Monday Hoopla

[reggie1]

Sides, 28-17, +16.75
Totals, 7-5, +1.85
Year, 35-22, +18.60

Temple/Akron

The duo of Christmas and Tyndale should provide big for Temple throughout the year, but they still do not have a proven point guard. They’re so inconsistent on the offensive side of the ball; it’s tough to figure out. Akron is one of the best home squads in America (lost one game to Fazekas and Nevada last year by 2). They’re 41-2 at home under Dambrot. In those four years, Akron’s win total has jumped from 13 to 19 to 23 to 26. They lost MAC player of the year in Romeo Travis, but they have a decent backcourt and frontcourt with plenty of experience. Akron covered the 4.5 at a 12-2 clip at home last year. The year before that, they covered 4.5 in every game (13-0). It seems as if freshman PG Ronnie Steward will miss this game after being hospitalized w/ chest pains on Saturday.

Wake Forest/Iowa

Wake Forest hits the road for the first time this season. They were 2-10 on the road last season (a 1 point victory at Miami FL, and a 3 point overtime victory at Bucknell). I have Wake Forest in the cellar of the ACC this year. After the death of Skip Prosser in a jogging accident last summer, Wake Forest chose to fill the void with Dino Gaudio, whose only two head coaching experiences had been at Army and Loyola MD and were full of 20+ loss seasons. These two teams are pretty even, and I’d take the home pup here if it weren’t the 3rd game in 4 days w/ a lot of travel mixed in. Should be an ugly game, and I’ll need a full possession or a bit more to pull on the home pup (+3 or +3.5). Gotta love the opening night of the ACC/Big10 challenge w/ two teams I have at the bottom of their respective conferences. How are these teams going to get to 132? Wake’s gone cold the last two games from 3land, as well as the floor, and neither team has the go-to guy at the end of a game if this were to come down to the wire.

Cal Poly SLO/Arizona State

My #2 Big West vs. #9 Pac-10. Arizona State home opener after traveling home from the Maui where they closed out w/ a 2-1 record and 5th place. ASU’s offense is sort of a type of Princeton offense, but it’s not. Really hard to explain and tough for defenses defending it. Cao Poly returns 3 experienced guards in Whiten, Clark, and Thomas, as well as the big man Shelton. Cal Poly is a team that likes to drive and get to the foul line. Their losses this year exhibited that they didn’t do that (UNI, UMASS). Should be a good game with decent guard play. I was expecting big things from Coby Leavitt, who is an extremely talented athlete for Cal Poly SLO, but has yet to battle back from an injury from his first two years at Poly SLO. I’m not sure Cal Poly is quick enough to defend ASU in the half court, nor am I sure if Leavitt is back to 100% yet. He hasn’t shown much this year quite yet.

Long Beach State/Washington

Looks like Romar is going to go with the traditional lineup with 3 bigs Amaning (6’10), Brockman (6’7) and Pondexter (6’6). Long Beach stat will combat with a fast 3 guard attack, and only one player taller than the above, listed at 6’10 (Freeman I think). Washington’s Appleby thumb is healing faster than expected, and he could make the trip to Oklahoma State later in the week. Weird twist on this game is that Dan Monson was offered this Husky job in 2002, and actually accepted it, before turning it down the following morning. Washington wants to run, so does LBST. Difference is, LBST will probably get one shot per possession, while Washington might get 2-3. The rebounding edge will help Washington quite a bit here, especially on the offensive glass.

Davidson/Appy State

Finally, a friggin conference game. Davidson my #1 in the South half of the SoCon, and Appy State my #2 in the North half. Appy State handed Davidson it’s only conference loss last season during the regular season AT Belk Arena. The difference between Appy State of last year and this year is that Appy State returns it’s big men, but lose quite a bit of guard play. Davidson hasn’t lost much. Coach McKillop is obviously preaching revenge here after a 29 win season last year w/ the lone loss being to Appy State. The last time Davidson visited Appy State, they left with a 102-69 victory (which was the opening conference game for both squads in 2005). This is Appy State’s home opener as well (where they were 12-1 last year). After the loss at WMU, Davidson’s rout of NC Central not only garnered some well need confidence, but also gave a few starters some well deserved rest this early in the season. This is a tough first conference game for both squads, but I’d have to believe that the fresh and better guards of Davidson is enough to get the win here. Key thing is, can they win by 5+? Davidson has Duke on tap…

Arkansas State/Murray State

My #3 in the Ohio Valley at home against my #4 in the West half of the Sun Belt. Murray State is coming off a 16-14 year w/ a new coach and a new roster, which was really a down year for the program. They were, however, without their starting PG for a majority of the year (Kevin Thomas). Arkansas State is in a tough spot. They’ve used a different starting lineup just about every game, and only Banks (stud), Wedel, and Kur have started all 4 games. It seems as if Wedel (who had been starting at PG all year) will be moved to a 2 or 3 spot here, and they’ll bring in a different PG. Wedel had 18 points last time out, so with Banks at 2 guard, and Wedel at 3 guard, Arky State will have some balance to combat Murray State’s balance. Murray State’s 27-5 at home in non conference games since 2000. Murray State has Miss State on deck.

Monday: Pass

GL

[K-BAR]

Good to see you. Guess I'll never understand the incestuous world of forums, but hopefully the drama is done for awhile.

Looking forward to conference play and especially your College bowl picks.

Good luck to you.

[reggie1]

Originally Posted by K-BAR

Good to see you. Guess I'll never understand the incestuous world of forums, but hopefully the drama is done for awhile.

Looking forward to conference play and especially your College bowl picks.

Good luck to you.

i try to avoid the drama as much as i can