NCAAB WRITE-UP
Friday, November 26
College Basketball Knowledge
Syracuse actually left NY State for this, playing in Atlantic City against Michigan squad that lost its top two scorers from LY's 15-17 team that was 7-11 in Big 11. Orange was shaky Sunday, beating WmMary by 3 at home- they've lost three starters from LY's 30-5 team, so they're still finding their way. Big 11 underdogs are 6-1 against the spread.
St Mary's beat St John's by 5, then crushed four cpcakes, now they're in South Padre Island, so semi-road game against Texas Tech squad that got beat in OT at North Texas. Red Raiders are scoring 84.2 ppg, so this is a game that should have a pretty fast pace. Gaels have three starters back from 28-6 team, but lost star big guy Samhan, who made them special.
Siena won 10 of last 12 games against Rider, winning last three played here by 26-2-3 points. Siena beat Broncs three times LY, by 22-10-26 points, but they lost three starters from LY, are 1-3 this season, losing 70-57 at home to Butler Tuesday. Rider is 4-1, beating USC by 20, and they were up 22 at half in game they lost, against UMass.
Villanova had only 7 turnovers, was 28-34 from line in 82-70 win over UCLA Wednesday; their veteran guards should be able handle pressure of Tennessee team that held VCU's starters to 11-45 from arc in a 77-72 win Wednesday. Big East single digit favorites are 7-9 vs spread. SEC underdogs are 6-2-1 against the spread so far this season.
Orlando tourney
Boston College made 9-19 from arc, held off Texas A&M, winning by a hoop Thursday. ACC underdogs are 4-5 against spread. Wisconsin held Manhattan to 10 points in first half of ugly 50-35 win; Badgers lost by 3 at good UNLV team Saturday. Big 11 favorites are 2-6 vs spread when playing away from home. Wisconsin shot only 36% yesterday.
Texas A&M is 3-1 with no great wins; their bench was 5-16 from floor in 2-point loss yesterday. Aggies lost three starters from LY's 24-10 team. Manhattan had 10 points at halftime in ugly 50-35 loss yesterday; Jaspers look like a bad team. MAAC underdogs are 11-12 against the spread, 6-6 if getting 10+. Big 12 favorites are 1-7 away from home.
Georgia lost in double OT Thursday, making just 9-34 from arc; at least they got Tompkins (13 points, 10 boards in 33 minutes) back in action. Dawgs are 3-1, winning by hoop at Saint Louis and beating pretty good Colorado team. Other than Allen (5-12), Temple's starters were 6-34 from floor yesterday; Owls were 2-19 from arc in 57-50 loss to Cal.
Notre Dame is 5-0 after dramatic win Thursday; they Irish were 23-12 LY, have three starters back. Cal Bears are 3-0, beating New Mexico by 25, Northridge by 17; they held Temple to 33% from floor Thursday, but bench played total of only 44 minutes (all five starters played 28+ minutes). Irish had five guys play 38+ minutes yesterday.
Anaheim tournament
Virginia Tech has all five starters back from 25-9 team that missed Field of 65 LY; Hokies were up 20 at half against Northridge Thursday and coasted to 16-point win. Oklahoma State has three starters back from LY's 22-11 team but lost its top two scorers; other than Moses, they were 10-32 from floor yesterday, and made just 1-9 from the arc.
Northridge lost by 33 at UCLA (+18), by 17 at Cal (+15), by 16 (+18) to Va Tech; Matadors lost three starters from 11-21 team, their pressing style isn't good against tougher competition. Big West dogs are 8-14 vs spread. DePaul has a new coach and three starters back from a horrible 8-23 team- they were 3-22 from arc in 60-56 loss to Oklahoma State.
Murray State has three starters back from LY's 31-5 team that knocked Vandy out of NCAAs; Racers held Stanford to 41% from floor, 4-16 on arc in 55-52 win Thursday. UNLV has four starters back from LY's 25-9 team; they had four subs play 13+ minutes in 80-71 win vs Tulsa team that turned ball over 20 times. OVC single digit dogs are 2-6 vs spread.
Stanford has seven freshmen, no seniors; their bench was 2-16 last night, and star Green was 3-10, hitting two meaningless hoops in last 0:30 of a 55-52 loss. Tulsa lost their top two scorers from LY's 23-12 tean that was 10-6 in C-USA; Hurricane had 35-21 edge in FTs tried in last night's 80-71 loss to UNLV team that was 8-14 from behind the arc.
Alaskan Shootout
St John's survived Ball State in OT Wednesday, not scoring for the first 7:00, then blowing 12-point halftime lead; for team that has 10 seniors, they're little shaky, but Drake got crushed by 48 at Iowa State nine days ago. Bulldogs lost their top scorer from LY's 14-19 team. MVC double digit underdogs are 0-4 against spread. Big East favorites are 17-16.