akron/carolina sunday ncaa hoops play.........

[gman2]

2 units.......akron (+20.5) over north carolina

carolina has had a handful of blowouts vs mid-major teams this year, which might lead to the belief that akron will just be another victim. but this is a really nice spot for the zips. akron might be the most athletic team in the mac, and tarver is capable of single-handedly keeping the zips in it. for various reasons, tarver playing mid-major ball but this kid has acc/power conference talent. this game should be a track meet from the opening tip. wouldnt surprise me to see this game have 180 points. carolina loves to run. akron loves to run. zips abhor defense. carolina plays defense in spurts. with csu giving carolina a scare, i would expect carolina's best effort here. but this akron team has much more talent than cleveland state. im sure many locals would agree that the cincinnati blowout was unexpected and perhaps an abberation. although not a total surprise from the standpoint of cincinnati being a ridiculously physical team and the zips are a finesse team. this kind of team (carolina) plays a style thats very similar to akron. carolina will have their spurts, but i just think akron has too much offense to really get blown out. sometimes its dangerous backing an all-offense/no-defense team (akron and pepperdine seem to be carbon copy programs) but feel like zips hang within the number

 

[spang]

6' 11 " Myers out for the Zips today, so the Zips will be smaller and quicker today. Over is the play if you can get a total on this one.

Sorry for the late update. I just found out

 

[gman2]

spang:

you mean the zips will be playing even LESS defense than they normally do and theyll run MORE? get the track shoes on bud!

 

[saint]

Gman you love playing against my heels.

Good luck, maybe the number will hit 20 and we will both be happy

 

[spang]

so much for the over, 6-0 NC at 11:55 FH

Zips a bit nervous have missed 3 in close but actually playing very efficient D.:shrug:

 

[spang]

17-13 NC, Zips getting settled down on offense but NC is beginning to get some easy hoops as well.

 

[NySportsfan]

great call gman, 11 pt loss, comfortable cover for us akron backers, good analysis right on the mark, keep it up, hopefully the silver and black play good for you later, G luck

Mike

 

[Nickelback]

Nice pick!


Any thoughts on Portland? I'm still looking into this one, but think the Dukies are not as mighty as they used to be in the past.

 

[spang]

Great call Gman, Great effort by the Zips today considering that they got very little from Tarver. The Zips actually closed to within 5 in the 2nd half and were never in danger of getting blown out despite a horrible start that found them down 11-2.

Everybody always says how playing a top 10 team will help you down the road and this case it is very true. Heels were averaging in the 90s going into today but were held way down by a surprisingly tenacious Zip D. Akron also held their own inside and on the glass. Newcomers Woods and Futch give theZips an inside presence like never before.

The Zips grew up alot today.

 

[spang]

BTW Gman, I have front row season tickets for the Zips for my me and my wife. She is working hard on her masters and may not be able to make it to a couple of the games.

I would like to invite you to be my guest to a later game if you can make it down here.

 

[gman2]

spang:
appreciate the future invitation. would definitely take you up on the offer. have taken in myriad college sporting events throughout the state but have never been to the JAR. stay in touch and let me know. by the way, nice to see travis get some productive minutes for the zips today. everytime i saw lebron play last year, i walked away very impressed with romeo travis

nickel:
im of the belief that duke is one of the 3 truly elite teams in the nation. that being said, i couldnt lay that chalk with em at this point in the season. they were pretty uninspired vs pacific and liberty in alaska. they didnt have that "duke killer instinct". still think theyre very good. pepperdine is the dog i think i like tonight. not sure how the young terps will handle their recent upset of florida. williams is a great coach and he'll try to preach about avoiding the letdown but i think its inevitable

 

[gman2]

actually i am gonna add pepperdine

1 unit.....pepperdine (+14.5) over maryland
waves gotta be careful not to bring their matador defense to the east coast. cross-country travel not ideal, but still think the young terps will have some trouble with the athletic waves. terps look like they might be a better dog than chalk this season -- which is normally how young teams are. inconsistency is likely to plague maryland all year. small play on a pretty good pepperdine team

 

[Nickelback]

Gman, just curious, what are the other two elite teams in your opinion?

Duke is great as always. . . no doubt about it. . . but they do not look like old Duke teams to me that can lay this amount of points and cover. We shall see. . . may just stay away.

 

[gman2]

nickel:

honestly feel that duke, uconn, and arizona are the 3 truly elite teams. keep in mind, i dont put much stock in what a team is ranked. im sure you would agree that ranking lies. rankings make some teams better than they are; conversely, they drop some teams too far for a loss. even though kentucky is the AP #2, i think theyre in the second tier right below my top 3 imo.

 

[Nickelback]

I definitely agree with that! They had Florida #1 for a while and Arizona #8 yet Arizona only lost by 1 point to the Gators on a neutral floor! So you're definitely right about that. Should be an interesting year. . . you also have to consider St. Joes and Georgia Tech down the road depending on how things continue for both programs.