Miss St -9 @ Tulane

TheFunkMonkey · Dec 27, 2003

Game is part of the Sugar Bowl Classic @ New Orleans Arena.

I was leaning towards Miss St, but now I'm locked. Why? Because the Tulane website doesn't have a friggin game-preview yet!

Went to the Miss St website, they had a relatively informative preview. Timmy Bowers, Lawrence Roberts, they've got good stats, Roberts is a candidate for the Wooden Award, blah, blah, blah. I like to read stuff like that!

But Tulane? NOTHING! Hey, I know it is Christmas Break, but can't they find somebody to write a couple paragraphs?

So I'm taking the Bulldogs just to spite Tulane.

But seriously, I like Miss St. They beat Xavier by 12, and they beat New Orleans by 22.

Tulane (@ home) lost to New Orleans by 3! Recently, Tulane (once again, @ home) lost to SE Louisiana by 3.

Tulane also lost @ LSU by 19. I would consider LSU and Miss St to be of equal caliber. Not sure why Miss St isn't getting any respect. But I don't care, I hope they remain a secret and the lines stay low. Miss St should win by double-digits. I'll predict:

Miss St 76
Tulane 62

goatboy · Dec 27, 2003

I am on the opposite side in this game. I think it will be close but Tulane covers the points. Miss st is not as potent on offense away from home.
Just my take but good luck to you

TheFunkMonkey · Dec 27, 2003

Huge win for the Bulldogs, 72-50.

I love Miss St and LSU as SEC sleepers. Both have been playing well early in the season. LSU just beat UAB 78-62.

TheFunkMonkey · Jan 26, 2004

I think Miss St -9 was the last college play I posted. Yep, I'm an impressive 1-0 over the last month!

Looking to continue my "undefeated" streak on Monday. Here we go:

ODU -6
Did you know ODU only lost to St Joseph's by 3 and took Charlotte to 2OT? Yes, these were early-season games, but they're still very impressive. ODU also has solid non-conf wins against GW and @ Va Tech. ODU recently lost to VCU and Delaware, but I think the Monarchs can be the best team in the CAA. With a win over the Tribe, ODU will improve to 6-2 in the CAA, good enough for a 1st-place tie with VCU.

Meanwhile, Bill & Mary hasn't won a game in 2004. Yep, they're 0-8. For the season, they've only got four wins, and only one (Dec 4th, UNC-W) against a team ranked under 200 in the RPI. In case you're wondering, they beat Liberty, Campbell, and St Francis-NY. The Tribe does have (do have?) CAA Preseason POY Adam Hess, but not much else. They are 1-7 in the CAA.

Home-court shouldn't be a major factor, at least from a travel standpoint. ODU is only 45 minutes from W&M.

With 1st place on the line, I think ODU will take advantage of this "easy" opponent.

Appy St -1.5
Appy St is 3-3 in Southern play, Elon is 1-5. Some of the stats/records remind me of the ODU @ W&M matchup. Elon is 1-6 in 2004. Elon only has three D-1 wins: UT-Chat (88-70), American (85-82), MD-East Shore (54-51). UT-Chat (RPI, #195) was the best win.

Appy St has a nice win @ SMU (Dec 18th). They've also played a great schedule, including BC, GW (twice), Charlotte, Vandy, and South Carolina. They just lost to ETSU 93-80, but the score is misleading. ETSU is 7-0 in the Southern, and the game was tied with 3:25 remaining. Definitely a "good" loss for Appy St.

It should be noted that Elon hosted ETSU last week and only lost 75-72. Regardless, gambling is a game of odds. Given that Elon only has 3 D-1 wins, I'd say the odds are against them getting a 4th D-1 win against a halfway-decent Appy St team.

FINALLY, Elon played @ Appy St on Jan 5th. Appy St won 81-58. So Appy St was good enough to beat Elon by 23 a couple weeks ago, and now they only have to win by 1.5 points?

Utah +6.5 and Over 104.5
I know, Air Force is good and they play great defense and their games are VERY low-scoring and blah, blah, blah. But I can't believe that so many people have already decided that Air Force is the best team in the Mountain West. And I can't believe that so many people forgot about Utah, a team that has dominated the MWC (or WAC) for years. Utah has slipped a bit since their glory days of Van Horn and Andre Miller, but +6.5?

Until their ugly loss @ New Mexico, Utah had won nine straight games, including a 20-point win @ Colorado and a win @ UNLV.

Now they're getting 6.5 points in what is expected to be a low-scoring game? It isn't like they're playing Arizona, who could score 100+ on any given night. Air Force will probably score in the 50-60 range, and I'd like to think that Utah will also be in the 50-60 range.

As for the total, past Utah/AF games have been a battle between syrup and molasses. But I think 104.5 is an over-reaction, just like 218 was an over-reaction for the Sacramento @ Dallas game. Damn, if just ONE team can crack the 60-range, you're in great shape.