Al DeMarco
5 Dime - LaSalle (7:00 p.m. start)
I'm a Temple alum, but I've always been a LaSalle fan dating back to the glory days of the program when Michael Brooks and Lionel Simmons starred for the Explorers. How did this happen? Well, let's just save I never got into the Owls during the John Chaney era; lousy shooting and a boring, physical defense was definitely a turnoff.
LaSalle is a middle-of-the-pack Atlantic-10 member, but that's certainly better than being a cellar-dweller like St. Bonaventure. The Explorers are coming off consecutive losses, the first in overtime at Rhode Island and the second at home to Dayton on a last-second dunk. They had to rally from overwhelming deficits (13 versus the Rams and 17 against the Flyers), but the fact remains they were right there, in position to win, against two superior teams that should and did beat them.
Prior to those setbacks, LaSalle had won seven of nine with the only two losses coming against two more upper echelon conference members, Xavier and Temple. However, during that winning stretch, the Explorers won 68-61 at Charlotte and 62-54 at Massachusetts.
St. Bonaventure is struggling, losers of four straight and six of its last seven. Most of those outings came against better competition, but the last two losses were quite telling. The most recent came at Duquesne, a 74-68 loss in which the Bonnies committed 31 turnovers to drop a game that was tied with three minutes to play. Prior to that setback, they dropped a 67-65 decision at home to lowly Fordham, a team they had hammered on the road earlier this season. For the visiting Rams, the victory snapped an eight-game losing streak and was just their third of the season with the previous two coming against New Hampshire and Lafayette. That says a lot about how devastating that loss was for St. Bonaventure, a loss that was its 10th in a row at home in A-10 play dating back to last season.
This is a must-win for LaSalle and St. Bonny is a team custom-made for the Explorers to beat as they have a considerable size advantage (every starter is at least 6-foot-5) that translates into being the conference's second best team in rebounding margin. They're also a deeper squad with a strong bench complimenting four double-figure scorers in the starting lineup led by point guard Rodney Green, who has boosted his season average to 17.2 ppg. after scoring 20+ points in give straight games.
LaSalle has done what is expected from a middle-of-the-pack team. The Explorers are 0-9 SU versus opponents with an RPI in the Top-100, but a perfect 12-0 versus everyone else. They won six of the last six in the series straight-up, including three in a row, covering both of last year's meetings.
The Explorers have already beaten U.Mass on the conference highway; the Minutemen are a far better team than St. Bonaventure. A blowout is not to be expected, but a solid seven-to-nine point victory should be counted on.
5 Dime - LaSalle (7:00 p.m. start)
I'm a Temple alum, but I've always been a LaSalle fan dating back to the glory days of the program when Michael Brooks and Lionel Simmons starred for the Explorers. How did this happen? Well, let's just save I never got into the Owls during the John Chaney era; lousy shooting and a boring, physical defense was definitely a turnoff.
LaSalle is a middle-of-the-pack Atlantic-10 member, but that's certainly better than being a cellar-dweller like St. Bonaventure. The Explorers are coming off consecutive losses, the first in overtime at Rhode Island and the second at home to Dayton on a last-second dunk. They had to rally from overwhelming deficits (13 versus the Rams and 17 against the Flyers), but the fact remains they were right there, in position to win, against two superior teams that should and did beat them.
Prior to those setbacks, LaSalle had won seven of nine with the only two losses coming against two more upper echelon conference members, Xavier and Temple. However, during that winning stretch, the Explorers won 68-61 at Charlotte and 62-54 at Massachusetts.
St. Bonaventure is struggling, losers of four straight and six of its last seven. Most of those outings came against better competition, but the last two losses were quite telling. The most recent came at Duquesne, a 74-68 loss in which the Bonnies committed 31 turnovers to drop a game that was tied with three minutes to play. Prior to that setback, they dropped a 67-65 decision at home to lowly Fordham, a team they had hammered on the road earlier this season. For the visiting Rams, the victory snapped an eight-game losing streak and was just their third of the season with the previous two coming against New Hampshire and Lafayette. That says a lot about how devastating that loss was for St. Bonaventure, a loss that was its 10th in a row at home in A-10 play dating back to last season.
This is a must-win for LaSalle and St. Bonny is a team custom-made for the Explorers to beat as they have a considerable size advantage (every starter is at least 6-foot-5) that translates into being the conference's second best team in rebounding margin. They're also a deeper squad with a strong bench complimenting four double-figure scorers in the starting lineup led by point guard Rodney Green, who has boosted his season average to 17.2 ppg. after scoring 20+ points in give straight games.
LaSalle has done what is expected from a middle-of-the-pack team. The Explorers are 0-9 SU versus opponents with an RPI in the Top-100, but a perfect 12-0 versus everyone else. They won six of the last six in the series straight-up, including three in a row, covering both of last year's meetings.
The Explorers have already beaten U.Mass on the conference highway; the Minutemen are a far better team than St. Bonaventure. A blowout is not to be expected, but a solid seven-to-nine point victory should be counted on.
