JoePa's 12/23 College Hoops

[joepa66]

JOEPA'S UPDATED YTD: 112 - 99 - 4
UNITS: -1.25
12/22: 4 - 8
MAC: 27 - 17 - 1


Disastrous day yesterday......Hopefully much better today!

Early games:

KENTUCKY -21 vs. Long Beach State L
HAHVUD +13.5 vs. Georgetown L...by 2.5 pts

Still in a funk today.......can't trust these "kids" and the finals week/holiday let downs!

Added games:

WYOMING +16 @ Northern Iowa L by 2pts.
RIDER +14 @ Siena L
MOREHEAD STATE -3.5 vs. Cal State Fullerton W
NORTH CAROLINA CHARLOTTE +7.5 @ Old Dominion L
HOUSTON -10.5 vs. Texas Christian W
FRESHSNOW STATE +5.5 @ Oregon State L
OLE MISS +11.5 @ West Virginia W

Added late games: (should be content to just take my losses but......)

BRIGHAM YOUNG -6.5 vs. Nebraska W
ARIZONA -5 vs. North Carolina State L
UNLV -6 @ Hawai'i W




OVEN MITT YTD: 15 - 10 - 1
12/22: 0 - 1

"DEFINITELY"
UTAH -5.5 @ Pepperdine L



......and to all a good night!

[USFMD82]

We'll bounce back today.. I always hate being hit by the hook!! out of all the points in that game they couldn't score one more! Thankfully Kansas came back, I was on needles the whole time for that one!

[fitter]

Get em back tonite JoePa....make some cash!!!

[joepa66]

My adds are at the top of this thread per usual along with The Mitt's pick!

[joepa66]

JOEPA'S UPDATED YTD: 117 - 106 - 4
UNITS: -3.50
12/23: 5 - 7
MAC: 27 - 17 - 1

Struggling the last two days.....9-15 over Tues. and Weds.......
Good time for a Christmas Eve break!



OVEN MITT YTD: 15 - 11 - 1
12/23: 0 - 1

[TheBeholdah]

very similar results for me the last 2 days, great time for the break.

wen u get a chance let me know your current thoughts on kent state and how u feel about them going into the cable car classic, i know u follow them close. interesting matchup tuesday against wofford. wofford's been great ats this year with a tough schedule and i think theyll have a strong showing in this little tourny.

[joepa66]

Beholdah,

Kent is 7-4 on the season with losses to some very good teams on the road at Pitt, So Florida and Xavier. The other loss came in blowing a 15 point second half lead at home in OT to UWGB! Might I also add that they do have very nice wins over Morehead State on the road and against UAB at Kent....it's UAB's only loss of the season and the Blazers have beaten Cincinnati, Butler, Georgia and UWGB!

The Golden Flashes have won two in a row and have done it as they have all season long with defense. In their recent wins over Robert Morris (away) and Texas A&M CC, the defense was awesome. Against the Colonials, KSU forced 19 turnovers and held Robert Morris to 57 points in a 14 point win....while at one time in the second half against the Islanders, the Golden Flashes led by 23 points squandering it away but still winning by 10 points and forcing 22 turnovers. Even in a 12 point loss at Pitt Kent forced 19 Panther turnovers while only making 12 miscues themselves (and only 7 TAMCC and 11 vs. RM), but suffered from a horrible shooting night especially from behind the 3 point line as they have all season.

KSU was just 3/19 at Pitt from long range, 6/20 at Robert M, and 8/23 against TAMCC. For the season Kent is just 29% from distance but still managed 40% shooting overall for the season. Kent averages 68.5ppg while holding opponents to 67ppg, and the Flashes have 129 TOs on the year (11 per game) compared to their opponents 190 TOs (17 per game). Another important defensive stat is Kent averages 8.8 steals per game.

Now to the intangibles......the inside play at Kent has been wonderful at times although very inconsistent. Justin Green is the leading scorer at 13ppg, but averages just 5 rebs which is the same as Rod Sherman the Flashes point guard! The other big-man for Kent is Anthony Simpson who leads the team in rebounding with 6 per game but only 7ppg. He is more of a step away from the hoop kind of guy instead of a power guy inside. And 6'10" senior Brandon Parks has been a disappointment averaging just 3.5ppg and 3.5 rebounds.

The key to the Flashes has been the solid play of wingman turned point guard Rodriguez Sherman who averages 12ppg, 5 rebs, 6 assists and 2 steals. He likes to get to the basket and is not really a threat from the outside especially from distance. Tyree Evans was expected to be the Flashes long range bomber and although he is 3rd on the team in scoring at 11ppg, he only averages making 1 in every 6 3-ball attempts.

Knee injuries and subsequent surgeries one week apart to senior All-MAC power forward/wingman Chris Singletary and freshman point guard Randal Holt made the Flashes shorthanded vs. South Florida, Xavier, Pitt, Morehead State, Robert Morris and TAMCC. Singletary did play sparingly vs. X but saw considerable action against Pitt where he scored 13 pts. to go along with 5 rebs and 3 steals, against TAMCC he head 14pts., 7 rebs, and 6 steals, and against RMorris he had 6 pts., 8 rebs, and 2 steals, so it looks as if he's back in the lineup. Holt has been inserted in the lineup in the last two games but for a total of 12 mins scoring just 3 points as Geno Ford tries get him some valuable minutes coming off his injury. Without Holt the Flashes suffer from not having a deep threat and another quality ball handler.....he was a first team all-Ohio guard in Division I in high school.

This is an important test for the Flashes before they open up league play. Wofford has been playing great this season. The amazing thing that stands out to me is the perception that their strength of schedule has been so great when they actually rank 112th and are 0-2 vs. Top 50 teams while Kent ranks 99th in SOS and is 1-1 against Top 50 teams (1-0 vs. Top 25). Still I believe that the Terriers are the better team at this point in time but with Kent much improved since Singletary has returned. They are still trying to find chemistry with the roster featuring 6 new faces this year, and Coach Ford has done a lot of experimenting.

Still, I think that Wofford is expected to be the clear cut favorite and will present a tough test for Kent because of their style of basketball and their schedule. Samford comes to mind when I think of Wofford stye of play. Samford was Kent's opener which they won 69-66, but the Bulldogs shot an amazing 53% from the field for the game and Kent 41%....just happened that Kent shot more FGs, had 10 steals to Samfords 2, Kent made just 6 TOs to Samfords 14 which led to KSU baskets.

Let me know if that's not enough.......and Merry Christmas!