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Brandon Lang
Thursday's Selections ...
10 DIME - THE CITADEL BULLDOGS - I remember watching this team do battle on the road at Michigan State and saying to myself what a good little squad Ed Conroy has with the Bulldogs.
His two guards Zach Urbanus and Cameron Wells gave the Spartans fits, and I was even more impressed with their ability to shoot the trey.
They come in here off a home loss to the leader of the South division of their conference Charleston 61-55 which was a game preceded by a win on the road against the leader of the North Division, Appalachian State 62-58.
Now they face Chattanooga who is red-hot, riding a 5 game winning streak, and 7 of their last 10 but let's examine this little winning streak by the Mocs.
Of their seven wins only one has come against a winning team, Eastern Kentucky at 10-6.
Their other 6 wins have come against 3-13 Greensboro, 4-13 Georgia Southern, 6-9 Long Island University-Brooklyn, 9-14 Tennessee Temple Christian, 2-14 Missouri Valley State and 6-9 Jackson State.
So as you can see, not exactly the elite of the elite, and now they step back up in class to face a very good Citadel team that has shown great ability to compete against the big boys.
Quite frankly the wrong team is favored and look for Citadel to get back on the winning track.
10 DIME - OREGON DUCKS -Love the ducks here.
They catch an Arizona State team that is playing only their 4th true road game of the entire year and considering they are 0-3 SU and ATS in the other 3, I have all the confidence in the world it will go to 0-4 tonight.
Forget their 2 neutral site games early this year losing to Duke by 11 as a 10 point pup or the 19 point win over LSU as a 4 point chalk, I want to talk about the losses to BYU, UCLA and USC.
At BYU they were catching 8 and lost by 11, at UCLA they were catching 1 1/2 and lost by 2 and at USC they were catching 2 1/2 and lost by 10. The bottom line is they have trouble executing down the stretch in close games and with this line a pick'em, Vegas is essentially telling you this is going to be a close game.
Oregon on the other hand has turned the corner.
Yes, they come off a 7 point loss at home to Oregon State as an 8 point chalk, but I want to focus on the 2 games prior to that at Washington and Washington State.
Against a 12-4 Washington State they rolled in their and beat them outright by 11 as an 11 point road underdog, and at Washington they won in OT by 2 as a 6 point dog.
I can see where they came back home in a bit of a letdown spot and Oregon State just got them at the perfect time but tonight they will come back refocused and reenergized for the big home win over a struggling road team.
Ernie Kent has his Ducks sitting near the top of the Pac-10 conference with Cal, Washington State, Stanford, Arizona State and USC, and he would like nothing better to get to 3-1 in conference play and I believe he gets it.
Great line value with the Ducks off their loss to Oregon State but as I said, huge flat spot for them off the back to back road wins against Washington and Washington State.
Grab Oregon at home.
10 DIMER - ST.MARYS GAELS - Love the Gaels tonight at any number.
This is the game they have been waiting for. The game they want. The game they need.
Call it a changing of the guard in the West Coast Conference tonight, because this is the game St. Mary's has been waiting all year for.
They have won and covered every single home game this year with exception of their 4 point home loss to a damn good Vandy team out of the SEC.
In fact, they have won their other 8 home games by margins of 32, 22, 25, 41, 21, 15, 28 and 38. Nobody with exception of Vandy has been able to stay within single digits of this team at home.
Now both teams took big hits from their squads last year with both returning just 1 starter and as you can see, the Zags at 12-3 and the Gaels at 15-2 haven't missed a beat.
However, I just feel St. Mary's is the better team all around and the key was the minutes back up point guard Micky McConnell got when Patty Mills broke his wrist last year.
They have a great inside out game with McConnell and 6'11" center Omar Samhan, who is the only returning starter from last year.
Both teams are well balanced as both teams have 4 starters averaging double figures but St. Mary's almost has 5 with their 5th starter getting you 9.9 points a game.
The Gaels have been paying out like a slot machine going 12-3 ATS for the year and this is without question their biggest game of the year and the McKeon Pavillion will be rocking tonight.
Laying this small number with St. Mary's tonight as the power shifts in the West Coast Conference tonight.
