Lenny Del Genio
St. Marys at Gonzaga Jan 29 2009 11:00PM
Prediction: St. Marys
In this battle of WCC powerhouses, the line simply doesnt reflect how close in talent these teams actually are. Its not like St. Marys is unranked. Now, they have struggled tremendously here is Spokane, losing 13 straight. Overall, Gonzaga has won 21 of the last 24 meetings between the teams. But often times history has no bearing on present day results. Just look at the Arizona Cardinals. Statistically, these teams are close. Gonzaga averages 79 PPG while St. Marys averages 77 PPG. The Bulldogs have the WCC Player of the Year in Jeremy Pargo, but the Gaels have a star in their own right in Australian Olympian Patrick Mills, who has scored in double figures in every game this season. St. Marys is the better rebounding team. They are also 8-1 ATS on the road coming off an ATS win. Take St. Marys.
GREG SHAKER
Pepperdine Waves at San Francisco Dons
Play: Over 139
These are two of the worst D Teams in all of the world but they play in a conference that has a lot of Good D Teams. That means that they both have allowed a Butt Load of points, but they both have not participated in most of those games. With the #278 and #285 D Teams out of 341 Division 1A Schools on the court tonight, they should get to enjoy that, and the fact is, both have much better than average pace. Pepperdine especially likes to push the action and is curently ranked in the Top 21% at doing so The last 4 times these two have played, they have eclipsed this posted mark and this is one of the lowest posted totals for this matchup in recent history. Neither is playing San Diego, Portland, Gonzaga, St Mary's to name a few. They are playing each other and each other is poor at stopping the opposition. We should see +120 shots taken and probably much more than that. Reasonable connectivity will give us what we want. Play up to 142.