thurs discussion

[TheBeholdah]

found a pretty solid play

La Tech-11 vs. san jose st

San Jose St is a poor road team, and its not hard to see why. they're 290th in defensive efficiency. cant be a weak defensive team and expect to have success in tough road environments. theyve lost by 24 to no colorado, 19 to utah st, 10 to fresno, 29 to nevada. They beat la tech at home by 11 few weeks ago, setting up a nice revenge spot here, lou tech lost to new mex st at home by 14 the other day and are still laying double digits here for a reason. think la tech gets back on track and roll here. they're certainly capable of a home blowout, they demolished utah st earlier at home in a game they led by 30+ at one point

[tdawgmd]

Really thought hard about backing Duke 1st half for the bounce back effort coming off the embarassment at Gtown, but they were dominated in that game by what appeared to be superior athletes. I'm afraid that Tech has them outmanned as well, but expect them to figure out a way to win a close game at home. Any thoughts on this one?

[Daws1089]

Linesmakers just inviting more action on TENN now with the -6.5 I really thought that line should be -10. The low line has me leaning towards LSU regardless of how terrible they are.

[joepa66]

seriously, is there ANYTHING good associated with the city of Toledo anymore......kind of a sad state of affairs....i think i would be permanently depressed if i lived there.

Jamie Farr and Tony Packo's......:thumbs:

Hey they built a new elevated bridge a couple of years ago and it fell down......even the bridge didn't like being there! New one open and the best thing about it is that you get thru town alot quicker......

[Ol'Ball Coach66]

I was going to mention UCLA but Flyers Fan pretty much said it all. This is a solid play with UCLA playing their best basketball. I expect the same, with DD victory for Stanford with such a huge game on Saturday.

UCLA -4

[Ol'Ball Coach66]

Tennessee -7 is a solid play due to the fact that this is definietely the worst team in the conference in LSU. 7 points is alot of points to give up on the road in conference play normally but not in this situation. Keep in mind Tennessee was play with only 6 scholarship players for a while in the middle of the season. Things are back track getting back a couple of players.

Staying in the conference also like Florida to win this game in close one. So getting points is plus.

Florida +2.5 @ Alabama

[TheBeholdah]

damn it flyers, why u tempting me to make a pac 10 play?? does look solid

i dont think ive ever seen a total set this low, Samford-Citadel: o/u 107.5 , i bet that goes under

[FlyersFan]

Here are two stories on UT:

Rockets hurting with shortage of post players
By ZACH SILKA
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

BOWLING GREEN — Still short-handed down low, the three post players remaining on the University of Toledo’s roster were up against it again last night.

Facing bigger, stronger, and more seasoned forwards without junior Mouhamed Lo for the third straight game, the Rockets’ big men were dominated early and overmatched throughout in a 58-47 loss to Bowling Green at Anderson Arena.

In the absence of Lo, who has been indefinitely suspended for unspecified disciplinary reasons, junior Justin Anyijong, sophomore Ian Salter, and freshman Jordan Dressler have been left to carry the load. So far, Lo’s void has been considerable.

The Falcons (11-9, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) outscored UT 18-6 in the paint in the first half, led by eight points a piece from senior forwards Otis Polk and Erik Marschall.

Anyijong dropped in a season-high 18 points as the lone player in double figures for UT (3-19, 0-8), which has now lost 12 straight. But Anyijong did much of his damage from the outside, hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers, as the Rockets struggled to find any kind of interior presence. Dressler and Salter posted just two points apiece.

When exactly Lo will return for the Rockets is anybody’s guess.

“His status is still up in the air right now,” Cross said. “The terms of his reinstatement we won’t disclose, but I don’t know when that’s going to happen.”

Until then, the Rockets will have to make do with the lineup they have — a lineup that was already short one scholarship player after redshirt freshman Stephen Albrecht opted to transfer at the end of December.


Losses mount, crowds shrink for University of Toledo men's basketball team
Program sinks to depths unseen in school history
By ZACH SILKA
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

The road to rebuilding a program is never a smooth one and is often lined with potholes along the way. The University of Toledo men's basketball team has hit several of them in the last year and a half, including transfers, dismissals, suspensions, possible NCAA sanctions, slumping attendance, blowout losses, and lengthy losing streaks.

