wake forest....playing the deacs both on my capping as well as from a contact in acc country. i trust the advice enough to play it. woulda played wake regardless- just feel better about it now. statistically, the teams are very even. both shoot the ball well, push the tempo, and knock down their free throws. wake shoots an excellent 73% from the line, and that would be even higher if not for danelius having an off year from the line (63%, although he is a career 74% FT shooter). prosser hasnt lost to carolina since coming to wake, something that cant be lost in all of this. also been impressed with the way wake has played in the 1h away from home. they have taken the will to win from their opponents early on. carolina has started slow in some 1st halves this year (vs. cleveland state, akron, and george mason). wake not only starts fast, but knows they can win here. theyre also one of the top 3-pt shooting teams in the nation. simply put, they have everything i look for in a team when playing on the road within the conference. deacons should win this straight up
california.....been looking for the right spot to go against st. joes and i think this is it. i give credit where credit is due -- theyre off to a damn nice start. they shoot the ball very well and their guard play is as good as anyones in the nation. that being said, theyre hardly unbeatable. in fact, theyre amazingly deficient on the glass. their guards (nelson and west) are their #2 and #3 rebounders. theyve gotten destroyed on the boards this year as a team, and thats worth noting, since they havent played any particularly good teams outside of the season opener vs gonzaga. outrebounded by gonzaga 43-26. outrebounded by boston u. 34-24. outrebounded by old freakin dominion 46-24. outrebounded by san fran freakin cisco 35-26. held the adv. on the boards vs penn 32-20, as well as vs. boston college 33-31. outrebounded by drexel 25-24. i think their interior deficiencies and lack of rebounding have been covered up this year because theyre knocking down a ton of 3s and have shot the ball so well. but this is a prime spot for them to lose, traveling cross country to play a cal team that has shown some signs of life after getting off to an inexplicably poor start. bears offensive numbers are nothing to write home about. but they did everything well in their most recent game vs wyoming. they shot the ball well from the field, from the 3pt line, and at the stripe vs the cowboys. and theyve had a week and a half to prepare for this game. also feel cal wins this game straight up. i think st.joes fails in their first legitimate road game.
