daviddaman24

Memphis +6.5 (1.1 to win 1) - I'll start by saying Oklahoma State has an absolute ton of talent. Marcus Smart is the best PG in the nation and a future high lottery pick, Nash, Brown, Williams, and Coggins are very solid players, and Phil Forte is one the most deadly 3 point assassins in the country. Believe me, I'm well aware of all of it and I don't take the Cowboys lightly. That said, getting 6.5 points with a team as good as Memphis is too much for me to pass up. There won't be many nights where Oklahoma State takes the court and faces athletes that can actually hang with them. This, however will be one of those rare occasions. With Joe Jackson, Michael Dixon, Geron Johnson, and Chris Crawford Memphis has 4 tremendously athletic guards that can all flat out fill it up. As you'd expect from a team whose 4 best players are all 6'4'' or smaller they like to run. Oklahoma State can run as well, but typically don't play quite as fast as the Tigers do. Neither team has too much in the way of scoring down low, so this game is going to be decided on the perimeter. Smart, Nash, Brown, and Forte will have their way on the perimeter most nights, but the 4 Tigers I mentioned earlier will really battle with them all night. This should be a very well played, and highly entertaining game. I'll take my 6.5 points and expect it to come down to the wire. 

Kansas -17 (1.1 to win 1) - In one of my write ups early in the season I took Iona and mentioned how there would be plenty of chances to fade this team down the road. Well here we have one of them. Iona is a run and gun, up and down team with some nice talent and the ability to light up the scoreboard on any given night. The problem is they really aren't too interested in any kind of defense. Sure the defensive numbers are ok through 2 games, but don't let that fool you. This is a team that last year was 263rd in the nation in defensive efficiency. Sure they have may be improved on that end a little, but not enough to help them in this one. Iona is what they are, and I can't see them changing that against Kansas even if the result is likely to be them getting run out of the building. Playing in the MAAC Iona is the more talented and athletic team just about every time they step on the court, here that obviously isn't the case. An inferior team is going to come into Allen Fieldhouse and get into a track meet with this Kansas team? God help them. With Perry Ellis and all world future #1 pick Andrew Wiggins leading the way Kansas should go nuts tonight. Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see them crack 100. They are going to destroy Iona at their own game, and it should get pretty ugly. 

Bucknell +7.5 (1.1 to win 1) - If you've been following college hoops closely the last few years you know Bucknell is no joke. This is a team that's won 78 games over the last 3 years and should win another 25 or so again this season. The Bison are a slow it down, grind it out, try to frustrate and out execute you kind of team. This slow it down grind it out pace is just like what St. Johns saw and struggled with against Wisconsin in their season opener. You may recall I had Wisconsin in that game and they covered wire to wire. In that write up I addressed how I thought Wisconsin would be too well coached, too disciplined, and too fundamentally sound for the Johnnies to deal with. Well, the same albeit to a lesser extend holds true here. Bucknell doesn't have the talent that Wisconsin does, but the discipline, and attention to detail are plenty similar enough. The Bison will drain the shot clock just about every time and usually find a good, open look with 10 or less on the clock. When those shots open up you better hope it isn't for Cameron Ayers or Ben Brackney who are a combined 19 for 34 from 3 point land in the early going this year. Led by those 2 the Bison shoot it at 45% as a team from 3. St. Johns has a clear talent edge here, but to be fair they had an edge in raw talent against Wisconsin too and lost. This is the kind of game that the Johnnies really aren't built for. They want to play fast, use that athleticism, run the floor, create easy baskets, etc. Bucknell simply just won't allow them. I expect them to dictate the pace as they always do and force St. Johns to play their style. If the Johnnies can play a slow it down, grind it out game and cover this number against a team as solid as Bucknell, so be it. I don't think they can.