During his introduction as the Rockets' new coach on April 11, 2008, Gene Cross was, by his own admission, "really, really excited" about the challenges ahead. Now, nearly two years and 43 losses later, the excitement level has dwindled as the program has fallen on hard times and sunk to depths never before seen in school history.

With the program in turmoil, fans are not coming through the turnstiles as frequently. Average attendance so far this season is 4,048, down from 5,610 per game last season at the newly renovated Savage Arena.

The Rockets' 11-game losing streak is their longest ever, surpassing a nine-game skid during the 1930-31 season that was matched by last year's 7-25 squad. With a 3-18 record after Saturday's loss at Akron, UT is on pace to eclipse the school record for most defeats in a season, a mark set by last year's 7-25 team.

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE : Attendance at University of Toledo men’s basketball games has been up and down over the last five seasons. It rose last season after Savage Arena’s renovation but has plunged this season as the team struggles.

Transfers and turmoil
UT recently found out it would be docked one scholarship next season because of a low academic progress rate score, which the NCAA uses to track a team's academic performance and is due for released in May. The school is appealing the penalty.

Mr. Cross, 38, has seen six players leave UT, either voluntarily or by having been kicked off the team, since he was hired. A seventh, student assistant and Clay graduate Zac Taylor, saw his playing career halted by chronic knee and back injuries.

Only two players from Mr. Cross' first recruiting class remain on the roster - sophomores Ian Salter and Larry Bastfield - after redshirt freshman guard Stephen Albrecht, UT's second-leading scorer at the time, opted to seek a transfer at the end of December.

Last week, Mr. Cross indefinitely suspended junior forward Mouhamed Lo for unspecified disciplinary reasons.

Youth and inexperience
With eight freshmen, UT has one of the youngest college basketball teams in America. In terms of scholarship players, St. Francis (Pennsylvania) leads the nation with eight freshmen, and the Rockets are next with seven (the eighth UT freshman is a nonscholarship walk-on).

Through 21 games, Rockets newcomers have accounted for more than half of the team's playing time, a disadvantage when competing against veteran teams. That's made for some ugly moments, with sometimes four or five freshmen on the court at the same time trying to find their way.

A sense of despair
The Rockets have scored 50 points or fewer in seven contests this season, and they have been beaten by 30 or more on three occasions. "Losing like that is disheartening," Mr. Cross said. "When you're so young, you can be discouraged so easily." Without much positive reinforcement in games, Mr. Cross has had to adjust his temperament in practice to encourage his young players more. Yet the losing is taking its toll.

seriously, is there ANYTHING good associated with the city of Toledo anymore......kind of a sad state of affairs....i think i would be permanently depressed if i lived there.

[FlyersFan]

Have had some very good success lately betting UCLA. The oddsmaker hasn't caught up to the changes there and they still haven't based on tonight's line.

UCLA -4 is a steal IMO. STAN is awful on the road, it's a revenge game from earlier in the year and most important is the following....

UCLA recruited this kid Jerime Anderson to play point and he is terrible (he is a sophomore now). I saw him in HS and he basically came from an unstructured program and he has all kinds of problems playing PG in an offense. He turns it over constantly and quite frankly isn't even qualified to play in the MAAC or some ****ball league like that. So FINALLY about 4-5 games ago Howland said enough is enough and benched him. They inserted Honeycutt into the lineup and moved Lee to the PG. They have played great ball since and should have left Oregon with a sweep last weekend if not for blowing the ORE game in OT. They have 3 seniors in that lineup that are playing well and the young players like Reeves Nelson are getting better. This line does not reflect what UCLA has done in their most recent games. Not to mention they have CAL on deck on Saturday which is a revenge game for CAL. I would think that this game would be paramount for the Bruins in the conference race. I look for UCLA to win this game by DD. It is really amazing what a different team they are without that clown on the floor. They still turn it over too much but should be fine tonight IMO.

Probably my favorite play on the card today.

[joepa66]

After looking further into the toledo game, they truly are a mess. they have no quality depth whatsoever, and their starters are mainly freshman as well. they dont do anything well. its hard to envision them winning another game this year, just don't have the horses. if joe likes ohio today i'll probably lay the road chalk. toledo's only gotten out of the 40's once in last 6 games.

Watching the line on this one and haven't made a decision yet. OU definitely the better team, but in the last two games UT actually covered as DD road dogs at Akron and BG!

