Kramer's NCAAB Week 1 Thread

Hello all!

It's college hoops time and I'll be starting a new thread every week. The weeks will go Monday through Sunday although this first one will go for an extra few days. Every play from me is the same - maybe an occasional play of the week or month but those are rare. Some weeks will have 20 picks....some will have 5 or so....depends upon family stuff or my busy work schedule. Now on to the picks....

Washington St. -9.5 vs. Montana St.: The Cougs are led by guards Iroegbu & Que Johnson and double-double machine PF Josh Hawkinson....Wazzou won't win much in Pac12 play but they'll roll a mid-level Big Sky team tonite by 15+

Buffalo -6 at Niagara: The defending MAC champs bring back 3 of their top 4 scorers and the Bulls should contend in that conference again this season....meanwhile Niagara will most likely finish in the bottom 3 of the MAAC and the bottom 30 in all of Division 1....Buffalo wins by double digits

Baylor -17 vs. Oral Roberts: ORU returns a little less than 40% of their scoring from last year and will be at or near the bottom of the Summit League....the Bears will be in that 2nd tier of Big 12 challengers with Iowa St. & Oklahoma and have a roster filled with potential led by PF Johnathan Motley....gimme Baylor here at home on opening nite by 20+

Maryland -21 vs. American: The Eagles bring the slowest & 30th least efficient offense from last year into College Park, MD tonite to face a Terrapins team that lost a TON of talent....a cast of average returnees, transfer LG Gill, & 3 stud FR newcomers will surround elite level guard Melo Trimble and should be just enough to push Maryland into the top half of the Big 10 standings this season....I see a right around 30 point win here tonite

May add more as the day goes on....lots of favorites so far but I think the opening few weeks are sometimes where you can lay the most chalk....as you'll see I love playing "BCS schools" vs. these small college teams especially early in the year when the more talented, deeper rosters tend to pile on the points late in ballgames....

Fort Wayne +15 at Arkansas: The artist formerly known as IPFW will be a mid-major to watch this season & are the preseason favorites to win the Summit League....Arkansas has some big name talent most notably Moses Kingsley, a legit NBA prospect, and should be a middle-of-the-pack SEC squad....I'm banking on another game where Coach Anderson has them underperforming vs. a smaller school not to be taken lightly (see early season losses to Mercer & Akron last year)....I say the Mastodons keep it within single digits

What you think about Oregon 1st half

I'm not great at 1st halves but I like that one - Oregon SHOULD cover the full game there too but that one is a no play for me.

Thanks Doc....let's get em tonite!

Western Illinois +18 at Kansas St.: This might be Bruce Weber's least talented Wildcat squad especially offensively....the Leathernecks bring their leading scorer & go-to sparkplug Garret Covington back and should put up a fight against K-State here tonite....remember this scrappy team upset #17 Wisconsin on opening nite last year....I think the Cats take this one by around 10

That's it for me for now....heading out to the bars so I may add more after a few drinks....BOL tonite fellas & remember go easy - we got 5 more months of this....

Looks like you are getting off to a fast start. Have a great season. 

Good job on that buffalo game . Won by double digits as you predicted. 

2016 YTD: 2-4

Rough opening nite....it's a marathon not a sprint so I'll try to tune in the radar a little bit and right the ship. If after 3-4 weeks I'm still hovering at .500 or below I'll stop posting and just hang out here to support some of the folks I know on the board.

Yes these are my own picks & write-ups and I play every pick I post. My key is not going too crazy so a 2-4 nite doesn't crush you. After that my only advice would be to comb this forum & look for guys who you trust. Hopefully after the first few weeks of the season here I might be one of them. You're only as good (or bad) as your next pick.

Nothing for today - not much on the board

im not sure whats wrong with Capedocina or why he is angry about your plays on day 1 smh.....bol this season Kramer

Thanks Wreck!

St. Joseph's -6.5 vs. Columbia: I lied what I saw in game one from the Hawks....losing your top 3 scorers from last year is always tough but when the next three step up as they did Saturday vs. a quality opponent like Toledo it may be a sign of good things to come....Columbia had a fantastic season last year but go-to guy Maodo Lo is gone along with a group that includes 5 of their top 6 scorers....and unlike a bigger program like St. Joe's the Lions don't reload quite as easily....look for a 13+ point win for the Hawks tonite


Will have more throughout the day....

