Chris Jordan
My free play is on the Central Florida Golden Knights against the Wichita State Shockers, as I like the double-digit underdog to challenge for the outright win.
The Wichita State couldn't have asked for a worse time to welcome Central Florida to town. The 17th-ranked Shockers (15-4, 5-2 in the American Athletic Conference) were rolling along since mid-December. Then SMU and Houston had upset on their minds.
SMU caught the Shockers off guard, then they simply fell flat against the Cougars. Tonight, they face an upset-minded Golden Knights team that is in off a hard-fought win at South Florida.
Now I know UCF (13-6, 4-3 AAC) has lost two of three and suffered a major injury in losing Tacko Fall, but the Knights have had time to adjust and will still look to give Wichita State a head slap in its first year playing in the AAC.
This isn't the Missouri Valley Conference, and the Shockers are finding out that the teams in the AAC are much better and play with no fear - neither home or away.
I do think Wichita should pull out the win, but certainly not by two touchdowns.
5* CENTRAL FLORIDA
Eric Schroeder
My free play for tonight is on Long Beach State over Cal Poly SLO.
A pair of underachievers who are both nursing sub-.500 records, one thing I can say about Long Beach State is its Big West mark has them situated in second place, just one-half game behind league-leading Hawai'i. But the 49ers have the tiebreaker with the Rainbow Warriors after an 89-81 win to tip off league play.
Long Beach State (10-12, 4-2) knows the Big West race is wide open, with five teams within one game of the top spot after the first three weeks of league play.
Cal Poly won't be able to slow the Mustangs, who are led by senior Gabe Levin, who is averaging more than 20 points per game in Big West conference action, including a career-high 29 points on Jan. 10. He is the top scorer in league play, too.
The Mustangs have one of the worst scoring offenses in the nation, averaging just 67.6 points per game, which ranks 311 in the country. They can't hit high-percentage shots, struggling to a 40.8 clip (328th) from the floor.
Take Long Beach State tonight.
4* LONG BEACH STATE