Here are two stories on UT:

Rockets hurting with shortage of post players
By ZACH SILKA
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

BOWLING GREEN — Still short-handed down low, the three post players remaining on the University of Toledo’s roster were up against it again last night.

Facing bigger, stronger, and more seasoned forwards without junior Mouhamed Lo for the third straight game, the Rockets’ big men were dominated early and overmatched throughout in a 58-47 loss to Bowling Green at Anderson Arena.

In the absence of Lo, who has been indefinitely suspended for unspecified disciplinary reasons, junior Justin Anyijong, sophomore Ian Salter, and freshman Jordan Dressler have been left to carry the load. So far, Lo’s void has been considerable.

The Falcons (11-9, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) outscored UT 18-6 in the paint in the first half, led by eight points a piece from senior forwards Otis Polk and Erik Marschall.

Anyijong dropped in a season-high 18 points as the lone player in double figures for UT (3-19, 0-8), which has now lost 12 straight. But Anyijong did much of his damage from the outside, hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers, as the Rockets struggled to find any kind of interior presence. Dressler and Salter posted just two points apiece.

When exactly Lo will return for the Rockets is anybody’s guess.

“His status is still up in the air right now,” Cross said. “The terms of his reinstatement we won’t disclose, but I don’t know when that’s going to happen.”

Until then, the Rockets will have to make do with the lineup they have — a lineup that was already short one scholarship player after redshirt freshman Stephen Albrecht opted to transfer at the end of December.


Losses mount, crowds shrink for University of Toledo men's basketball team
Program sinks to depths unseen in school history
By ZACH SILKA
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

The road to rebuilding a program is never a smooth one and is often lined with potholes along the way. The University of Toledo men's basketball team has hit several of them in the last year and a half, including transfers, dismissals, suspensions, possible NCAA sanctions, slumping attendance, blowout losses, and lengthy losing streaks.

During his introduction as the Rockets' new coach on April 11, 2008, Gene Cross was, by his own admission, "really, really excited" about the challenges ahead. Now, nearly two years and 43 losses later, the excitement level has dwindled as the program has fallen on hard times and sunk to depths never before seen in school history.

With the program in turmoil, fans are not coming through the turnstiles as frequently. Average attendance so far this season is 4,048, down from 5,610 per game last season at the newly renovated Savage Arena.

The Rockets' 11-game losing streak is their longest ever, surpassing a nine-game skid during the 1930-31 season that was matched by last year's 7-25 squad. With a 3-18 record after Saturday's loss at Akron, UT is on pace to eclipse the school record for most defeats in a season, a mark set by last year's 7-25 team.

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE : Attendance at University of Toledo men’s basketball games has been up and down over the last five seasons. It rose last season after Savage Arena’s renovation but has plunged this season as the team struggles.

Transfers and turmoil
UT recently found out it would be docked one scholarship next season because of a low academic progress rate score, which the NCAA uses to track a team's academic performance and is due for released in May. The school is appealing the penalty.

Mr. Cross, 38, has seen six players leave UT, either voluntarily or by having been kicked off the team, since he was hired. A seventh, student assistant and Clay graduate Zac Taylor, saw his playing career halted by chronic knee and back injuries.

Only two players from Mr. Cross' first recruiting class remain on the roster - sophomores Ian Salter and Larry Bastfield - after redshirt freshman guard Stephen Albrecht, UT's second-leading scorer at the time, opted to seek a transfer at the end of December.

Last week, Mr. Cross indefinitely suspended junior forward Mouhamed Lo for unspecified disciplinary reasons.

Youth and inexperience
With eight freshmen, UT has one of the youngest college basketball teams in America. In terms of scholarship players, St. Francis (Pennsylvania) leads the nation with eight freshmen, and the Rockets are next with seven (the eighth UT freshman is a nonscholarship walk-on).

Through 21 games, Rockets newcomers have accounted for more than half of the team's playing time, a disadvantage when competing against veteran teams. That's made for some ugly moments, with sometimes four or five freshmen on the court at the same time trying to find their way.

A sense of despair
The Rockets have scored 50 points or fewer in seven contests this season, and they have been beaten by 30 or more on three occasions. "Losing like that is disheartening," Mr. Cross said. "When you're so young, you can be discouraged so easily." Without much positive reinforcement in games, Mr. Cross has had to adjust his temperament in practice to encourage his young players more. Yet the losing is taking its toll.

