Posted:
#1
November: 46-38, +5.20
November Leans: 39-38
December: 65-70, -9.45
December Leans: 67-79
January: 52-39, +15.80
January Leans: 40-37
February: 63-44, +65.90
February Leans: 56-49
March: 22-13, +31.45
March Leans: 11-6
Morgan State/Hampton
To give you an idea of how wide open this MEAC tournament is, this 8/9 game between Morgan State and Hampton pits two teams who I projected to win the conference. Why? Simple, really. Being the defensive type of guy that I am, and how horrendous the offense is in this conference, I put them at the top. Both teams excel on the defensive end, stats don’t show it, but the schemes of each coaches and how they defend are far different than any other two teams in the conference. This game should be a dogfight. The teams hate each other. Hampton can’t score for the life of them. They play an extremely fast pace, yet consistently score in the 60’s because their offense is pitiful. Now, take that offense up against one of the taller teams in the country in Morgan State and I don’t expect much. On the flip side, probably not worth trusting Morgan State either. They’re tall, but the tall guys are on the court for defensive purposes. They too like to push the pace, but sort of works against their advantages with the height that they bring to the table. So, what happened to these teams last year? Well, going into conference play, Morgan State had an RPI in the top 20 of all the country. They travelled anywhere and everywhere, and were possibly worn down going into conference play. They also had the issue where Bozeman either punched a player or was ruled to be accidental or whatever it was, it sort of tore the team apart. It looks like the past few weeks they’re playing better basketball. With Hampton, not much went wrong. They just can’t score. Offense is focused on a ton of guard penetration, and the staple of Joyner’s offense is the dribble weave with three guards on the perimeter. They penetrate and look to kick for three’s at time or get to the hoop. They do shoot a ton of three’s because of their ability to break teams down off the dribble, but they can’t shoot them all that well. They do get to the foul line quite a bit. Which leads me to this morning’s game. Morgan State has shown zone at times, I assume they use it to contain the dribble penetration of Hampton, and they can also slow the game down a bit as well. This should be a battle, and a game based on each team’s defense stopping the other. Early tip doesn’t hurt matters, either. Like my chances in this one given the schemes that present themselves.
MD-Eastern Shore/NC Central
NC Central’s the only team that has played on this court (Wake Forest) this year. In that game they put up 79 points in just 70 possessions. No interest in laying the chalk here, but it’s probably the only way I’d point. Both teams play fast, and I trust NC Central’s offense a ton more than MD Eastern Shore. First meeting this year only hit 61 possessions in a 77-46 blowout. Assuming both can at least play a somewhat close game for at least a half, the over probably holds value here, but not interested. MD Eastern Shore might play a bit of zone, which will slow the game down, and takes a bit of what NC Central wants to do in the half court. They want to get it inside to their undersized posts and let them go to work, and hopefully get to the foul line. Both bigs have gone to the line more than 200 times this year. They can’t do that against a zone, which sort of keeps me away from a game like this.
Howard/NC A&T and SC State/Bethune Cookman
Nothing appeals to me here. Both fast. Both zone coaches. One team attacks, the other doesn’t. Neither team shoots it all that well, and basing this on a guess, but it would appear that Howard is not using the Princeton offense or a variation of it any longer as fast as their playing, which very well could be the case with the coach in year #2 of his tenure. In the other game, SC State blows and this is a rematch of a first round game in last year’s tournament in which Cookman won by 16...
0
Hot Forum Topics
