against a big conference opponent who is way down this year.
Classic letdown spot for Detroit here as they just beat st johns on a ceremonious night after naming the court after Dick vitale (fans even stormed the court after, wow)
This is a inter state game, and I just read that this series will come to an end after this one since WMU found out detroit was Invilved in the tampering to acquire two former bronco players. Interesting note.
WMU can score, and score often. Their 6 losses have been on the hands of the nations third thoughest schedules with 4 games against temple, purdue, Gonzalo and Iona. 6 points is a lot and I think public is all over Detroit after watching them on national tv the other night getting a win against a big conference opponent who is way down this year.
You will LOSE your money simple put, here are the facts:
Common opponent UCF, results are as folows:
Harvard - 59 UCF - 49
BTW, the score of the UCF/UCONN game was not that close. Harvard is a
season laddened team that plays GREAT defense, UCONN is a one (LAMB) man
team surrounded by role players. Though I like UCONN this is the type
team that UCONN has historically struggled against.
You will LOSE your money simple put, here are the facts:
Common opponent UCF, results are as folows:
Harvard - 59 UCF - 49
BTW, the score of the UCF/UCONN game was not that close. Harvard is a
season laddened team that plays GREAT defense, UCONN is a one (LAMB) man
team surrounded by role players. Though I like UCONN this is the type
team that UCONN has historically struggled against.
Kingpin please read the part where I mentioned UCF. Played the best half of their life, then are expected to come out the next night and be amped up for Harvard? After beating Uconn? Get real. Classic letdown spot, congrats to harvard for capitalizing
Kingpin please read the part where I mentioned UCF. Played the best half of their life, then are expected to come out the next night and be amped up for Harvard? After beating Uconn? Get real. Classic letdown spot, congrats to harvard for capitalizing
Ryan Boatwright did not play in the ucf uconn game. (susp) hes been lighting it up since joining the UCONN team as a freshman. could make a huge difference.
i havent decided yet on this game. but to use the ucf result is gonna mislead you.
Ryan Boatwright did not play in the ucf uconn game. (susp) hes been lighting it up since joining the UCONN team as a freshman. could make a huge difference.
i havent decided yet on this game. but to use the ucf result is gonna mislead you.
You make some good points, but you fail to mention some very important items.
Harvard enters the week 10th in the country in scoring defense (54.4
points allowed per game). I think the 41 FSU put up should be credited
to Harvard's defense.
You ask, who's going to stop UCONN's bigs. Have you ever heard of NBA
prospect, Keith Wright? Wright is the former Ivy league player of the
year. This guy is a rebounding and blocking machine. UCONN will have
their hands full.
Now - I admit, top to bottom - Harvard does not match UCONN in talent.
However, they have great chemistry, are well coached, play incredible D, and most
importantly....they're very deep. They regularly play 10 guys. Their
plan is going to be simple; slow it down and wear em down. UCONN isn't going to have the opportunities to run up and down the floor.
At first glance, 5.5 points isn't much. But, when you're struggling to score 60, that's going to be a tough number to cover.
And for what it's worth; The line opened at 6.5 and has been bet down to 5.5. Obviously, the money came in on Harvard last night.
For the reasons above, I think Harvard keeps it close and possibly wins outright.
You make some good points, but you fail to mention some very important items.
Harvard enters the week 10th in the country in scoring defense (54.4
points allowed per game). I think the 41 FSU put up should be credited
to Harvard's defense.
You ask, who's going to stop UCONN's bigs. Have you ever heard of NBA
prospect, Keith Wright? Wright is the former Ivy league player of the
year. This guy is a rebounding and blocking machine. UCONN will have
their hands full.
Now - I admit, top to bottom - Harvard does not match UCONN in talent.
However, they have great chemistry, are well coached, play incredible D, and most
importantly....they're very deep. They regularly play 10 guys. Their
plan is going to be simple; slow it down and wear em down. UCONN isn't going to have the opportunities to run up and down the floor.
At first glance, 5.5 points isn't much. But, when you're struggling to score 60, that's going to be a tough number to cover.
And for what it's worth; The line opened at 6.5 and has been bet down to 5.5. Obviously, the money came in on Harvard last night.
For the reasons above, I think Harvard keeps it close and possibly wins outright.
Good points kaufee thanks for the insight. As for the scoring defense, I mentioned above I didn't want to take anything away from Harvard as they have performed exceptionally so far. But I feel they are overmatched and have not seen anywhere near the offense or athleticism they will see tonight. I attributed a lot of their defensive ppg numbers to the fact they haven't played any real offenses yet (Florida state is no offensive juggernaut as they are 153rd in the nation in scoring and focus on their defense) the one key point I wanted to point towards was the shooting percentage Harvard gives up (41.7) compared to uconn shooting 48.7%. That 41.7 comes without playing any real scoring oriented teams.
Holy Cross-230th
LMU- 139th
Utah-312th (god awful)
FSU-153rd
UCF- 218th
Vermont- 290th
Seattle- 176th
Just feel uconns athleticism takes over. They are 63rd in scoring and boatright has just come into play the last two games (78 and 75 points)
Good points kaufee thanks for the insight. As for the scoring defense, I mentioned above I didn't want to take anything away from Harvard as they have performed exceptionally so far. But I feel they are overmatched and have not seen anywhere near the offense or athleticism they will see tonight. I attributed a lot of their defensive ppg numbers to the fact they haven't played any real offenses yet (Florida state is no offensive juggernaut as they are 153rd in the nation in scoring and focus on their defense) the one key point I wanted to point towards was the shooting percentage Harvard gives up (41.7) compared to uconn shooting 48.7%. That 41.7 comes without playing any real scoring oriented teams.
Holy Cross-230th
LMU- 139th
Utah-312th (god awful)
FSU-153rd
UCF- 218th
Vermont- 290th
Seattle- 176th
Just feel uconns athleticism takes over. They are 63rd in scoring and boatright has just come into play the last two games (78 and 75 points)
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