FREE SELECTION - WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS
Thursday's Selections ...
10 DIME - THE CITADEL BULLDOGS - I remember watching this team do battle on the road at Michigan State and saying to myself what a good little squad Ed Conroy has with the Bulldogs.
His two guards Zach Urbanus and Cameron Wells gave the Spartans fits, and I was even more impressed with their ability to shoot the trey.
They come in here off a home loss to the leader of the South division of their conference Charleston 61-55 which was a game preceded by a win on the road against the leader of the North Division, Appalachian State 62-58.
Now they face Chattanooga who is red-hot, riding a 5 game winning streak, and 7 of their last 10 but let's examine this little winning streak by the Mocs.
Of their seven wins only one has come against a winning team, Eastern Kentucky at 10-6.
Their other 6 wins have come against 3-13 Greensboro, 4-13 Georgia Southern, 6-9 Long Island University-Brooklyn, 9-14 Tennessee Temple Christian, 2-14 Missouri Valley State and 6-9 Jackson State.
So as you can see, not exactly the elite of the elite, and now they step back up in class to face a very good Citadel team that has shown great ability to compete against the big boys.
Quite frankly the wrong team is favored and look for Citadel to get back on the winning track.
10 DIME - OREGON DUCKS -Love the ducks here.
They catch an Arizona State team that is playing only their 4th true road game of the entire year and considering they are 0-3 SU and ATS in the other 3, I have all the confidence in the world it will go to 0-4 tonight.
Forget their 2 neutral site games early this year losing to Duke by 11 as a 10 point pup or the 19 point win over LSU as a 4 point chalk, I want to talk about the losses to BYU, UCLA and USC.
At BYU they were catching 8 and lost by 11, at UCLA they were catching 1 1/2 and lost by 2 and at USC they were catching 2 1/2 and lost by 10. The bottom line is they have trouble executing down the stretch in close games and with this line a pick'em, Vegas is essentially telling you this is going to be a close game.
Oregon on the other hand has turned the corner.
Yes, they come off a 7 point loss at home to Oregon State as an 8 point chalk, but I want to focus on the 2 games prior to that at Washington and Washington State.
Against a 12-4 Washington State they rolled in their and beat them outright by 11 as an 11 point road underdog, and at Washington they won in OT by 2 as a 6 point dog.
I can see where they came back home in a bit of a letdown spot and Oregon State just got them at the perfect time but tonight they will come back refocused and reenergized for the big home win over a struggling road team.
Ernie Kent has his Ducks sitting near the top of the Pac-10 conference with Cal, Washington State, Stanford, Arizona State and USC, and he would like nothing better to get to 3-1 in conference play and I believe he gets it.
Great line value with the Ducks off their loss to Oregon State but as I said, huge flat spot for them off the back to back road wins against Washington and Washington State.
Grab Oregon at home.
10 DIMER - ST.MARYS GAELS - Love the Gaels tonight at any number.
This is the game they have been waiting for. The game they want. The game they need.
Call it a changing of the guard in the West Coast Conference tonight, because this is the game St. Mary's has been waiting all year for.
They have won and covered every single home game this year with exception of their 4 point home loss to a damn good Vandy team out of the SEC.
In fact, they have won their other 8 home games by margins of 32, 22, 25, 41, 21, 15, 28 and 38. Nobody with exception of Vandy has been able to stay within single digits of this team at home.
Now both teams took big hits from their squads last year with both returning just 1 starter and as you can see, the Zags at 12-3 and the Gaels at 15-2 haven't missed a beat.
However, I just feel St. Mary's is the better team all around and the key was the minutes back up point guard Micky McConnell got when Patty Mills broke his wrist last year.
They have a great inside out game with McConnell and 6'11" center Omar Samhan, who is the only returning starter from last year.
Both teams are well balanced as both teams have 4 starters averaging double figures but St. Mary's almost has 5 with their 5th starter getting you 9.9 points a game.
The Gaels have been paying out like a slot machine going 12-3 ATS for the year and this is without question their biggest game of the year and the McKeon Pavillion will be rocking tonight.
Laying this small number with St. Mary's tonight as the power shifts in the West Coast Conference tonight.
FREE SELECTION - WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS
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