THE GOLD SHEET’S FORECAST
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5
OHIO over St. Bonaventure by 18 to 22—06-Ohio -7 77-72
Clemson over EAST CAROLINA by 12 to 15—06-DNP
FLORIDA INTL. 78 - Buffalo 65—Recommend laying several hoops with steadily-improving FIU playing its 6th straight in cozy Pharmed Arena. Golden Panthers mammoth 7-0, 270 C Hicks (Pepperdine transfer 17 ppg) likely to have field day in paint vs. UB squad still trying to replace graduated 6-10 C Adbihi. Semi-rebuilding Bulls 0-4 vs. spread in games away from home TY. 06-DNP
PURDUE over Ball St. by 18 to 22—06-DNP
FORDHAM over Hofstra by 4 to 6—06-DNP
RICHMOND over South Florida by 1 to 2—06-Rich +11 56-46
Georgetown over ALABAMA by 4 to 6—(at Birmingham, AL) 06-DNP CABLE TV—ESPN
Pittsburgh 67 - DUQUESNE 63—College hoop scene in the Steel City has gotten a lot more interesting with apparent revival at Duquesne. Second-year Dukes HC Everhart making the most of transfers such as ex-Siena G Mensah (16.4 ppg) & ex-Northeastern C James (13.1 ppg & 5.3 blocks pg)s (Northeastern), the latter reprising the shat-swatting role when leading the nation in blocks for Everhart at Northeastern two years ago. Along with rugged 6-10 holdover Achiera (13.9 ppg), Duquesne not outmanned in paint vs. Panthers (now minus graduated C gray) as has been case in recent years. Big points work. 06-PITT -27 73-56 CABLE TV—ESPNU
Georgia Tech over GEORGIA ST. by 11 to 14—06-TECH -23' 103-74
DRAKE over Iowa St. by 4 to 6—06-Drake +3 80-78
VIRGINIA 82 - Syracuse 80—Points inviting with an athletic, well-balanced Syracuse (all 5 starters in Dds) immediately benefiting from heavily-recruited frosh 6-8 F D. Green (21 ppg, 9 rpg, 3 bpg) & PG 6-1 Flynn (11 ppg, 6 apg). UVA lacks much physical presence down low, so Boeheim should be able to extend his patented 2-3 zone vs. Cavs sharpshooter G Singletary (20 ppg). 06-DNP CABLE TV—ESPN2
VA. COMMONWEALTH over William & Mary by 12 to 15—06-Vcu -7 88-77, VCU -13 90-68
Kent St. over YOUNGSTOWN ST. by 6 to 8—06-Ysu +13' 62-58
XAVIER over Creighton by 11 to 14—06-CRE -1 73-67
EVANSVILLE over Princeton by 6 to 9—06-DNP
TEXAS TECH over Louisiana Tech by 18 to 22—06-Ttu -4' 66-59
SOUTH ALABAMA over Southern Miss by 2 to 4—06-DNP
MISSOURI ST. over NC Wilmington by 11 to 13—06-Msu -8 78-62
Tcu over SMU by 14 to 16—06-Smu -5' 64-62
WESTERN KENTUCKY over Nebraska by 15 to 17—06-NEB -5 82-71
NORTHERN IOWA over Iowa by 9 to 11—06-Nia +2' 57-55
VANDERBILT over Wake Forest by 7 to 10—06-WFU -3 88-78
COLORADO ST. over Denver by 11 to 14—06-Csu -8' 81-73
TEXAS 84 - North Texas 71—Cannot knock deep, explosive Texas bunch that proved it means business on a national scale with Sunday’s shocker at top-ranked UCLA. But in the afterglow of upset win at Pauley Pavilion, Horns could be excused for being a bit flat vs. capable UNT bunch that displayed a lot of character when rallying from 21-point deficit to win at New Mexico State Saturday night. Remember, vet Mean Green frontcourt helped lead UNT to Big Dance last March, and emergence of South Florida transfer G Dennis (53% treys) has filled what looked to be a scoring void for Johnny Jones’ backourt. 06-DNP
OKLAHOMA over Tulsa by 9 to 12—06-OKLA -6 58-48
West Virginia over AUBURN by 3 to 5—(at Birmingham, AL) 06-DNP CABLE TV—ESPN2
UTAH 67 - Utah St. 66—Utah hellbent on developing defensive mindset for new HC Boylen, but problem for Utes is that their best offensive weapon (7-1 C Nevill) has some real limitations on “stop” end. And those shortcomings exacerbated vs. USU frontliners 6-8 DuCharme & 6-9 juco Wilkinson, who both like to float away from bucket, and Boylen’s “D” faces another challenge in slowing Utags’ trey-shooting ace G Carroll (school record 283 career triples!). Meanwhile, USU appeared to be getting the hang of Stew Morrill’s myriad defensive look in recent wins over Iowa & Santa Clara. Points very inviting with “live” rivalry dog. 06-USU -7' 60-57
LONG BEACH ST. over Loyola-Marymount by 3 to 5—06-Lbs +2 66-65
UC SANTA BARBARA over Pepperdine by 9 to 11—06-Ucsb +1 89-80 (2OT)
SAN FRANCISCO over Pacific by 1 to 2—06-PAC -3' 79-72
GONZAGA over Washington St. by 2 to 4—06-WSU +2' 77-67 CABLE TV—ESPNU
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