Not an ideal start, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Not a lot of time today, but a few plays for me.
FIU/Rice Over 150.5
FIU caused turnovers on roughly 25% of their defensive possessions a year ago. That's a great number, whats the problem? On the rest of the possessions, teams lit them up. FIU allowed nearly 40% shooting from 3 (worst in DI), and couldn't get a defensive rebound (2nd worst in the country). Obviously, it's only up from here, but those numbers aren't very favorable. Rice brings in former SMU coach Rob Lanier, who probably has a bit of a chip on his shoulder after being fired after 2 seasons, the second in which his team won 10 more games than in season 1. But he also had the nations 46th best offense efficiency while at SMU and that uptempo system will come with him to Rice.
Evansville/North Texas Under 132.5
North Texas defense last year was REALLY tough. They held 10 opponents under 60 points. Now some of that has to do with how slow they play on offense (ranked 350th or lower in Kenpoms tempo rating for the last 5 years). But couple those tid bits with an Evansville team that lost its top 5 scorers, on a team that wasn't really all that offensively gifted anyway, and new faces trying to acclimated, and i think we get a game played in the 50s tonight.
Gotta run right now, but may be back before tip of the later games, to get a write up in. If not, here is the rest of my card.
Idaho St/Arizona St. Under 143
UC-Davis +15.5
Good luck everyone
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