November 27th - December 3rd NCAA Hoops Thread!

[CardSharpCook]

betonit, you're on fire!

Here's my plays for tomorrow:
Wash St. -2 -1053u
OSU -3.5 2u -105
Rice pk 2u -106
Iona -2 1u -105
Montana -7.5 1u -115
Pepp -5 1u -105
Marq -18.5 2u -105


The play of the day is, of course, Wash St. When will the rest of the country learn that Wash St. really is good at the basketball?

My two highlighted games are Oregon St. and Rice. Both are 2u plays for me. OSU enjoys the strongest HFA in the Pac10. Time and again, they pull off improbably upsets on that court. IIRC, they beat a decent USC team on that court last year. This year, OSU appears to be slightly better (they were attrocious last year). They are hosting a pretty mediocore Iowa St. team. On a neutral court, I'd be comfortable picking OSU and even placing money on them to win the game. In Corvalis... ISU shouldn't stand a chance. 3.5 points should be covered.

"1" and 4 E. Illinois has an encouraging win over Harris Stowe State College. Their 4 losses have been by an average of 15.5 points to an unimpressive schedule (loyola-chi, W.Ill). Rice is winless. Their schedule is only slightly better and so are their results. However, their results give slightly more hope that they might actually get a victory than e.ill. Sagarin (if we can even use sag at this point in the season) has Rice as a 5+ point fav on a neutral court. They are playing in Houston. Bet on the Owls to win their first. Profit.

[CrushinFelt]

Agreed on Wash. St. This will probably be a wake up call for Baylor. They beat Notre Dame in what will probably be one of Notre Dame's coldest shooting games this season. Baylor only won by 4 even though they shot 41% from the field versus Notre Dame's 34% with 2 of Dame's starters going 3-22 from the field. I'm not saying I Has Lox... but I see Baylor just struggling to stay in this one.

[cookieb]

I like you picks cook, except for Iona. Iona is really bad and doesn't seem to have gotten the hang of their new system. They are 0-6 and coming off loses to Jackson State and South Carolina State (who both have one win).

Delaware is a better team, despite a 0-3 record. All three loses are to solid mid major teams and each game has been competitive. Delaware is not good by any means, but they are definitely the better team here, imo.

[CardSharpCook]

Iona

11/10 at R Morris L 72-66
11/14 at Princeton L 66-58
11/18 at #1 UNC L 107-72
11/20 at ODU L 74-63
11/23 SC St L 81-76
11/24 Jackson St L 74-70

Delaware

11/11 at Marist L 89-78
11/17 at Rider L 76-71
11/27 Hampton L 51-50

I think my reasoning went something like this: Iona has been in every game they played. They scored 72 points against UNC.... losing by 35, but clearly they are at least able to put the ball in the rim. They are playing at home. While DELAWARE LOST TO FREAKING MARIST!!!

Also, two of your "mid-majors" come from this conference: Niagara, St. Peter's, Loyola (MD), Marist, Rider, Manhattan, Siena, Fairfield, Canisius, Iona. Does the MAAC really count as a "mid-major"? Thought that was reserved for the MWC, WAC, C-USA, and these days the MVC.

[cookieb]

Point taken about the MAAC.

I don't think Marist is as bad as you make them out to be, the lost to Houston by 6 and beat Richmond and Bucknell. They lost a bunch off their NIT team from last year, but they still have some good experience. Those are ok wins, nothing spectacular, but not bottom 50 losses to programs like South Carolina State and Jackson State.

Marist and Rider were preseason 4th and 5th in the MAAC, Iona was a distant 8th, and there was a huge drop off from 7th to 8th.

[cookieb]

I was probably a little harsh to Jackson State there, they are not bottom 50. South Carolina State may be bottom 25 though.

[BobbyLight]

I need to butt in to say that indeed..Marist is at least a decent team this year and better than at least half of the NCAA.

That has nothing to do with my opinion of the game or anything but their basketball program is respectable this year.

[Baxter]

CardShark, I have the Rice game being played in Iowa City, Iowa. How does that change your thoughts on the game?

[BJLTNYK]

[ QUOTE ]
While DELAWARE LOST TO FREAKING MARIST!!!



[/ QUOTE ]

Are you getting Iona and Marist confused or something?

[CardSharpCook]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
While DELAWARE LOST TO FREAKING MARIST!!!



[/ QUOTE ]

Are you getting Iona and Marist confused or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

Clearly I've been colored by personal experience. I went to school 2mi down the road from Marist. It'd take me about 60secs to jog past the tiny campus. Imagining them being able to compete in any level of cbb surprises me. Ignoring that, I still can't see calling Delaware better than Iona based on this season's results. HFA should be enough to get Iona their first win, and to get it by more than 2.