Season Record: 8-5 +3.5 UNITS
Three plays today.
Boston College at UMass (-1.5) - 9:00am Pacific
Minutemen head into this game with a must-win mentality. Most preseason publications picked UMass to finish third in the A-10 east division this year. Just behind St Joseph's and ahead of St Bonnie. They opened the season in Maui losing by 13 to Indiana, and I thought they played well. They followed it up with another loss to Utah before salvaging a win over tournament host Chaminade. Not the end of the world right? However, they then returned to the mainland and pitifully lost 46-45 to Central Connecticut State. Now, this was a road game, and CCSU did make the NCAA tournament last year, but it was still a bad loss. UMass led by double digits most of the game and just collapsed late. Granted, UMass was not the only team to play poorly in their first game back from Hawaii, but fans and media are still in an uproar, calling the loss one of the worst in school history.
UMass is led by three returning starters: 6-11 senior center Micah Brand (8.5ppg, 5.2rpg), junior guard Anthony Anderson (8.5ppg, 4.0rpg, 4.2apg, 2.0spg), and junior forward Raheim Lamb (7.8ppg, 4.8rpg). The starting five is completed by senior forward Jackie Rogers (former Syracuse transfer, redshirted last year with injury, 12.5ppg, 5.5rpg) and junior guard Marcus Cox (UConn transfer, rated #4 biggest impact transfer by Dick Vitale, 7.0ppg, 3.5rpg). Touted freshman guard Michael Lasme (Preseason A-10 rookie team) is averaging 8.0ppg off the bench. Minutemen have 6 players averaging 7 points per game or better and 9 players averaging double digits in minutes. This is a deep team with competition at each position and clearly more talented from one to nine than last years version.
BC finished last season losing 11 of their final 19 games, and are a very shaky 2-2 to start this season. Their season started with a 27 point blowout loss at home to St Joseph's. They lost their only road game at Holy Cross by a point and needed OT to beat St Bonnie in their last game. They finished last season last in the Big East in rebounding and are dead even in rebounding margin through four games. They suffered a huge blow late in the game at Holy Cross losing their best inside player Uka Ugbai for perhaps the season with a neck injury. Ugbai, a senior, averaged 33 minutes per game, 14 points, 6 rebounds, and almost 2 blocked shots. He will be missed badly. The Eagles primary weakness already was depth. Trying to replace Agbai is 7-0 sophomore Nate Doornekamp (18.5 minutes per game, 0.5 points per game) who is not much of a scoring threat and does not have the mobility or stamina to keep up with BC's talented guards. He is also very foul prone. Head coach Al Skinner has nothing else in terms of size off the bench and the Eagles are now down to a 7 man rotation. They already start two freshman and guards Bell & Sidney each played the full 45 possible minutes in last overtime game.
Last year at BC, UMass came back from a huge deficit to lose by just 2 points. Depth will definitely be a factor in this game. UMass is a relatively young team relying on four key contributors who did not play last year. Therefore, I expect them to show great improvement in their first home game of the season. They could very easily look like a different team today. They have had 5 days off to digest one point loss at CCSU and will pull out all stops for a win over instate rival in front of national television audience. Minutemen get a big W.
UMass 1 UNIT
Georgia Tech (-9) at Marist - 11:30am Pacific - MSG
I am really high on this Yellow Jackets team. It all starts with head coach Paul Hewitt (ACC coach of the year last season) who has to be one of if not the hottest young coach in the country. This team has a ton of weapons and is very deep. They just will keep coming at you with a rotation of talented players off the bench. Georgia Tech won 7 of its last 10 games last year (all vs ACC teams) in which four freshman played prominent roles. They have added some great new talent and are picking up right where they left off last year.
Freshman F/C Chris Bosh leads the team in scoring (18.5ppg) and rebounding (12.0rpg). He has only played in four college games but held is own if not looked better than Minnesota star forward Rick Rickert (Sporting News preseason Big 10 player of the year) in last game. Sophomore forward Ed Nelson (ACC rookie of the year last season) is coming off a season high 17 point, 8 rebound effort vs the Gophers. 7-0 sophomore center Luke Schenscher (top prospect from Australia, 1.8 blocks per game in just 15.5 minutes) is a huge body who has to be dealt with. Sophomore B.J. Elder (16.0ppg) & junior Marvin Lewis (12.5ppg) are gifted athletic scorers on the wings. Freshman point guard Jarett Jack (10.0ppg, 7.0apg) is still learning but will be a good one. Sophomore forward Ismail Muhammad (9.0ppg, 6.2rpg) is another solid player. 6-9 junior forward Robert Brooks and sophomore G/F Anthony McHenry are the last of a superb 9 man rotation.
