gonna be very busy this week so the horizon tournament will be my only posts. for simplicity, gonna keep all the horizon plays regardless of round in this thread.
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opening round: butler at wright state
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[ in indianapolis 1/2/05 ]
wright state 59 butler 54
brief recap: butler led 28-24 at halftime...butler led 44-33 with 12:00 left...wright state went on a big run to take the lead 45-44 with under 8:00 left...butler took the lead back 54-49 with 4:30 left...and then butler didnt score the rest of the game, allowing wsu to close the game on a 10-0 run and win by five.
[ in dayton 2/7/05 ]
wright state 61 butler 55
brief recap: this one was tied at halftime 25-all....game stayed close and had seven ties in the 2nd half...wright took the lead for good with under 1:00 left and held on for to win by six... very clean game on both sides...wright turned the ball over just 4 times... butler only turned it over 9 times.
butler could have easily swept the regular season series but instead wright state did the sweeping. bulldogs flat out pissed away the meeting in indianapolis. both teams are well-coached and both play solid defense. of course, the regular season finales for both teams wouldnt attest to that (butler beat uic 86-82 and wright state beat uwgb 94-80 -- two certain anomalies). both meetings this year were dead unders. wright state closed out the season playing decent but not particularly great ball (going 4-4 in february). butler, after a horrific january, went 5-3 in february and come into the horizon tourney winning 4 of their last 5 games, with the only loss being a close one to uw-milwaukee on the road, so certainly no shame in dropping that game. in typical butler fashion, theyre doing the little things right and thats whats led to this 4 of 5 streak. bulldogs have been blistering behind the arc (47-109..43% as a team), great from the line (64-86...75%) and are averaging just 9 turnovers a game in that stretch. im backing butler in this one. this team knows how to win when it counts and they are playing their best ball at just the right time. wright state is the epitome of horizon mediocrity. theyre by no means a bad team, but they also arent a team that holds a dominant home court edge. butler wins in dayton and advances. normally this is a moneyline kind of spot for me, but butler is one of those teams that plays an inordinate amount of nailbiters and the 2.5 points have a lot of value.
playing: butler bulldogs (+2.5)
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opening round: cleveland state at uic
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[ in chicago 1/17/05 ]
illinois-chicago 74 cleveland state 57
seventeen point win for uic, but game was very close in the first half...score was 29-29 at the break...chicago opened the 2nd half on a 15-2 run to take a 44-31....csu kept cutting into the lead and got it down to 8 a couple of times and trailed 64-56 with under 5:00 left...flames closed it out on a 10-1 spurt for the 17 point win
[ in cleveland 2/12/05 ]
illinois-chicago 73 cleveland state 66
weird game. both teams shot well in the first half...chicago made the first run of the game and established a double-digit lead going into the halftime break (43-32) after a layup at the buzzer.... cleveland state turned up the defensive intensity in the 2nd half... vikings cut the 43-32 lead down to 43-37 with 15:00 left... uic didnt score a point in the 2nd half until the 14:00 mark... vikings blew a lot of opportunities to get much closer.... the the uic lead was somewhere in between 7 and 12 the rest of the game..vikes cut it to 5 with 0:44 seconds but never truly threatened although they had many chances... 2nd half was brutal to watch... csu shot 35% in the 2h and uic shot 36%.
opening line certainly reflects the huge loss of omari westley for the vikings. if he plays, the line is probably 7 or 8. instead, flames are installed as a 13 point chalk. after his suspension, vikings went 0-2 to close the regular season. they put themselves in position to beat loyola but got smashed by milwaukee. right now, vikings have one scoring threat and thats raheem moss. he's done everything he can to make up for westley's absence but he's gotten little help. he had 18 against loyola (including five 3s) and then dropped 27 on milwaukee (with four 3s). problem is, only one other player has scored in double digits in either game. uic has been playing matador defense the last few weeks (and thats being kind) but theyre a veteran team and they know what it takes to win in march, so i think theyre gonna win this game with defense. might not be the wisest move playing uic under after seeing their defense the last few weeks, but its march now and its time to play for real. and the vikings have very little on offense besides moss. if csu wants to get blown out, theyll run and down the floor. if the vikes want to compete, theyll limit the possessions and keep the game in the halfcourt. right now, cedric banks is playing like he wants the player of the year trophy in the horizon. in his last 4 games, he's dropped 25 on loyola, 24 on georgia southern, 39 on wright state, and 28 on butler. vikings would be wise to make anybody but banks beat them. thats gonna be a tough task though because he's had some big games in his career against csu. i'm tentatively planning on playing the under, as long as its more than 137. if its less than that, i am gonna pass. i think this game will have 126 or 128 points, but gonna show some discretion if line isnt favorable. for the 2nd year in a row, viking suspensions have cost them dearly down the stretch, which is kind of shitty because if westley plays, this could have been a great game because the two meetings this year were really physical and balls-out games on both sides.
