Saturday 11/12
Notes: Fordham's non-conference losses last year include Hampton, Brown, Long Island, & American. They did, however, beat St. John’s last year. Shaq will be rapping at halftime of this one, might be the only good thing to come out of the game. Long Beach State welcomes Idaho in a return bracket buster game from two years ago. Nearly all of the current Long Beach State scorers played in that 11 point win two years ago, while Idaho only has a single player on the roster from that game. Long Beach State returns four senior starters off a team that was 14-2 in the conference last year. I’ve already pointed out the early brutal schedule, but this team can make some noise. The defense should be even better, even at the fast pace they play. San Jose State and Cal Poly SLO is the type of game that just screams “don’t look at me”, so I’m not even going to attempt to break it down. Too many question marks surrounding both programs. Speaking of question marks, there are a few that arise with ODU and Northern Iowa as well. Returning defensive sensation Bazemore is coming off of foot surgery and wasn’t expected to start the season healthy, but it looks like he suited up in the scrimmage the other night (only played six minutes). Aside from that, they are also a bit shy in the middle with Wright being suspended the first few games, and a couple more bodies in Hill & Ross can’t join the team until the 2nd semester. This team is going to be good eventually, but we won’t see the true colors until after Christmas break and they’ll be a bit more undersized than usual. I’m not interested in playing early, but they do play three games in five days and five in eight to start the season, so they may be a little fatigued toward the end of that stretch. Speaking of fatigue, Northern Iowa plays at ODU to open up the season, then fly’s across country to take on St. Mary’s Monday night. I think their best shot at a win will be the first game, but that’s two very tough places to play to open up the year, especially when you throw the travel into the 2nd game of the roady. Butler was beat by Evansville last year in 2OT at home, so some mini-revenge going on the road for their contest. What’s really weird is that the loss to Evansville really shook up the lineup last year. They were playing 3 or 4 guards at a time, not really focusing on the post play. A loss to Evansville as a big favorite and some lineup changes because of it, and boom, they’re playing for a national title. They lost a ton, yet, Stevens is no dumby. Still a lot of question marks though, and I need to see the new lineup before taking a stab at how they’ll be. Evansville’s a team that just doesn’t improve very often. Going into last year I thought they would improve with the fresh to soph transition, and it happened in certain phases (defense), but not others (offense). They got some talent, but more than likely will be outmanned under the basket in just about every game this season. South Alabama is going to a full court press this year. It might pay dividends when conference season rolls around, and if Dee Bost turns the ball over as much as he did the other night, it might pay dividends earlier than that. I highly doubt it though. Mississippi State should rebound, but they do have a game on deck with Texas A&M as well. Florida Atlantic should be a team that’s extremely hungry coming into the year. This team beat Mississippi State and South Florida last year, and played close with Florida for a while. Then they ran through the Sun Belt with ease, and were upset in the conference tournament. They return everyone but Royster, and he wasn’t really an offensive machine, so the offense should be just as good as last year. Portland’s defense takes a big hit this year, and this was a team that’s been one of the better shooting three-point teams the last few years in the country. That should change this year, unless they get some players to step up to the plate that can make some shots. From the looks of it, their starters will have little experience. Clearly, I hate the travel for Florida Atlantic, but they do have revenge from the meeting with Portland last year (also noting that game against Portland last year was a game where they played on the back end of three straight days of games). The meeting this year should be nowhere near the 164 points they put up last year. And the round robin tournament is at Washington this year, not Portland. Georgia State hasn’t won a season opener since 2005, and they probably won’t this year either with a new coaching staff and travelling across the country playing in a tournament against the tourney host in its own gym, but they’ll surprise some teams this year. I’ve never really figured Samford out, so you won’t see too much on them from me this year. New Mexico State is 4-23 on the road in November & December the last four years. They have revenge on Northern Colorado as they were beaten 82-80 last year. New Mexico State will run at every opportunity, and will be a bit more hectic on defense with the return of McKines to the lineup. They are extremely experienced and talented at the necessary positions (PG, C, SF). The other two spots they fill in will come from two soph’s who saw many minutes last year as freshman. Northern Colorado lost four starters. Revenge, speed, and experience should be key here. No interest in any totals over the weekend.
1* New Mexico State -2
1* Florida Atlantic PK
Leans: (Northern Iowa +4)
GL