The only knock on this team is they are very young, but that also means they will get better with every game. They have showed a lot of character early in the season. They fell behind by as many as 14 in the first half to a good Georgia team in very first game and charged back in the second half to win by 6. They also fell behind 10-2 in their first road game at Minnesota last time out but recovered to lead at half-time. They continued to lead most of the 2nd half, by as many as 8 points, but faded down the stretch to lose by a point in an always tough venue. That first loss of the season should have them hungry to play well today.
Marist returns just one starter from last years 19-9 team. They must replace what head coach Magarity called "The best backcourt that I've ever coached." The team received bad news in late October when top recruit JC transfer guard Pierre Monagan suffered a gunshot wound to his face. He survived but will not see any action until at least January. Monagan was expected to be one of the top, if not the best player on the team this year. The team is down to 8 scholarship players available including one freshman. They are using primarily a seven man rotation with the tallest players at 6-8. Sources have told me this will end up being a .500 or so team this year in the MAAC (were 13-5 last year). There is just no way they can match Georgia Tech's size, depth, and talent. Marist is coming off an overtime conference road win at Rider on Thursday night. The lingering affects of that OT win may still be evident in this early afternoon game.
Tech head coach Hewitt last coached at Siena so he is very familiar with MAAC teams and Marist's style of play. He will have his team prepared. Hewitt played college ball in the New York area and his entire past coaching career, and that of his assistants, has been revolved around the New York area prior to coming to Atlanta. Hewitt also mentioned wanting to reestablish recruiting links in the New York area. He will definitely want his team to perform well today. This is the Yellow Jackets first game at Madison Square Garden (big difference from Marist's McCann Center) in four seasons meaning it will be the first visit for high majority of players. Tech will score a lot of points and win by double digits.
Georgia Tech 1 UNIT
Three plays today.
Boston College at UMass (-1.5) - 9:00am Pacific
Minutemen head into this game with a must-win mentality. Most preseason publications picked UMass to finish third in the A-10 east division this year. Just behind St Joseph's and ahead of St Bonnie. They opened the season in Maui losing by 13 to Indiana, and I thought they played well. They followed it up with another loss to Utah before salvaging a win over tournament host Chaminade. Not the end of the world right? However, they then returned to the mainland and pitifully lost 46-45 to Central Connecticut State. Now, this was a road game, and CCSU did make the NCAA tournament last year, but it was still a bad loss. UMass led by double digits most of the game and just collapsed late. Granted, UMass was not the only team to play poorly in their first game back from Hawaii, but fans and media are still in an uproar, calling the loss one of the worst in school history.
UMass is led by three returning starters: 6-11 senior center Micah Brand (8.5ppg, 5.2rpg), junior guard Anthony Anderson (8.5ppg, 4.0rpg, 4.2apg, 2.0spg), and junior forward Raheim Lamb (7.8ppg, 4.8rpg). The starting five is completed by senior forward Jackie Rogers (former Syracuse transfer, redshirted last year with injury, 12.5ppg, 5.5rpg) and junior guard Marcus Cox (UConn transfer, rated #4 biggest impact transfer by Dick Vitale, 7.0ppg, 3.5rpg). Touted freshman guard Michael Lasme (Preseason A-10 rookie team) is averaging 8.0ppg off the bench. Minutemen have 6 players averaging 7 points per game or better and 9 players averaging double digits in minutes. This is a deep team with competition at each position and clearly more talented from one to nine than last years version.