playing: cleveland state under (137 or more)
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opening round: youngstown at loyola
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[ in youngstown 12/21/04 ]
youngstown 76 loyola 58
this might have been youngstown's best game of the season....they shot 48% for the game....quin humphrey had 26....penguins forced 19 loyola turnovers....game was 30-28 youngstown at halftime....ysu never relinquished the lead in the 2nd half and led by near-double digits most of the stretch run....schilb had 25 for loyola
[ in chicago 1/26/05 ]
loyola 71 youngstown 50
payback was a bitch for youngstown....ramblers led 34-19 in a game that was never close... penguins turned it over 25 times .... lone bright spot was humphrey (big surprise) with 20 pts .... 4 were in double figures for loyola .... ramblers actually led by 30 with 5:00 left before ysu cut it down and made it semi-respectable
this one is definitely a no-play for me. youngstown is absolutely abysmal on the road (dont have the space to list the numbers, but trust me, the numbers are awful) and loyola is the hottest team in the league coming into the tournament. blake schilb has been great for loyola the last few games. if not for cedric banks' big scoring nights, people would be talking about what a solid february schilb has had for the ramblers. im actually amazed this kid scores as much as he does because hes not a particularly good athlete and he is kind of a pussy around the basket. but he is just one of those guys that always hits the big shot when loyola needs it most. he's averaging 26 pts his last few games and loyola is playing good basketball pretty much out of nowhere because they were a lame team for most of the year. ultimately, thats what makes this youngstown or nothing. but its nothing for me, because i couldnt back ysu on the road with a straight face. but loyola is kinda playing above their heads right now and theyre not a true 13 or 14 point chalk. theres not that much of a gap between these two. still want no part of this one.
PASS
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opening round: butler at wright state
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[ in indianapolis 1/2/05 ]
wright state 59 butler 54
brief recap: butler led 28-24 at halftime...butler led 44-33 with 12:00 left...wright state went on a big run to take the lead 45-44 with under 8:00 left...butler took the lead back 54-49 with 4:30 left...and then butler didnt score the rest of the game, allowing wsu to close the game on a 10-0 run and win by five.
[ in dayton 2/7/05 ]
wright state 61 butler 55
brief recap: this one was tied at halftime 25-all....game stayed close and had seven ties in the 2nd half...wright took the lead for good with under 1:00 left and held on for to win by six... very clean game on both sides...wright turned the ball over just 4 times... butler only turned it over 9 times.
butler could have easily swept the regular season series but instead wright state did the sweeping. bulldogs flat out pissed away the meeting in indianapolis. both teams are well-coached and both play solid defense. of course, the regular season finales for both teams wouldnt attest to that (butler beat uic 86-82 and wright state beat uwgb 94-80 -- two certain anomalies). both meetings this year were dead unders. wright state closed out the season playing decent but not particularly great ball (going 4-4 in february). butler, after a horrific january, went 5-3 in february and come into the horizon tourney winning 4 of their last 5 games, with the only loss being a close one to uw-milwaukee on the road, so certainly no shame in dropping that game. in typical butler fashion, theyre doing the little things right and thats whats led to this 4 of 5 streak. bulldogs have been blistering behind the arc (47-109..43% as a team), great from the line (64-86...75%) and are averaging just 9 turnovers a game in that stretch. im backing butler in this one. this team knows how to win when it counts and they are playing their best ball at just the right time. wright state is the epitome of horizon mediocrity. theyre by no means a bad team, but they also arent a team that holds a dominant home court edge. butler wins in dayton and advances. normally this is a moneyline kind of spot for me, but butler is one of those teams that plays an inordinate amount of nailbiters and the 2.5 points have a lot of value.
