tuesday ncaa......

[gman2]

illinois-chicago (+2.5) over wisconsin-milwaukee
illinois-chicago (+125) over wisconsin-milwaukee

* although i must admit i was a little surprised this ended up being the championship game matchup (as i thought it would be detroit/butler after the semifinals), i do feel slightly vindicated after touting uic as the class of the horizon even when they were sub-.500 in the horizon in mid-january. theyve since ripped off 11 straight wins and are playing championship caliber basketball. on the other side, uwm was pretty impressive in their semifinal win over detroit after backing into the tourney with some late losses.

*this one isnt short of subplots. the teams split the season series, each has a horizon title within the L2 years, each has a horizon player of the year candidate, and the coaching feud between collins and pearl will probably be referenced about 100 times tonight.

*even though uwm's page is the leading scorer in the horizon at 20.8 ppg, i dont think he is the key guy for uic to shut down. to me, this game is gonna be ed mccants for uwm vs. cedric banks for uic. mccants is one of the more explosive players ive ever seen in the horizon. and banks can flat out score. i think uic has to shut down mccants first. he really carried them against detroit in the semifinals. he went for 20 pts on 6-10 shooting from 3pt range. doesnt sound like a lot, but in a game that ended 58-50, he just hit some bigtime shots.

*bottom line is that uic is better. even after factoring in the pseudo-home court advantage uwm has tonight, ill-chi is just playing better and has better balance. when its all said and done, uic will live up to their preseason billing and win the horizon title. both teams can score, but the flames have a much better defense and that should be the difference in the end. detroit just ran out of firepower in the final 10:00 of their game vs uwm. that wont be a problem for uic tonight.


add: illinois-chicago/uw-milwaukee over 73 for the 2nd half
have seen a ton of panther games be super low scoring first halves....and then they explode in the 2h and both teams put up pts. uwm in catchup mode, and this one should land near the original total in my opinion.

 

[Kdogg21]

still leaning towards UIC myself. But like the Chicago Sun Times and everybody in there mother, they do keep mentioning the fued. They did make a good point in the size factor for this game. UWM has some preety big men down low that UIC might have trouble matching up with. Should be a great game though and your right on target saying Banks will be the difference

Good luck G!!!!

 

[Cohanick]

Good info. Good luck tonight with your play.
Knock em dead!!:chairshot

 

[thewinder]

agree with your points above. i was looking at the total in this game as well. both season games right around this number of 144. not sure how vegas thinks on setting these tournament totals, but it looks like they pretty much average out what the season games have done and go with it. i'm sure there is much more to it that that, but so far, the unders have looked pretty good - not really counting the over on the niu/swms game with double ot. teams have been stepping it up on defense. do you have any insite on these two defenses? do they have the ability to shut down the opposing top scorers? if so, is there enough offense puch to get to this total?

 

[Sports Psychic]

G-Man expect your opinions but "pseudo home cout." This is the old Milwaukee Mecca and you are literally right on the court. Opposing teams have struggled here because it is very noisy, fans are right on top of you and it is a difficult place to shoot if not familiar with it. It usually takes opposing team time to adjust to the atmosphere. Also Martell Bailey said it is the toughest place to play in the Horizon. The reason UWM moved their games here is because of the huge home court advantage.

 

[gman2]

(smaller play)
iupui (pick) over valpo

* i guess im a sucker for athleticism and solid senior leadership. this is the kind of game where a single dominant player (in this case, iupui's bradley) can almost put the team on his back and carry them to the ncaas. valpo is a balanced team, but theres one real 'stud' on the court tonight and bradley is capable of taking it over. jags shoot the 3 very well and both teams hit free throws. i know december was a long time ago, but this team impressed me when they went to the holiday tourney in hawaii. in three straight days, they:

1) beat east tennesse state
2) were within 4 points of hawaii on their home floor midway through the 2nd half when bradley left the game with an injury
3) beat pepperdine

im not saying those are marquee teams, but etsu and pepperdine are two of the more athletic teams in the country and iupui beat em both and played hawaii tough before an unfortunate injury. ive kept my eye on em since then and told myself i would back em if the number was fair in the mcc title game (if they got there). well theyre here and the number is fair. also valpo had to play from behind last night and hoping jags can take advantage in transition

 

[Kdogg21]

nice avatar G....

 

[jv1]

CC looks a tad bit bigger in real life doesnt he? Dude is a big mac away from 350.

 

[hm23]

I concur with your assessment of IUPUI.

Those were quality wins v. ETSU and Pepperdine. Both squads were uptempo and that falls right into what the Jaguars wanna do. Jags need to set the pace tonight.

Bradley got hurt v. Hawaii and they ran out of gas and were overmatched by a much larger frontcourt.


Two teams split the regular season meetings...should be a tight game.

 

[3 Seconds]

A concern stat for UIC

A concern stat for UIC

UWM is 7-1 SU vs UIC @ home last 8.

 

[gman2]

jv:

thats part of the reason i changed my avatar to cc. found it funny that his bobblehead is so lifelike, yet so inaccurate at the same time. they shaved about 50 lbs off him for his bobblehead. but true to form- his bobblehead head has the indians cap on slanted to the side

3seconds:

cant really argue with that number. but for all the marbles, uic just has the better team and i just cant see all those seniors failing with an ncaa bid on the line. this is a very good team

 

[Wilson]

OK Gman...taking UIC....at first I was on the home team...but, you have convinced me who the superior team is...good luck to us.

 

[gman2]

wilson:

hope we can hit the play. i really dont think even the guys from milwaukee on the forum can really dispute which team has more pure talent. flames hold the edge there. and they seem to be on a mission with their seniors, especially that dynamite backcourt with banks and bailey. its not gonna be a cakewalk on milwaukees home court, but manhattan took it to them there and i dont think its a stretch to say uic is in the same league as the jaspers are far as talent goes. uwm got em good earlier in the season here. but flames get it done in my opinion when the chips are down. i know very well uwm is a solid, well-coached group and mccants is an absolute stud (even though page gets the hype). but uic is better imo

gl man

 

[GFarrow8410]

like the play gman. you know me, love to play the hott team . thanks for the analysis, saves me the trouble. i hate when guys just come on here with there play and no explanation. anyways lets cash this one.

wow just saw your on IUPUI as well. i'm also on them. never thought i'd see the day we both agreed on two games.

let's have a big night

 

[GFarrow8410]

Nice hit on Illinois-Chicago. Those missed free throws helped alot. That Banks guy is good.

 

[freelancc]

thanks again...

 

[thewinder]

great win.