SPORTS WAGERS - RANDALL THE HANDLE
DUQUESNE –3 over George Mason
George Mason comes in with a record of 8-2 but so what. A look at their schedule reveals that they have eight wins against nobodies and two losses against a couple of very average teams in N.C. State and Wofford. The Patriots have also been off for 11 days and that’s a huge layoff for college basketball teams this time of year. The Dukes are just 5-4 but they’ve played some much tougher opponents and they played Saturday night in what could be considered a tune-up for this one. They blew out IUPU by 27. This is also a nice target game for Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. He coached Northeastern in George Mason’s conference and was 2-0 against them on his home floor there. His current team will not excite GMU, who gets up for the big-name schools now, but not so much the Duquesnes of the world. After they realize that Duquesne leads the nation in 3-pointers made per game, it’ll be too late to re-focus. Play: #546 Duquesne –3 (Risking 2.2 units to win 2).
SETON HALL –9 over Dayton
Here we have the 9-3 Flyers receiving 9 points against the 6-4 Pirates. That fact alone should tell you that Dayton has played a lot of poor teams this young season and they have. Well, actually the Flyers did play another Big East team on Nov. 27 when they went into Cincinnati and scored 34 points in a 68-34 blowout. Seton Hall should expose Dayton’s “defense-first” propaganda, which is a euphemism for “We have trouble making baskets”. The Pirates are an experienced squad that could surprise some folks this season. They’re loaded with seniors and juniors and they’ve played some damn tough clubs already that include Temple, Clemson, Arkansas and Xavier. On its home court, the Hall is blowing away mediocre teams and in fact, four of its five home wins have come by 20 points or more. The Flyers qualify as another one of these very mediocre clubs with no depth and a very weak offense. Play: #534 Seton Hall –9 (Risking 2.02 units to win 2).