BC finished last season losing 11 of their final 19 games, and are a very shaky 2-2 to start this season. Their season started with a 27 point blowout loss at home to St Joseph's. They lost their only road game at Holy Cross by a point and needed OT to beat St Bonnie in their last game. They finished last season last in the Big East in rebounding and are dead even in rebounding margin through four games. They suffered a huge blow late in the game at Holy Cross losing their best inside player Uka Ugbai for perhaps the season with a neck injury. Ugbai, a senior, averaged 33 minutes per game, 14 points, 6 rebounds, and almost 2 blocked shots. He will be missed badly. The Eagles primary weakness already was depth. Trying to replace Agbai is 7-0 sophomore Nate Doornekamp (18.5 minutes per game, 0.5 points per game) who is not much of a scoring threat and does not have the mobility or stamina to keep up with BC's talented guards. He is also very foul prone. Head coach Al Skinner has nothing else in terms of size off the bench and the Eagles are now down to a 7 man rotation. They already start two freshman and guards Bell & Sidney each played the full 45 possible minutes in last overtime game.
Last year at BC, UMass came back from a huge deficit to lose by just 2 points. Depth will definitely be a factor in this game. UMass is a relatively young team relying on four key contributors who did not play last year. Therefore, I expect them to show great improvement in their first home game of the season. They could very easily look like a different team today. They have had 5 days off to digest one point loss at CCSU and will pull out all stops for a win over instate rival in front of national television audience. Minutemen get a big W.
UMass 1 UNIT
Georgia Tech (-9) at Marist - 11:30am Pacific - MSG
I am really high on this Yellow Jackets team. It all starts with head coach Paul Hewitt (ACC coach of the year last season) who has to be one of if not the hottest young coach in the country. This team has a ton of weapons and is very deep. They just will keep coming at you with a rotation of talented players off the bench. Georgia Tech won 7 of its last 10 games last year (all vs ACC teams) in which four freshman played prominent roles. They have added some great new talent and are picking up right where they left off last year.
Freshman F/C Chris Bosh leads the team in scoring (18.5ppg) and rebounding (12.0rpg). He has only played in four college games but held is own if not looked better than Minnesota star forward Rick Rickert (Sporting News preseason Big 10 player of the year) in last game. Sophomore forward Ed Nelson (ACC rookie of the year last season) is coming off a season high 17 point, 8 rebound effort vs the Gophers. 7-0 sophomore center Luke Schenscher (top prospect from Australia, 1.8 blocks per game in just 15.5 minutes) is a huge body who has to be dealt with. Sophomore B.J. Elder (16.0ppg) & junior Marvin Lewis (12.5ppg) are gifted athletic scorers on the wings. Freshman point guard Jarett Jack (10.0ppg, 7.0apg) is still learning but will be a good one. Sophomore forward Ismail Muhammad (9.0ppg, 6.2rpg) is another solid player. 6-9 junior forward Robert Brooks and sophomore G/F Anthony McHenry are the last of a superb 9 man rotation.
The only knock on this team is they are very young, but that also means they will get better with every game. They have showed a lot of character early in the season. They fell behind by as many as 14 in the first half to a good Georgia team in very first game and charged back in the second half to win by 6. They also fell behind 10-2 in their first road game at Minnesota last time out but recovered to lead at half-time. They continued to lead most of the 2nd half, by as many as 8 points, but faded down the stretch to lose by a point in an always tough venue. That first loss of the season should have them hungry to play well today.
Marist returns just one starter from last years 19-9 team. They must replace what head coach Magarity called "The best backcourt that I've ever coached." The team received bad news in late October when top recruit JC transfer guard Pierre Monagan suffered a gunshot wound to his face. He survived but will not see any action until at least January. Monagan was expected to be one of the top, if not the best player on the team this year. The team is down to 8 scholarship players available including one freshman. They are using primarily a seven man rotation with the tallest players at 6-8. Sources have told me this will end up being a .500 or so team this year in the MAAC (were 13-5 last year). There is just no way they can match Georgia Tech's size, depth, and talent. Marist is coming off an overtime conference road win at Rider on Thursday night. The lingering affects of that OT win may still be evident in this early afternoon game.
Tech head coach Hewitt last coached at Siena so he is very familiar with MAAC teams and Marist's style of play. He will have his team prepared. Hewitt played college ball in the New York area and his entire past coaching career, and that of his assistants, has been revolved around the New York area prior to coming to Atlanta. Hewitt also mentioned wanting to reestablish recruiting links in the New York area. He will definitely want his team to perform well today. This is the Yellow Jackets first game at Madison Square Garden (big difference from Marist's McCann Center) in four seasons meaning it will be the first visit for high majority of players. Tech will score a lot of points and win by double digits.
Georgia Tech 1 UNIT
