George Mason vs. Louisville Pick
After weeks of turmoil, how will No. 16 Louisville open its 2017-18 season when it hosts George Mason at 2PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Louisville is heavily favored, as the Cardinals are getting odds of -18.5 points against George Mason. The over/under total for the contest has been set at 149 points. Today’s game takes place from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky and will air live on the ACC Network.
It’s been a rough number of weeks for Louisville. First the Cardinals has some assistant coaches indicted on an FBI investigation on corruption involving Adidas. Shortly after that the school decided to part ways with Rick Pitino, longtime head coach of the program. David Padgett is now taking over the program on an interim basis. Louisville is coming off a 25-9 record last year where it finished No. 10 in the final AP rankings. The Cardinals had a number of transfers and departures, including the loss of Jaylen Johnson and Donovan Mitchell to the NBA Draft. Quentin Snider does return this year after scoring 12.4 points and putting up 4.1 assists per game last season. The team was hoping to have 5-star recruit Brian Bowen available this year, but he has been suspended from the team due to the corruption investigation.
George Mason is coming off a 20-14 record last season, including a 9-9 record in the Atlantic 10. Dave Paulsen steps into his third season as head coach of the Patriots. George Mason opened the season on Friday with a 67-65 win at home over Lafayette. The contest was pretty even throughout but the Patriots managed to win with a balanced effort. All five starters scored in double figures, led by 17 points and nine rebounds from Jaire Grayer. Otis Livingston II added 14 points with six assists in the win.
Bet on George Mason vs. Louisville
These two have no meetings to consider, but I feel the spread is just too great given all that has gone on at Louisville. While the investigation could lead to Louisville needing to blow off a lot of steam, I think it is going to lead to a lot of sloppy play. It has to be hard to practice with a completely new coaching staff just weeks before the season gets started. The program is trying to now distance itself from Pitino, but that is a hard transition for Pitino’s players to make. The public betting is slightly behind Louisville, but I am going to take George Mason and the points.
CBB DAILY PREDICTION: GEORGE MASON +18.5