small plays on all of these. not layin anything heavy when the big games are less than a day away.
oral roberts
western kentucky
buffalo over 145.5
one team hasnt been in the postseason in forever (oral roberts), the other hasnt been excluded from an ncaa tourney in a looong time (maryland). motivation edge should be obvious. but aside from that, oru is just a pretty damn good team. i was shocked and kinda pissed to see them exit the mcc tourney because they could have thrown a legitimate scare into a high seed in the ncaa tourney.
evaluating kent for the postseason is normally pretty easy. when theyve made the ncaa tourney, theyve been incredibly dangerous (upsets of indiana, oklahoma state, alabama, and pitt) but when theyve played in the NIT, theyve been lame as hell (two straight 1st round losses at home in the opening NIT round). kent's offense looked like dog shit against ohio in the mac tourney and i expect wku to zone the hell out of 'em tonight. flashes can knock down shots when theyre hot but they were incredibly passive against ohio and did nothing to attack. also think two other things are worth noting for this one. first -- kent only has one senior. i just cant see this game meaning a whole lot to a team that knows theyre coming back intact for next year. the other notable is that eric haut (former kent guard from '01-04) is on the staff at western kentucky and should be able to offer an excellent scouting report on his former team. flashes have always been a good team for me. this time, im hopin its because they lay an egg
playing buffalo over the total because i dont have the balls to back drexel, even though this is a spot tailor-made to go anti-buffalo. bulls can complain all they want about not getting an at-large berth, but the fact is, they didnt deserve it. when you blow a 19-pt 2nd half lead with a trip to the dance on the line, you deserve the NIT. theyre an outstanding team and i rode 'em all through championship week but anyone who thinks the mac deserved an at-large bid is nuts. nobody besides the tourney champ deserved a bid. not miami. not buffalo. nobody. said it before in another thread, but buffalo fans were absolutely crushed walking out of gund arena on saturday. and the way the bulls lost that game makes it unlikely (to me) that the players will be inspired to play drexel (of all teams) in the NIT. can definitely see the bulls running up and down the floor with little defensive intensity. bulls might cover because drexel is no prize, but i think the over is the best way to go here.
hopin for a 2-1 night and make a few bucks heading into thursday
oral roberts
western kentucky
buffalo over 145.5
one team hasnt been in the postseason in forever (oral roberts), the other hasnt been excluded from an ncaa tourney in a looong time (maryland). motivation edge should be obvious. but aside from that, oru is just a pretty damn good team. i was shocked and kinda pissed to see them exit the mcc tourney because they could have thrown a legitimate scare into a high seed in the ncaa tourney.
evaluating kent for the postseason is normally pretty easy. when theyve made the ncaa tourney, theyve been incredibly dangerous (upsets of indiana, oklahoma state, alabama, and pitt) but when theyve played in the NIT, theyve been lame as hell (two straight 1st round losses at home in the opening NIT round). kent's offense looked like dog shit against ohio in the mac tourney and i expect wku to zone the hell out of 'em tonight. flashes can knock down shots when theyre hot but they were incredibly passive against ohio and did nothing to attack. also think two other things are worth noting for this one. first -- kent only has one senior. i just cant see this game meaning a whole lot to a team that knows theyre coming back intact for next year. the other notable is that eric haut (former kent guard from '01-04) is on the staff at western kentucky and should be able to offer an excellent scouting report on his former team. flashes have always been a good team for me. this time, im hopin its because they lay an egg
playing buffalo over the total because i dont have the balls to back drexel, even though this is a spot tailor-made to go anti-buffalo. bulls can complain all they want about not getting an at-large berth, but the fact is, they didnt deserve it. when you blow a 19-pt 2nd half lead with a trip to the dance on the line, you deserve the NIT. theyre an outstanding team and i rode 'em all through championship week but anyone who thinks the mac deserved an at-large bid is nuts. nobody besides the tourney champ deserved a bid. not miami. not buffalo. nobody. said it before in another thread, but buffalo fans were absolutely crushed walking out of gund arena on saturday. and the way the bulls lost that game makes it unlikely (to me) that the players will be inspired to play drexel (of all teams) in the NIT. can definitely see the bulls running up and down the floor with little defensive intensity. bulls might cover because drexel is no prize, but i think the over is the best way to go here.
hopin for a 2-1 night and make a few bucks heading into thursday