playing: butler bulldogs (+2.5)
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opening round: cleveland state at uic
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[ in chicago 1/17/05 ]
illinois-chicago 74 cleveland state 57
seventeen point win for uic, but game was very close in the first half...score was 29-29 at the break...chicago opened the 2nd half on a 15-2 run to take a 44-31....csu kept cutting into the lead and got it down to 8 a couple of times and trailed 64-56 with under 5:00 left...flames closed it out on a 10-1 spurt for the 17 point win
[ in cleveland 2/12/05 ]
illinois-chicago 73 cleveland state 66
weird game. both teams shot well in the first half...chicago made the first run of the game and established a double-digit lead going into the halftime break (43-32) after a layup at the buzzer.... cleveland state turned up the defensive intensity in the 2nd half... vikings cut the 43-32 lead down to 43-37 with 15:00 left... uic didnt score a point in the 2nd half until the 14:00 mark... vikings blew a lot of opportunities to get much closer.... the the uic lead was somewhere in between 7 and 12 the rest of the game..vikes cut it to 5 with 0:44 seconds but never truly threatened although they had many chances... 2nd half was brutal to watch... csu shot 35% in the 2h and uic shot 36%.
opening line certainly reflects the huge loss of omari westley for the vikings. if he plays, the line is probably 7 or 8. instead, flames are installed as a 13 point chalk. after his suspension, vikings went 0-2 to close the regular season. they put themselves in position to beat loyola but got smashed by milwaukee. right now, vikings have one scoring threat and thats raheem moss. he's done everything he can to make up for westley's absence but he's gotten little help. he had 18 against loyola (including five 3s) and then dropped 27 on milwaukee (with four 3s). problem is, only one other player has scored in double digits in either game. uic has been playing matador defense the last few weeks (and thats being kind) but theyre a veteran team and they know what it takes to win in march, so i think theyre gonna win this game with defense. might not be the wisest move playing uic under after seeing their defense the last few weeks, but its march now and its time to play for real. and the vikings have very little on offense besides moss. if csu wants to get blown out, theyll run and down the floor. if the vikes want to compete, theyll limit the possessions and keep the game in the halfcourt. right now, cedric banks is playing like he wants the player of the year trophy in the horizon. in his last 4 games, he's dropped 25 on loyola, 24 on georgia southern, 39 on wright state, and 28 on butler. vikings would be wise to make anybody but banks beat them. thats gonna be a tough task though because he's had some big games in his career against csu. i'm tentatively planning on playing the under, as long as its more than 137. if its less than that, i am gonna pass. i think this game will have 126 or 128 points, but gonna show some discretion if line isnt favorable. for the 2nd year in a row, viking suspensions have cost them dearly down the stretch, which is kind of shitty because if westley plays, this could have been a great game because the two meetings this year were really physical and balls-out games on both sides.
playing: cleveland state under (137 or more)
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opening round: youngstown at loyola
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[ in youngstown 12/21/04 ]
youngstown 76 loyola 58
this might have been youngstown's best game of the season....they shot 48% for the game....quin humphrey had 26....penguins forced 19 loyola turnovers....game was 30-28 youngstown at halftime....ysu never relinquished the lead in the 2nd half and led by near-double digits most of the stretch run....schilb had 25 for loyola
[ in chicago 1/26/05 ]
loyola 71 youngstown 50
payback was a bitch for youngstown....ramblers led 34-19 in a game that was never close... penguins turned it over 25 times .... lone bright spot was humphrey (big surprise) with 20 pts .... 4 were in double figures for loyola .... ramblers actually led by 30 with 5:00 left before ysu cut it down and made it semi-respectable
this one is definitely a no-play for me. youngstown is absolutely abysmal on the road (dont have the space to list the numbers, but trust me, the numbers are awful) and loyola is the hottest team in the league coming into the tournament. blake schilb has been great for loyola the last few games. if not for cedric banks' big scoring nights, people would be talking about what a solid february schilb has had for the ramblers. im actually amazed this kid scores as much as he does because hes not a particularly good athlete and he is kind of a pussy around the basket. but he is just one of those guys that always hits the big shot when loyola needs it most. he's averaging 26 pts his last few games and loyola is playing good basketball pretty much out of nowhere because they were a lame team for most of the year. ultimately, thats what makes this youngstown or nothing. but its nothing for me, because i couldnt back ysu on the road with a straight face. but loyola is kinda playing above their heads right now and theyre not a true 13 or 14 point chalk. theres not that much of a gap between these two. still want no part of this one.
PASS
