Thursday

[Franchise]

A couple for me today and tomorrow since I'll be out of town.

UConn/SD St Under 129 2 Units

I give a slight edge to SD St in this matchup with a veteran team playing close to home although Kemba is an x factor. I hate him but he is a fine player. I think UConn struggles to get offense from the rest of their team and it's ugly, something like 62-55.

Wisconsin -4' 2 Units

Wisky is IMO very underrated with their offensive efficiency. Both teams seem to "get lucky" and get by a lot of games but their styles will generate that type of game. I think this will be the game Howard gets in foul trouble since he will be forced to step away from the basket quite a bit.

Duke -9 2 Units

Zona isn't that good, but someone had to win between them and the coaching savant, Rick Barnes. Duke might have gotten a good draw but, newsflash, they are pretty good.

UNC -4' 2 Units

Marquette has played two good games while their opponents played poorly. I think one of those trends breaks here and if it does I think UNC wins by DD.

Kansas -10' 3 Units

I made some points in Beholdah's thread but basically I expect the Morris twins to hammer them on the boards and blow it open early. Kind of like the Vandy/Richmond game only Kansas doesn't piss down their leg like Vandy.

FSU -3' 3 Units

VCU, nice run, but with FSU getting Singleton back for some more action I think he is too much for them to handle. FSU plays phenomenal D and has the size to really frustrate VCU inside.

[NoOfense]

GL Franshise! Bring home the bacon...question...are you buying a half a point on any of these games because the UNC, WISCO, and FSU are all 4.5, 4.5 and 3.5 now for me at my book...did you lock them in early?

[Stifler's Mom]

The ' behind the number means the same as .5. So wisky and unc are -4.5, fsu is -3.5 and Kansas is -10.5

[NoOfense]

Oh you dirty dog you....thanks buddy

[TheBeholdah]

A couple for me today and tomorrow since I'll be out of town.

UConn/SD St Under 129 2 Units

I give a slight edge to SD St in this matchup with a veteran team playing close to home although Kemba is an x factor. I hate him but he is a fine player. I think UConn struggles to get offense from the rest of their team and it's ugly, something like 62-55.

Wisconsin -4' 2 Units

Wisky is IMO very underrated with their offensive efficiency. Both teams seem to "get lucky" and get by a lot of games but their styles will generate that type of game. I think this will be the game Howard gets in foul trouble since he will be forced to step away from the basket quite a bit.

Duke -9 2 Units

Zona isn't that good, but someone had to win between them and the coaching savant, Rick Barnes. Duke might have gotten a good draw but, newsflash, they are pretty good.

UNC -4' 2 Units

Marquette has played two good games while their opponents played poorly. I think one of those trends breaks here and if it does I think UNC wins by DD.

Kansas -10' 3 Units

I made some points in Beholdah's thread but basically I expect the Morris twins to hammer them on the boards and blow it open early. Kind of like the Vandy/Richmond game only Kansas doesn't piss down their leg like Vandy.

FSU -3' 3 Units

VCU, nice run, but with FSU getting Singleton back for some more action I think he is too much for them to handle. FSU plays phenomenal D and has the size to really frustrate VCU inside.

great line as that is essentially what vandy did and will likely continue to do

[Nigel Tufnel]

GL, Franchise. And WTF is going on at UD? I am no fan of the Flyers, but ****, even I'm starting to feel a little bad for them. Staten and Spearman transferring? I've heard there are rumblings about possibly more....

If Gregory gets offered a job elsewhere, it might just be the perfect opportunity to amicably end that relationship. All is not well in Flyerland.

Wow....

[TheBeholdah]

fran, i appreciate ur thoughts on kansas in my thread and i definately see ur points, i originally wanted no part of that game but have been trying to talk myself into playing rich, which is never good. even tho ur play is locked in i want to further the KU discussion if u dont mind..

my thing is, kansas looks amazing at times, is stacked, and had a phenominal year... 34-2 is 34-2 , and they blew the doors off many a team but... what is up with some performances like the 1 point win over crappy okie st? or the midyear near home losses to ucla and usc? it took them awhile to pull away from illinois, i think we can both agree richmond is better than the illini..

heres the results of games not played in their own stadium, where they are essentially unbeatable (the home loss to texas was mainly a result of the terrible tragedy that oneo f their players had to endure and i heard most of his teammates didnt get much sleep that night)

