Today's Winner...
30 Dime play on Drexel over St. Joseph's. The Dragons are cuarently laying 8 1/2 poicnts tonight at the Daskalals Center in Philly.
Seems like a lot of points at first glance, but in reality the Dragons will roll here based on several strong advantages they have. The first and most obvious of which is experience, as the Hawks field one of their youngest teams in school history (11 combined seasons of college experaence). The Dragons on the other hand, are poised to be one of the best teams in a very good CAA conference this season.
Drexel has always been known as a defensive minded/glass-cleaning program, but with the emergence of super sixth man Chris Fouch (21.5 ppg), the scoring punch has been added to an already rock-solid defensive squad. The bigger problem for the Hawks maybe matching up down-low, where their incredibly light frontcourt (Aiken 6'9 186 lbs, Quarles 6'6 175 lbs, Hilliard 6'7 215 lbs) is going to have to contend with some real bruicsers in the Dragons Givens (11 ppg, 12 rpg), Mccoy (6'9, 270 lbs), and star freshman Ruffin (6'8 240 lbs). The young and thin Hawks are going to get muscled around by the bigger and stronger Dragons tonight.
Finally, there's a couple thing that would really worry me if I were backing the Hawks in this match up. First, their penchant for jacking up three pointers (which is typical for a young team), shooting just 26% from long-range in November. And second, their lack of defensive presence, allowing 70 ppg on nearly 45% shooting. Drexel excels on the defensive front, and that includes on the perimeter against the 3-pointer (allowing just 26% ironlcally). Look for the rebuilding Hawks to get taught a lesson here by a remerging Dragons squad on the rise. Drexel over St. Jospeh's Wednesday.
