NCAA BB
La Tech -4
La Tech comes into this season returning 3 starters from a team that went 14-15 a year ago. One of the 3 starters is sensational F Paul Millsap who has led the country in rebounding 2 years in a row and is coming off a season in which he avg. 20.4 ppg 12.4rpg and IMO he will be even better this year. Along with him come a pair of 2 senior guards Daevon Haskins 8.4 ppg 3.5rpg 5.8apg, who is a solid all around player and brings tons of leadership to this team, Corey Dean 10.5 ppg 3.8rpg who is their best outside shooter and can be lights out at times. adding to this duo will be guards Jerome Richardson an all american Juco and new comer Marcus elliot who has impressed coaches early this season. La Tech will rotate all 4 guards as they do not have a true center and tend to play 3 guards 2 forwards on the line up. Along with Millsap on the frontcourt will be senior Michael Wilds who has been outstanding so far this season pulling DD rebounds in the upset of Texas Tech and giving solid minutes all around. Experience will be a plus this year as the team is loaded with 3 and 4 year players and this team should be ready to make some noise in the WAC.....
ULL comes in having lost Tiras wade, Brian Hamilton and Orien greene. Those 3 starters accounted for 45.4 ppg 15.8rpg or more than 50% of the offense. The cajuns will have to count on guard Dwayne Mitchell 10.4ppg 5.8 rpg 3.6 apg last season to carry the load, which IMO is too much to ask. C Chris cameron is the lone starter avg. 8.2 ppg 3.3rpg. should be able to contribute with quality minutes and decent play. The rest of the line up will be filled with new comers Michael Sothall, Ed Turner, and Chris barkdale who has been great so far this season but is playing A LOT of minutes due to the lack of depth in this roster. The cajuns IMO are just not deep or experience enough to beat LA Tech on the road tonight. La Tech is just the better team and it shows as they have the advantage on ppg, fg%, ft%, defense, turnover ratio, and depth......La Tech wiins at home.....
La tech 73 ULL 64
Wake Forest -10
Wake Forest is coming off a great 27-6 season and even though they lost PG seansation Chris Paul and 3 other seniors this team is still loaded and experience. Senior guard Justin Gray is AWSOME having avg. 16.0 ppg 2.3 apg last season he is now the go to guy in this team and this season he will not dissapoint. He is moving to the point and should be able to create his shot off the dribble and that alone will make him more effective than a year ago. He will be joined by high recruited freshman Harvey Hale, who should provide some spark on the offensive side of the ball but will take some time for him to adjust defensively at the ACC style of play. The frontcourt is brutal as seniors Eric Williams, Trent Strickland, and Chris ellis leading the way. This group is a hard working do all the dirty job type of machine. They will be joined also by junior C Kyle Visser who IMO is the most iprove player this season so far. Teams will struggle to score inside all season vs this Deacon team and I expect that to be the case tonight as the Deacons control the paint and the boards all night long.......
DePaul has been an early surprise this season posting victories at home over UAB, Creighton and upsetting Dayton on the road their last time out. DePaul returns just 2 starters from last years team and they tend to live or die by Guard Sammy mejia's play. Mejias is coming off a great season in which he avg. 11.8 ppg 5.0 rpg 3.3apg but was not used to being the main scoring option as Diener and Greer provided the # 1-2 options a year ago. Mejia will be under a lot of pressure this season and the tough pressure of Deacon guard Justin Gray should be enough to contained him tonight. Joining Mejia as the other returning starter is C Marion Brumfield, who is a solid player but lacks offensive moves to be a factor. The rest of the line up will be a mix and macth of key reserves and new comers. DePaul is also in a tough spot after a nice upset victory vs Dayton on the road and still have another road game ahead vs ODU, another tough opponent.
So in a letdown spot, and a tough road trip I expect the Deacons to control the Boards and paint. Also with the balance scoring on the outside provided by Gray this one should be a nice 15-20pt win for the home team.....
Wake Forest 92 DePaul 75
Oregon -12
BLOW OUT CITY......The Ducks return all 5 starters from a season ago due to the fact that they had NO seniors on the roster last season. The inside/outside combo of F Malik Hairston and PG Aaron Brooks should provide plenty of offensive scoring this season. A year under the belt will provide this duo with more experience and better results. Hairston will be joined by F Jordan Kent 4.8 ppg 4.4 rppg and C's Ray Shaeffer (7 ft), Marty Leunen 5.6 ppg 4.3rpg, and Mitch Platt 3.1ppg 2.1rpg. So as we can see the Ducks are BIG inside and should become a good rebounding team. In addition to Brooks in the backcourt will be sensational G Bryce taylor who avg. 11.6 ppg 2.4 rpg in his fresman year and its looking to be a great contributor offensively this season. Taylor is a sharp perimeter shooter who plays good defense and can create with the ball or off the screens....... The ducks are also coming off a BLOWOUT loss in front of the home crown to Illinois and will be looking to take it out on Santa Clare tonight to make it up to the faithful duck fan's......
Santa Clara...well, this is a one dimensional team, as F travis Niessen 15.1 ppg 4.5rpg is about the only great player in the team. The 6-7 Forward will be doubled up tonight by big bodies and should struggle on the road. Well, the rest of the team is in chambles as C Sean demison is nursing a foot injury and should not be playing tonight, the rest of the roster accounted for less than 15.0 ppg last season. The broncos are young and on the rebuilding process and will be meeting a hungry and pissed off ducks squad that its just much better on both sides of the ball....The ducks will feast on the inexperience and lack of offense from Santa clara and should cruise to a very nice home victory.....
