Helmut
Duquesne / Pittsburgh Under 149
ATS Lock Club
4 Units San Diego St -6.5
4 Units U Detroit -5
3 Units Louisiana Tech -3.5
3 Units Florida -3.5
Teddy Covers
Big Ticket - W Michigan
Northeastern
Detroit
Creighton
Duquesne
Pacers
Derek Mancini
30 Dime Drexel
Seems like a lot of points at first glance, but in reality the Dragons will roll here based on several strong advantages they have. The first and most obvious of which is experience, as the Hawks field one of their youngest teams in school history (11 combined seasons of college experience). The Dragons on the other hand, are poised to be one of the best teams in a very good CAA conference this season.
Drexel has always been known as a defensive minded/glass-cleaning program, but with the emergence of super sixth man Chris Fouch (21.5 ppg), the scoring punch has been added to an already rock-solid defensive squad. The bigger problem for the Hawks maybe matching up down-low, where their incredibly light frontcourt (Aiken 6'9 186 lbs, Quarles 6'6 175 lbs, Hilliard 6'7 215 lbs) is going to have to contend with some real bruisers in the Dragons Givens (11 ppg, 12 rpg), Mccoy (6'9, 270 lbs), and star freshman Ruffin (6'8 240 lbs). The young and thin Hawks are going to get muscled around by the bigger and stronger Dragons tonight.
Finally, there's a couple thing that would really worry me if I were backing the Hawks in this match up. First, their penchant for jacking up three pointers (which is typical for a young team), shooting just 26% from long-range in November. And second, their lack of defensive presence, allowing 70 ppg on nearly 45% shooting. Drexel excels on the defensive front, and that includes on the perimeter against the 3-pointer (allowing just 26% ironically). Look for the rebuilding Hawks to get taught a lesson here by a remerging Dragons squad on the rise. Drexel over St. Jospeh's Wednesday.
The Duke's Sports
St. Joseph's (+8') for 3 Units
We get good value with a young talented Hawks team that's off a confidence building win Philly Hoop Group Classic at the Palestra against a good Rutgers team. The road team in this series is 8-1 ATS. The only loss was when the road team (Drexel+5) got outpointed in OT 77-67. We like our chances here with a highly skilled sophomore PG in Carl Jones who has a good blend of talent (Galloway) and experience (Hilliard) surrounding him. And Aiken serves a good purpose as a shot blocker in the low block. As for the Dragons, they're coming off a blowout win over 1-5 lightweight Binghampton. And remember, their star PG from last year -- James Harris -- was suspended (robbery) in the summer. At this point, they're without a true PG. And if this game stays tight down the stretch, which we have reason to believe it will, the Dragons could struggle --shooting just 59% from the free throw line. We'll roll with the Hawks, which are 17-6-3 ATS as a dog in this spread range.
Power Play Wins
Utah Jazz -8
Rocky Sheridan
5* New Mexico -1.5
5* Iowa State +2.5
5* Cal Irvine -1
5* Indiana +6
Billy Coleman
5* Florida
3* Cinn
3* Creighton
3* Spurs Under
3* Twolves
Evan Altemus
1* Maryland PK
The talent difference between these two teams is very significant. The Terrapins simply have much better players than Penn State has, and they have played much tougher competition. They played non-conference opponents Illinois and Pittsburgh very tough, despite not having their star player Greivis Vasquez anymore and forced to adjust their offense as a result. They also got a good comeback win against a very good College of Charleston team to open the season. Penn State's only game against a decent opponent was against Mississippi and they got blown out in that game, which is significant because Mississippi just got crushed by Miami last night. The Nittany Lions don't have a strong home court advantage either. Look for Maryland to win easily.
1* Northeastern +8
This game means much more to Northeastern than Providence. The Huskies have also played a much more challenging schedule than the Friars have. Their schedule the last three games have consisted of road games at Utah State and Southern Illinois, and a home game to Siena. The Huskies played very well at Utah State, one of the best mid-majors in the country, losing by only two points. Providence's schedule this season has consisted of very easy teams, they lost by nine points against the toughest team on their schedule and that was to Lasalle, hardly a dominant team. This series has been tightly contested as well recently, being decided by four points the last two years with Northeastern winning two years ago. Look for this game to be very close.
1* Oklahoma +8.5
Oklahoma is coming off of a very poor performance in their tournament in Hawaii. They played fairly well against a tough Kentucky team but followed that performance up with a blowout loss to Virginia and a loss to Division II Chaminade. The Sooners have had a great deal of time to prepare for this game though, so I look for them to be very motivated. Arkansas is not a quality team and have played a very weak four game schedule so far, with their best game being an overtime loss to UAB. Arkansas was only able to defeated Southeast Missouri State at home by 10 points, so I highly doubt they will be able to blowout Oklahoma by double digits when the Sooners are going to be much more motivated. Look for them to keep this game close.
DR BOB
East Carolina-5
Purdue+1
Vanderbilt-14.5
Penn St-5
NBA Opinion
UTAH (-7 ½) over Indiana
Utah applies to my very best NBA situation, a 217-97-9 ATS angle that wins every season. The Jazz actually apply to a 24-3 ATS subset of that situation and Utah has a history of point spread success hosting unrested teams. However, Indiana is an underrated team and my ratings favor the Jazz by just 6 ½ points even with the additional home court advantage that Utah gets for playing in high altitude. I hate giving up line value, no matter how good the situation is, so I’ll just lean with the Jazz unless the line goes down to -7. I’d take Utah in a 2-Star Best Bet at -7 or less.
College Opinion
Utah State (-9 ½) over DENVER
Denver is 0-5 ATS and it’s pretty apparent that the loss of Nate Rohnert is having a major negative affect on the Pioneers even with the other 4 starters from last year returning. Rohnert led Denver in scoring, rebounding, and assist while shooting 50% from the field, so I can understand why his loss is tough to overcome even with so much experience returning. Denver applies to a very negative 10-44 ATS home underdog situation and the Pioneers are just 1-12-1 ATS in their last 14 games as an underdog but they do historically play better at home than they do on the road (although 0-1 ATS this season at home with an 11 point loss to a mediocre Colorado State team) and Utah State historically plays a bit worse on the road than they do at home. I’ll pass on making this game a Best Bet because of that home-road dichotomy of each team, but I’ll lean with Utah State at -10 or less based on the strong situation.
Sean Michaels
VCU -2.5
Larry Ness
8* Hawks
8* Lakers
8* Jazz
10* SD State
8* Detroit U
8* Loyola Chicago
Erin Rynning
Playmaker: Raptors Over
Nuggets Under
KELSO
50 Units Louisiana Tech -3.5
15 Units Toronto -4.5
10 Units Virg Tech -1
MTI Sports
4'* Blazers+7.5
4* Hawks -6
4* Magic Under 193.5
4* Blazers Under 186.5
4* Nets Over 195.5