[joepa66]

Don't know why that UB/CMU line has dropped to CMU -1.5 when you look at the intangibles:

All-Time Series -- CMU is 3-1 against UB under Ernie Zeigler, with all four games being decided by fewer than six points.

Swarming ‘D’ -- The Chippewas have allowed the fewest points in the MAC during league
games, giving up an average of 58.6 points and holding league opponents to 38.9 percent
from the field, the second-best mark in the MAC. • CMU held Ball State to just 38 points and 24 percent from the floor in on Jan 13 in a 53-38 victory at Rose Center. The 38 points
are the fewest CMU has allowed to a Division-I opponent since 1950 and third-fewest to any opponent in that stretch. • CMU is holdong opponents to just 26 percent from beyond the arc in MAC play, the second-best mark in the conference.

There’s No Place Like Home -- CMU owns a +13.7 scoring margin at Rose Center (71.4 ppg/57.7 points allowed) but finds itself -6.8 on the road (58.2 ppg/66.2 points allowed). The Chippewas have shot 46 percent at Rose Center this season, 38 percent everywhere else. There’s also a 65-point difference beyond the arc (.403-.338) for CMU.

[TheBeholdah]

portland is certainly rolling right now and catching a lot of points tonight

[TheBeholdah]

i was pretty impressed watchiing portland the other day at usf, this was posted on portland's board

Now, let me preface this by saying that I realize Gonzaga beat us at home and that these types of comparisons really don't mean anything. However, I do think it's fair to say that without a doubt Portland has been playing much better basketball the past two weeks than Gonzaga. And we've been doing it without our leading scorer. I know the Zags like to complain about how the teams they face are totally jacked up to play Gonzaga, but that line of reasoning only goes so far with me... every team wants to win every game, no matter who they are playing. Yes, maybe it's more exciting to play a ranked team, but it's not like they don't care about playing us or haven't scouted and prepared for us.

OK... now the numbers.

LMU
Portland 79-39 (+40)
Gonzaga 85-69 (+16)
Advantage: Portland +24

Pepperdine
Portland 80-64 (+16)
Gonzaga 91-84 (+7)
Advantage: Portland +9

Santa Clara
Portland 74-52 (+18)
Gonzaga 71-64 (+7)
Advantage: Portland +11

San Francisco
Portland 74-58 (+16)
Gonzaga 77-81 (-4)
Advantage: Portland +20

Combined, Portland has outscored its past four opponents by 64 more points than Gonzaga. Even taking out the LMU blowout, we've outscored the other three opponents by 40.

Especially notable is how good our defense has been... we allowed those four teams to score 85 less points than Gonzaga did.

Now, do I think that this means the game up in Spokane will be a cakewalk? Of course not. But I do think we've been playing some damn good basketball the past two weeks... better basketball than the Zags, if you ask me.

Thursday night will be a dog fight, but it's also an amazing opportunity. Here's hoping we keep this streak of hot play alive and go up there and just play our game. Good things might happen!

[TheBeholdah]

yea i dont think im going to take tennessee unless the line drops and its too tempting to lay off

franchise- i cant sway you on that game because... i have no freakin idea what the hell's goin on in that conference haha. i decided to completely cut the pac 10 out of my capping a few weeks ago. that is strange and ****ty conference.


After looking further into the toledo game, they truly are a mess. they have no quality depth whatsoever, and their starters are mainly freshman as well. they dont do anything well. its hard to envision them winning another game this year, just dont have the horses. if joe likes ohio today i'll probably lay the road chalk. toledo's only gotten out of the 40's once in last 6 games.

[Franchise]

I am also looking at the UW/Zona game. I like the number and how it's moved since the open and UW is blowing people away at home. But at the same time I watched the WSU game last Saturday and they got handled in the first half by a mediocre WSU team. When WSU laid down in the second half UW just destroyed them. Arizona has shown their defense can travel a little by winning 3 of 5 pac 10 road games. Are they just getting comfortable with Sean Miller as they have found a rotation and integrated Parrom into their team? The line movement tells me UW, the appearance of a commitment on the defensive end in Miller's first year tells me the Cats might keep it close. I can be swayed on this one.

As for UT and LSU that just looks like a trap but I don't think I could even look at LSU unless the number was double figures. But if UT comes to play they should wreck havoc on a miserable LSU team. Boy they have fallen fast since their NCAA run.