Dave Cokin
Bonus Play Tuesday
Bonus Plays have been on a good run lately, but UT-Arlington was a disappointment on Monday night. Good first half, horrendous second half and a clear loser. I’m going the chalk route for the Tuesday comp.
721 DELAWARE at 722 LA SALLE 7:00 PM
Take: LA SALLE -15.5
Here’s a game between two teams that finished dead last in their respective leagues last season. Delaware bottomed out and finally made the decision to end the Monte Ross era. La Salle figured to be down last season and the Explorers were absolutely that.
I see La Salle being vastly improved this season, and I was impressed with what I saw in the OT loss to Big Five rival Temple on Friday evening. The Explorers showed energy and athleticism, and I would suspect they’re likely to make some noise in the A-10 this season.
Delaware is now coached by Martin Ingelsby, who was an assistant under Mike Bray at Notre Dame for the last 13 years. I like this hire for the Blue Hens, as Ingelsby will certainly upgrade the recruiting at the school. I definitely feel that in time the Blue Hens will become a solid CAA program. But for this season, the losses are going to outweigh the wins for Delaware. I just don’t see the material being there to avoid being at or very near the bottom of the Colonial.
The Blue Hens are off to a 2-0 start, but the wins were against Bradley and Golden-Beacom, with the latter being a small school in Delaware that I must confess I didn’t know existed. I’m not putting much stock into either of these wins.
The key tonight is tempo as Delaware can’t get into a run and gun battle with the Explorers. But my belief is that veteran head coach John Giannini is going to be far more willing to push the ball more than he did last year with a less talented roster.
Delaware can hang here if they slow things to a crawl and they hit high percentage shots. But I don’t see that being likely over 40 minutes, and I expect the Explorers to eventually pull away to a convincing win. I prefer La Salle minus the points in this one.
Bonus Play Tuesday
Bonus Plays have been on a good run lately, but UT-Arlington was a disappointment on Monday night. Good first half, horrendous second half and a clear loser. I’m going the chalk route for the Tuesday comp.
721 DELAWARE at 722 LA SALLE 7:00 PM
Take: LA SALLE -15.5
Here’s a game between two teams that finished dead last in their respective leagues last season. Delaware bottomed out and finally made the decision to end the Monte Ross era. La Salle figured to be down last season and the Explorers were absolutely that.
I see La Salle being vastly improved this season, and I was impressed with what I saw in the OT loss to Big Five rival Temple on Friday evening. The Explorers showed energy and athleticism, and I would suspect they’re likely to make some noise in the A-10 this season.
Delaware is now coached by Martin Ingelsby, who was an assistant under Mike Bray at Notre Dame for the last 13 years. I like this hire for the Blue Hens, as Ingelsby will certainly upgrade the recruiting at the school. I definitely feel that in time the Blue Hens will become a solid CAA program. But for this season, the losses are going to outweigh the wins for Delaware. I just don’t see the material being there to avoid being at or very near the bottom of the Colonial.
The Blue Hens are off to a 2-0 start, but the wins were against Bradley and Golden-Beacom, with the latter being a small school in Delaware that I must confess I didn’t know existed. I’m not putting much stock into either of these wins.
The key tonight is tempo as Delaware can’t get into a run and gun battle with the Explorers. But my belief is that veteran head coach John Giannini is going to be far more willing to push the ball more than he did last year with a less talented roster.
Delaware can hang here if they slow things to a crawl and they hit high percentage shots. But I don’t see that being likely over 40 minutes, and I expect the Explorers to eventually pull away to a convincing win. I prefer La Salle minus the points in this one.