BYU -4 vs. Princeton: You're thinking "This guy must hate the Ivy League!"....actually love Princeton this year - great candidate for a 1st Round March Madness power conference team upset and they return all 5 starters from last year's squad....I just think traveling out to Provo to play a team in BYU with loads of talent is a daunting task....BYU has ranked in the top 15 fastest offenses in Division I in each of the past 3 seasons and I don't think the Tigers have the scorers to keep up....gimme the Cougs at home by double digits

Thanks Betfriends!

Gonzaga -11 vs. San Diego St.: Without Malik Pope, Matt Shrigley, or Ben Perez the Aztecs come to Spokane to face #14 Gonzaga who will be at full strength....the Zags have added some highly touted transfers to their already nicely stocked lineup of returning veterans....the athleticism of Williams-Goss & Jordan Matthews combined with the inside presence of Karnowski & FR Zach Collins will be too much tonite vs. an Aztec team that looked less than stellar on opening nite....remember the Bulldogs have had a history of looking DOMINANT in these 24 Hours of Basketball special games (see 2012 & 2014)....Zags by around 20

GL this week. I looked at this game but not real sure about the West coast teams yet. 

bol tonight

Good luck tonight. St Joe's making easy work of Columbia

2016 YTD: 5-5

Needed that nice 3-0 sweep yesterday....now gotta stay focused & find those winners....

Tennessee -12.5 vs. Appalachian St.: You'll see me play this type of game a lot in non-conference play....a below average (in this case down right awful) BCS school hosting a team from the bottom 50 of Division I with a spread that's not out of reach....in this case we're even getting a little bargain due to the Vols opening nite stumble at home vs. Chattanooga....for me this is simply believing a bottom level SEC team is 13 points or more better than a bottom level Sun Belt team....Tennessee is a very young team that needs to shake off that loss & improve game by game....a matchup with App St. will help that confidence as they cruise by around 20

Thanks Decimal! App St. just gave Davidson a good game a few days ago so that might factor in as well. I guess we'll hope both of those performances were a little fluky.

Siena/George Washington UNDER 157: My play here is that the slower-paced Colonials, who lost a lot of scoring from last year, control the tempo here tonite at home vs. a little faster paced Siena squad....GW has been among the top 100 teams (out of 350 or so) in defensive efficiency the last 4 seasons although with a new coach this season things could change....just get a feel that this one is about 10 points too high....I usually don't play totals quite this early but this one stood out

2016 YTD: 6-5
Last nite: 1-1
****This is a correction of my record as I went 2-4 on opening nite and 3-0 on Monday so my posted record yesterday SHOULD have been 5-4....

Morehead St./Marshall OVER 162.5: My angle here is that Marshall who runs one of the 10 fastest offenses in Division I will be hosting a squad that has put up 89 & 106 points in it's first 2 games....Morehead has a balanced scoring attack with 6 players averaging 8.5 points or more while Marshall has a less deep roster but suits up a quartet of scorers led by Jon Elmore & Ryan Taylor who'll be getting double digit games all year....these two teams should both be flirting with 90 points tonite

I love the over tonight as well....mine was locked in prior to the drop, but still see both teams well into the 80's...good luck!!

GL to you too Decimal....playing totals this early is a little scary but lots of things point to this one flying over the number....we'll see!

UNLV -6 vs. UC-Riverside: I told myself I was going to stay away from (or fade) this Rebels team all year....messy coaching situation, very little returning talent, reliant on young untested newcomers....in a word YUCK!....however I feel this line is a little too short here....the Highlanders are a bottom half Big West squad who lost at Portland U last Friday by 16 and are replacing their top 2 scorers from last year as well....UNLV may struggle to be a Top 200 ball club by the end of the season but should get by Riverside tonite by at least double digits

I'm right there with you on this UNLV team. I have them first half and hoping that some added motivation of having Owens' jersey retirement and Tarks' widow in the building gets these kids fired up to play tonight. BOL.