Insider Sports Report
4* Northern Iowa
3* Cornell
3* New Orleans
Rex Rodgers
4* Sweden -3.5 -125
3* Czech Republic -3 -125
Tony Taylor
4* Cleveland Cavaliers -4 (NBA GOW)
KB Hoops
5* Northern Iowa -3 *POD*
4* William & Mary +3.5
3* Harvard +2.5
4* Hornets -4.5
4* Wizards +7
4* Jazz -6
3* Bulls -2.5
Freddy Wills
William & Mary +168 (2.5 Dime Play)
Way too much value on a team like WM against an Iona team struggling at some points this year at home. Iona lost last Friday to Manhatton at home and I'm not convinced with this team out of the MAAC. Right now they sit at 2nd place and now they face a team from a much deeper Colonial conference that features four top 100 RPI teams as oppposed to two from the MAAC. Siena and Iona are the only two from the MAAC while the CAA has Northeastern, ODU, VCU, and William & Mary with several other teams right at the bubble. W&M and the rest of the CAA have stronger strength of schedules to. WM comes in at .5388 as opposed to Iona's .4917.
These two do have one common opponent in Uconn. Both teams struggled in this game to defend against a much larger talented Uconn team. It was WM that stuck around the entire game and Iona lost by 19 points and gave up 58.9% from the field while WM held them under 54%. Now this was at the beginning of the season and both teams have changed since. WM was the talk of the lower conference world as they beat Richmond and had a pair of victories on the road against Wake Forest and Maryland.
William & Mary statistically do not have as good of a defense, but it's not off by much, and as I shown by the stats in the Uconn game I believe that they might be a bit better. For example they held Northeastern the team ahead of them in the conference to 34.7% shooting from the field and just 24 points through the first 31 minutes of the game a week ago. This team has hit more than 200 three point shots on the other side and Iona will be challenged to guard the perimeter like they never have before. William and Mary puts up 46.7% of their shots from beyond the arch while Iona's opponents have shot 32% from beyond the arch. They better get used to defending the perimeter tonight and it will be more of a challenge as Mary has got some weapons on the post including Marcus Kitts who just started to develop over the last three games with 35 points and 29 rebounds.
More importantly Iona's regular season is not over as they have a big match up a week from today vs. Fairfield a team they are tied for in the conference. While William & Mary has two games at home they will be favorites in. That means this is the game for WM to concentrate on and with some top non-conference wins they could get into the picture if they can go far in their CAA tournament.
BEN BURNS
10* Brown/Pennsylvania Over 132
10* Spurs/76ers Over 193
9* Bucks/Pistons Over 191
BILLY COLEMAN
4* Phoenix -3.5
3* San Antonio -3.5
4* Cornell - 2.5
3* Yale +11.5
3* William Mary-Iona < 122.5
RAS
William & Mary +4.5
BRANDON LANG
10 DIME - CORNELL BIG RED
FREE PICK - DALLAS MAVERICKS
igz1 sports
4* San Antonio -3
3* Cleveland -4
3* Northern Iowa -3
Craig Davis
20 Dime – ODU-Northern Iowa UNDER
20 Dime – BOBCATS
20 Dime – HORNETS
HOT SHOT SPORTS
5* GOM - Denver -6
3* San Antonio -3.5
3* Utah -6.5
Matt Fargo
10* Bobcats
9* Magic
9* Trail Blazers
TOM STRYKER
3* Orlando
Bob Balfe
Magic -6.5 over Mavs
Two key pieces of analysis to this game is the point guard (Kidd vs Nelson) and center (Dampier vs Howard) performances tonight. Right now, Jameer Nelson is a better true point guard than Jason Kidd, who's play is diminishing by the game. Dallas is no longer a worthy contender now that they traded their most underrated player on their team. Dwight Howard is going to absolutely bully Dampier (as he did in their previous matchup) and Nelson will be giving Kidd problems all night. Look for Dallas to score well under their average of 100 points a game and the Magic to win every quarter convincingly. This should easily be a double-digit for a surging Orlando, who are now starting to really find their groove by implementing a pretty good player by the name of Vince Carter. Big win tonight for the Magic. Take Orlando -6.5.