cleveland state (-3) over wright state (7:30pm EST tip)
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playing csu as a strong play (equal to the strongest ive played any game so far this season, including bg over detroit and wake over carolina). certainly doesnt make it a sure-fire winner whatsoever but i do think this will be a solid win for cleveland state. vikings desperately need a win, and garland was extremely pissed about the defensive effort by his guys the other night against loyola (letting up 90 pts in a 90-83 loss). he reiterated how it was unacceptable to allow 90 pts up on your home court. quick turnaround for csu as wright state comes to town. havent had a lot of practice time but i think his players got the message. i think westley and robinson both have solid games against a wsu team that is perenially garbage on the road. through all their troubles, vikings have shown signs of doing the things needed to win games. they hit the glass hard and they get to the free-throw line a shitload. (heres a significant stat in this one: csu has made more free throws this season than wright state has even attempted. (226 csu makes : 220 wsu attempts).
to maintain objectivity- where is csu deficient? taking care of the basketball. that is why theyre 3-9 instead of 5-7 or even 6-6. theyve lost so many close games. this is a more than winnable game against an opponent who struggles on the road. garland is just getting his feet wet as a head coach, but being a former michigan state assistant under izzo, theres no way hes going to put up with another bullshit defensive effort like csu had at home the other night. i think csu wins and covers this game with defense.
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gonzaga/pepperdine over 162 (8:30pm EST tip)
im not real big on overs, but this is one ive played almost blindly the last few meetings. to me, theres two conference match-ups that are great 'over' plays: virginia/maryland and gonzaga/pepperdine. waves already abhor defense, but when they face gonzaga, its like they dont even give defense a passing thought. the pace of the last four or five games in this series has been unreal. just up and down, 3s from all over the place, and little defense to speak of.
last years meetings:
gonzaga 92 pepperdine 72 (gonzaga led 50-28 at halftime. pepperdine hit 8 3s, gonzaga hit 9. gonzaga shot 54% for the gm)
gonzaga 78 pepperdine 63 (maybe some will remember this game. ostensibly, the final score indicates a defensive struggle. that wasnt the case. just a weird, weird 2h. gonzaga led 51-42 at halftime. 93 pts at half. but a strange 2h led to just a 27-21 2h and ultimately a 78-63 final. zags still managed to hit 12 3s in that game)
2001-2002 meetings:
gonzaga 91 pepperdine 78 (50-35 at halftime. mcgowan goes for 26 in a loss that was closer than the final)
gonzaga 88 pepperdine 79 (nothing special. just your regular old waves/zags shootout. gonzaga again shoots 50% from the field)
gonzaga 96 pepperdine 90 (this was the wcc championship game. defense in a title game with an ncaa berth on the line? lmao. not with these teams. 45-44 at halftime. pepperdine hits 12 3s, gonzaga hits 10)
all in all, if not for a fluke 2h in one of last yrs meetings (game was 51-42 halftime in that one), we'd be looking at 5 straight games where these guys just trade baskets and play matador defense. hell if you want to take it back a year further, the finals were 93-79 and 82-69. these guys just play run-n-gun basketball.
although it looks like pepperdine isnt scoring at their normal clip lately, consider that theyve been playing against some slow-down, 1/2 court teams (especially fairfield and utah). now they get back to wcc basketball. all offense, no defense. making an almost obligatory over play in a match-up thats been a cash machine for me.
also doesnt hurt that pepperdine is 70% from the line this year and gonzaga is 75%.
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playing csu as a strong play (equal to the strongest ive played any game so far this season, including bg over detroit and wake over carolina). certainly doesnt make it a sure-fire winner whatsoever but i do think this will be a solid win for cleveland state. vikings desperately need a win, and garland was extremely pissed about the defensive effort by his guys the other night against loyola (letting up 90 pts in a 90-83 loss). he reiterated how it was unacceptable to allow 90 pts up on your home court. quick turnaround for csu as wright state comes to town. havent had a lot of practice time but i think his players got the message. i think westley and robinson both have solid games against a wsu team that is perenially garbage on the road. through all their troubles, vikings have shown signs of doing the things needed to win games. they hit the glass hard and they get to the free-throw line a shitload. (heres a significant stat in this one: csu has made more free throws this season than wright state has even attempted. (226 csu makes : 220 wsu attempts).
to maintain objectivity- where is csu deficient? taking care of the basketball. that is why theyre 3-9 instead of 5-7 or even 6-6. theyve lost so many close games. this is a more than winnable game against an opponent who struggles on the road. garland is just getting his feet wet as a head coach, but being a former michigan state assistant under izzo, theres no way hes going to put up with another bullshit defensive effort like csu had at home the other night. i think csu wins and covers this game with defense.
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gonzaga/pepperdine over 162 (8:30pm EST tip)
im not real big on overs, but this is one ive played almost blindly the last few meetings. to me, theres two conference match-ups that are great 'over' plays: virginia/maryland and gonzaga/pepperdine. waves already abhor defense, but when they face gonzaga, its like they dont even give defense a passing thought. the pace of the last four or five games in this series has been unreal. just up and down, 3s from all over the place, and little defense to speak of.
last years meetings:
gonzaga 92 pepperdine 72 (gonzaga led 50-28 at halftime. pepperdine hit 8 3s, gonzaga hit 9. gonzaga shot 54% for the gm)
gonzaga 78 pepperdine 63 (maybe some will remember this game. ostensibly, the final score indicates a defensive struggle. that wasnt the case. just a weird, weird 2h. gonzaga led 51-42 at halftime. 93 pts at half. but a strange 2h led to just a 27-21 2h and ultimately a 78-63 final. zags still managed to hit 12 3s in that game)
2001-2002 meetings:
gonzaga 91 pepperdine 78 (50-35 at halftime. mcgowan goes for 26 in a loss that was closer than the final)
gonzaga 88 pepperdine 79 (nothing special. just your regular old waves/zags shootout. gonzaga again shoots 50% from the field)
gonzaga 96 pepperdine 90 (this was the wcc championship game. defense in a title game with an ncaa berth on the line? lmao. not with these teams. 45-44 at halftime. pepperdine hits 12 3s, gonzaga hits 10)
all in all, if not for a fluke 2h in one of last yrs meetings (game was 51-42 halftime in that one), we'd be looking at 5 straight games where these guys just trade baskets and play matador defense. hell if you want to take it back a year further, the finals were 93-79 and 82-69. these guys just play run-n-gun basketball.
although it looks like pepperdine isnt scoring at their normal clip lately, consider that theyve been playing against some slow-down, 1/2 court teams (especially fairfield and utah). now they get back to wcc basketball. all offense, no defense. making an almost obligatory over play in a match-up thats been a cash machine for me.
also doesnt hurt that pepperdine is 70% from the line this year and gonzaga is 75%.
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