Nov 26 vsOHIO* W98-41
Nov 27 vsARIZ* W87-79
Dec 7 vs#14 MEM* W81-68
Dec 22 @CAL W78-63
Jan 9 @MICH W67-60 OT
Jan 12 @ISU W84-79
Jan 17 @BAY W85-65
Jan 25 @COLO W82-78
Feb 1 @TTU W88-66
Feb 5 @NEB W86-66
Feb 14 @KSU L84-68
Feb 26 @OKLA W82-70
Mar 5 @#24 MIZZ W70-66
Mar 10 vsOKST* W63-62
Mar 11 vsCOLO* W90-83
Mar 12 vs#10 TEX* W85-73
Mar 18 vsBU* W72-53
Mar 20 vsILL* W73-59

looking at the teams theyve blown out, Richmond is better than all of them, especially in a tourney setting. teams like mich, colo, isu, mizzou, all gave them a game facing the same kind of frontcourt matchup issues that richmond will be facing. I just feel like kansas beats the crap out of bad teams away from home but has found themselves in dogfites quite often.

[Stifler's Mom]

I wouldn't underestimate the Kansas victory over the Illini, or anything else to do with any other B10 team for that matter. Other than the ass whooping Purdue took at the hands of this very VCU team, the B10 has shown quite well this post season, in the big dance and otherwise. Most B10 teams have done at the very least as well as, and most of them much better than I think most have anticipated, i think....

[TheBeholdah]

richmond is a better team than illinois tho is my main point tho, i also think richmond's offense is tougher to prepare for

KA>>Mccamey
Harper>M Davis
Little girl in the crowd>Tisdale
Mooney>Weber

[TheBeholdah]

the big 10 was topheavy with osu, wiscy and the emergance of michigan. purdue ended year despicably bad then got merked in the dance

[TheBeholdah]

dispicably bad was way too harsh on purdue, they just ended real poorly

[brock]

Good luck tonight. I'm on a lot of the same.

[Franchise]

Behodah...I'll have a few more points in a minute after I do something but I'll start with this. I don't think Kansas loses, they have lost 2 games, one after thomas robinson's mom died where I believe they led at the half before running out of gas against a Texas team that looked unbeatable at that time and a loss at K St where KSU went nuts and played their best game of the season. Other than that they have 21 wins against Top 100 RPI teams with 11 of them coming on the road. Richmond has 7 entering the tourney with 3 coming in the A 10 tourney. They are on a roll but the performances on the court are significantly different. One thing to separate the results you pointed out about Kansas would be to look at teams that play similar styles or have similar players to Richmond. And while Richmond may or may not be better than the teams you listed, I will say Richmond hasn't played anyone with near the physical presence in the paint to Kansas. Jajuan Johnson and Andrew Nicholson and Xavier's front line are the only players they have faced comparable to Kansas's physical size. And Xavier outrebounded them 41-25 and kenny Frease scored 19 points on 8-10 shooting. I expect more of the same tomorrow.

[Franchise]

Playing against teams that don't up the tempo Kansas did fine against Texas AM, Nebraska and Baylor who all have better inside strength while playing close with UCLA, USC, Illinois and Michigan who are also mostly bigger than Richmond.

I like Richmond as a team I just think this is a horrific matchup. If Richmond shoots 40%+ from 3 and holds their own on the boards I could see them hanging around. But Richmond's achiles heel in the A10 is rebounding and even if they send 5 guys to the defensive glass they probably still can't keep Kansas off the boards. And sending 5 guys will result in facing Kansas in a set defense on any trip. And considering Kansas is more efficient on offense and defense I don't like their chances of success in that scenario. I just think the way more likely situation is Kansas abuses them inside and takes control of the game early, while suffucating Richmond's offense with their size and athleticism that is unlike anyone Richmond has played.

[Franchise]

thanks Stiff for that explanation...Obviously that is correct. As for the Flyers I don't know what's going on there but it all seems to start with a big recruit who seems to have an ego to match and a coach who doesn't want to change even when the results indicate some change might be a good thing. He'll still be able to put together a good defensive team that can't shoot next year and unfortunately after some early promising results the outlier's seem to be the NCAA years not the 8-8 conference season and NIT years. It's pretty disappointing since the team appeared to be at the point where Staten could help them take the next step to Gonzaga, Xavier and Memphis level. Now that doesn't seem to be the case.