Oregon 79 Santa Clara 55
Glta as always.......OB
La Tech -4
La Tech comes into this season returning 3 starters from a team that went 14-15 a year ago. One of the 3 starters is sensational F Paul Millsap who has led the country in rebounding 2 years in a row and is coming off a season in which he avg. 20.4 ppg 12.4rpg and IMO he will be even better this year. Along with him come a pair of 2 senior guards Daevon Haskins 8.4 ppg 3.5rpg 5.8apg, who is a solid all around player and brings tons of leadership to this team, Corey Dean 10.5 ppg 3.8rpg who is their best outside shooter and can be lights out at times. adding to this duo will be guards Jerome Richardson an all american Juco and new comer Marcus elliot who has impressed coaches early this season. La Tech will rotate all 4 guards as they do not have a true center and tend to play 3 guards 2 forwards on the line up. Along with Millsap on the frontcourt will be senior Michael Wilds who has been outstanding so far this season pulling DD rebounds in the upset of Texas Tech and giving solid minutes all around. Experience will be a plus this year as the team is loaded with 3 and 4 year players and this team should be ready to make some noise in the WAC.....
ULL comes in having lost Tiras wade, Brian Hamilton and Orien greene. Those 3 starters accounted for 45.4 ppg 15.8rpg or more than 50% of the offense. The cajuns will have to count on guard Dwayne Mitchell 10.4ppg 5.8 rpg 3.6 apg last season to carry the load, which IMO is too much to ask. C Chris cameron is the lone starter avg. 8.2 ppg 3.3rpg. should be able to contribute with quality minutes and decent play. The rest of the line up will be filled with new comers Michael Sothall, Ed Turner, and Chris barkdale who has been great so far this season but is playing A LOT of minutes due to the lack of depth in this roster. The cajuns IMO are just not deep or experience enough to beat LA Tech on the road tonight. La Tech is just the better team and it shows as they have the advantage on ppg, fg%, ft%, defense, turnover ratio, and depth......La Tech wiins at home.....
La tech 73 ULL 64
Wake Forest -10
Wake Forest is coming off a great 27-6 season and even though they lost PG seansation Chris Paul and 3 other seniors this team is still loaded and experience. Senior guard Justin Gray is AWSOME having avg. 16.0 ppg 2.3 apg last season he is now the go to guy in this team and this season he will not dissapoint. He is moving to the point and should be able to create his shot off the dribble and that alone will make him more effective than a year ago. He will be joined by high recruited freshman Harvey Hale, who should provide some spark on the offensive side of the ball but will take some time for him to adjust defensively at the ACC style of play. The frontcourt is brutal as seniors Eric Williams, Trent Strickland, and Chris ellis leading the way. This group is a hard working do all the dirty job type of machine. They will be joined also by junior C Kyle Visser who IMO is the most iprove player this season so far. Teams will struggle to score inside all season vs this Deacon team and I expect that to be the case tonight as the Deacons control the paint and the boards all night long.......
DePaul has been an early surprise this season posting victories at home over UAB, Creighton and upsetting Dayton on the road their last time out. DePaul returns just 2 starters from last years team and they tend to live or die by Guard Sammy mejia's play. Mejias is coming off a great season in which he avg. 11.8 ppg 5.0 rpg 3.3apg but was not used to being the main scoring option as Diener and Greer provided the # 1-2 options a year ago. Mejia will be under a lot of pressure this season and the tough pressure of Deacon guard Justin Gray should be enough to contained him tonight. Joining Mejia as the other returning starter is C Marion Brumfield, who is a solid player but lacks offensive moves to be a factor. The rest of the line up will be a mix and macth of key reserves and new comers. DePaul is also in a tough spot after a nice upset victory vs Dayton on the road and still have another road game ahead vs ODU, another tough opponent.
So in a letdown spot, and a tough road trip I expect the Deacons to control the Boards and paint. Also with the balance scoring on the outside provided by Gray this one should be a nice 15-20pt win for the home team.....
Wake Forest 92 DePaul 75
Oregon -12
BLOW OUT CITY......The Ducks return all 5 starters from a season ago due to the fact that they had NO seniors on the roster last season. The inside/outside combo of F Malik Hairston and PG Aaron Brooks should provide plenty of offensive scoring this season. A year under the belt will provide this duo with more experience and better results. Hairston will be joined by F Jordan Kent 4.8 ppg 4.4 rppg and C's Ray Shaeffer (7 ft), Marty Leunen 5.6 ppg 4.3rpg, and Mitch Platt 3.1ppg 2.1rpg. So as we can see the Ducks are BIG inside and should become a good rebounding team. In addition to Brooks in the backcourt will be sensational G Bryce taylor who avg. 11.6 ppg 2.4 rpg in his fresman year and its looking to be a great contributor offensively this season. Taylor is a sharp perimeter shooter who plays good defense and can create with the ball or off the screens....... The ducks are also coming off a BLOWOUT loss in front of the home crown to Illinois and will be looking to take it out on Santa Clare tonight to make it up to the faithful duck fan's......
Santa Clara...well, this is a one dimensional team, as F travis Niessen 15.1 ppg 4.5rpg is about the only great player in the team. The 6-7 Forward will be doubled up tonight by big bodies and should struggle on the road. Well, the rest of the team is in chambles as C Sean demison is nursing a foot injury and should not be playing tonight, the rest of the roster accounted for less than 15.0 ppg last season. The broncos are young and on the rebuilding process and will be meeting a hungry and pissed off ducks squad that its just much better on both sides of the ball....The ducks will feast on the inexperience and lack of offense from Santa clara and should cruise to a very nice home victory.....
Oregon 79 Santa Clara 55
Glta as always.......OB
