Mid-major report: Exams could be hard on Harvard backers
By Nick Parsons
Covers.com
Scholarly Stress
Last week, we talked about the Harvard basketball program and it lived up to the hype by winning the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, with victories over Utah, Florida State and UCF.
Most impressive, from a handicapping point of view, was that the Crimson managed to cover the spread in all three of those games and did so by an average margin of nine points.
In December, the Crimson encounter UConn and Boston College but also have a couple of games where they will come in as heavy favorites. It may sound laughable to most sports fans, but recent success combined with December exams could make Harvard a solid fade over the next few weeks. Remember, Harvard is probably one of a few schools where players actually care more about academics than basketball.
So just be wary of any players who have that GOV 1730 exam to worry about on December 13. I heard Professor Rosen can be a tough marker.
Decline in Detroit
Last year’s commitment of Ray McCallum Jr. to the Detroit Titans, gave the Horizon League their highest-profile recruit ever. The McDonalds All-American turned down UCLA, Florida, and Arizona to play for his father Ray Sr., the head coach at Detroit.
With that signing came a lot of hype, and the team actually declined, dropping from 20-14 in 2010 to 17-16. This year, many have the Titans pegged to compete with Cleveland State and Butler for the Horizon League title, which has made them one of the most overvalued teams in mid-major circles.
They are 3-4 this season and have yet to cover the spread. Those three straight up wins weren’t anything to brag about either, coming against Lake Erie College, Concordia, and an 0-7 Austin Peay team, which actually required overtime.
The Titans carried no momentum from that 94-93 win over Austin Peay and put in their worst performance to date with a 81-63 loss to Akron.
However, this is still a team that has decent talent and their poor start could actually make them a value team as conference play begins. Chase Simon has had back –to-back 20-point games and his steady improvement should help take the focus off of McCallum.
Key Games
Nov 30 - Creighton at San Diego State
The Bluejays cracked the Top 25 Coaches poll, thanks to their perfect 5-0 record which included a huge 82-59 win over Iowa as 2.5-point underdogs. Wednesday night provides an interesting road test for Creighton that should serve as an accurate measure of how good it really is.
Steve Fisher has SDSU off to a 7-1 start, which includes wins over USC and Arizona. This makes him an early candidate to repeat as Coach of the Year as he lost four players who averaged double digits.
Nov 30 - Notre at Gonzaga & Dec 3 - Gonzaga at Illinois
The Bulldogs are 4-0 but have a tough three-game stretch that begins this week. While it might be exaggerating to say that all mid-majors have a vested interest in these games, failure to pick up a win against either Notre Dame, Illinois or Michigan State on December 10, will do small schools no favors come March.
Dec 3 - Cleveland State at Detroit
Horizon League begins this weekend and Saturday’s tilt between the Vikings and Titans should be an interesting one. As mentioned above, the talented Titans need to turn things around and a win over Cleveland State could accomplish that.
It won’t be easy though. The Vikings have the 31st-best defense in the nation allowing just 57.4 points per game. This has actually made them one of the better under teams this season, with none of their games going over the total.