Denver v. NDSU Write Up and Play

Denver at NDSU Souix Falls Arena 7 et

Opening Line: NDSU -5.5/6.5

Pick: NDSU -6.5

Analysis: I believe that this NDSU team holds some value here tonight besides the fact of laying the points here.  In the last meeting on March 1, 2014, NDSU beat this team in Fargo 78-68. Looking at the facts from that game though there is some interesting points. Denver in that game shot 15-32 from three, or 46.9% from three. That is pretty darn good, but the interesting part of this was that NDSU still won the game by 10 points. In the other matchup on the season, Denver took care of business at there home court 67-63. Denver has been very good at home throughout the years, and it is not surprising that one of NDSU conferences losses came here.  In that game Denver also shot 9-16 from three, and shot 56% from three, and still only won the game by 4. In a back to back scenario here, do you really believe that this team will still shoot as well from three? NDSU comes in having a strong starting 5 here. Tyler Braun is a strong swing 3 who leads them in rebounding and can really score the ball. Alexander and Brown stand tall for the guard position at 6-3 and 6-4, and can distribute and score. They have a solid big man Bjurkland who they can throw the ball into. Felt also comes off the bench and is a really good shooter for this team. I believe that NDSU has the best starting 5 in Summit League and should win this tournament. They can really play both fast and slow tempos. They played Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Delaware in the non conference. These games gave them strong competition and prepared for a deep run in this tournament.

NDSU got to the to the title game last year in this same building, and lost to SDSU by 6. This was the strongest SDSU team in a long time, and they only lost by 6. This is the first year that Denver has played in this Summit league tournament. NDSU got the experience here.

On the other hand, Denver doesn’t play nearly as well on the road. They are a solid 4-8 on the road this season, and with this game being played in Souix Falls don’t expect many fans. Denver major scoring options on offense is with Olson as a guard. He can really shoot the ball and distribute on this team. There other option is a post 4 in Udofia, who is a decent option. The problem is that the bigger guards from NDSU should really distribute the shooting from Olson in this game. Denver really can’t get in the up and down game and win. They will want to slow this game down. NDSU on the other hand can play either way and has many more scoring options. I think NDSU wins this by 10+, and it is unlikely that Denver shoots as well from three. This NDSU team is on a mission this here to win this tournament, and I believe is the best team in this conference. Denver only beat this team by 4 at home in altitude. Better team with more offensive options win out here. After what Olson has done to them already twice this season, you would think that NDSU takes him out of the game. If this is the case Denver will really struggle to score.

The only thing that scares me here is that the possessions are unlikely to be all that high in this game. That might mean that it means that it might be hard to get to up to the 7 points. NDSU shoots almost 75% from the free throw line. That means late in the game they won’t miss many of the bs free throws that may not allow them to cover.

Lay the chalk here, and think about buying it down to 6 even though I think NDSU wins by 10+.

I like it the only thing has me worried is the lay off they have not play since march 1st when they beat Denver

I hate when a team playing good ball gets a long layoff  last game they lost was feb 1 st at Denver been awhile since they lost a game  gl

Nice start NDSU