RAS - NCAA Hoops - 11/21/04
-- NEXT UPDATE before 5:00am Pacific on MONDAY, November 22.
RAS Official Plays 2-1, +0.90 UNITS (Recommended as 1 or 2 UNIT plays)
*One play Sunday:
Western Carolina at South Carolina (-21, play to -22.5) - #743-744 - 11:00am Pacific
The Gamecocks are coming off their best season ever in the Dave Odom era surprising most preseason prognosticators by reaching the NCAA tournament. They return the core of that team and have added some notable newcomers for what should be another solid year. They got a head start on most Division 1 teams by playing three exhibition games in Canada in mid October which is definitely an advantage. Their top two scorers from last year, forward Carlos Powell, and guard Josh Gonner both return and both are seniors. Powell was named preseason all-SEC second team. Joining those two in the starting lineup will be junior forward Terrance Kinsey (8.3ppg last year), a rapidly developing versatile athletic player, and sophomores 6-9 Brandon Wallace at center, and 6 foot Tre Kelley at guard. Kelley and Wallace both played valuable minutes as freshman last year. Off the bench Odom has another sophomore, forward Renaldo Balkman (6.9ppg, 4.6rpg last year) who was named to the all-SEC freshman team. Odom is high on him and says he is surprised the media does not pay more attention to him. The Gamecocks have also added two JC transfers, 6-4 guard Roderick Trice a JC all-American and F/C Antione Frisby who will help with bulk on the inside. Frisby was suspended for the final exhibition game but will be available today. Odom is very high on Trice and he could start at some point this year.
Western Carolina is picked to finish last in the Southern Conference. The Catamounts went 6-10 in the league last year but their superstar Kevin Martin (two time league scoring leader) left early for the NBA draft and was actually selected in the first round by Sacramento. They ended with a 236 RPI ranking last year. This year they are already 0-4. They played in the BCA classic hosted by Marquette and were progressively worse in each outing losing by 11, 15, and 16 to Marquette, Penn State, and Jacksonville State respectively. After playing three games in three days in Milwaukee, they had two days off before playing at Alabama on Friday where they were down 21 at halftime, by as many as 39 in the second half, and lost by a final margin of 31. They had one day off to travel to South Carolina and now will play their 5th straight road game in 8 days with an early afternoon start time no less.
South Carolina only had one exhibition game but also had a closed door scrimmage with an opponent I cannot recall, but I do remember reading that the opposing coach was very impressed with the team and said that South Carolina is much better than they were last year. The Gamecocks definitely have enough depth and talent to win big here. Playing an opponent who has been on the road and has played a lot of games in short time period is a definite plus. South Carolina last year had five early season home wins by 29 or more vs lesser opposition. Expect a similar result today.
South Carolina -21 1 UNIT
Good luck!
Cordially,
Edward
-- NEXT UPDATE before 5:00am Pacific on MONDAY, November 22.
RAS Official Plays 2-1, +0.90 UNITS (Recommended as 1 or 2 UNIT plays)
*One play Sunday:
Western Carolina at South Carolina (-21, play to -22.5) - #743-744 - 11:00am Pacific
The Gamecocks are coming off their best season ever in the Dave Odom era surprising most preseason prognosticators by reaching the NCAA tournament. They return the core of that team and have added some notable newcomers for what should be another solid year. They got a head start on most Division 1 teams by playing three exhibition games in Canada in mid October which is definitely an advantage. Their top two scorers from last year, forward Carlos Powell, and guard Josh Gonner both return and both are seniors. Powell was named preseason all-SEC second team. Joining those two in the starting lineup will be junior forward Terrance Kinsey (8.3ppg last year), a rapidly developing versatile athletic player, and sophomores 6-9 Brandon Wallace at center, and 6 foot Tre Kelley at guard. Kelley and Wallace both played valuable minutes as freshman last year. Off the bench Odom has another sophomore, forward Renaldo Balkman (6.9ppg, 4.6rpg last year) who was named to the all-SEC freshman team. Odom is high on him and says he is surprised the media does not pay more attention to him. The Gamecocks have also added two JC transfers, 6-4 guard Roderick Trice a JC all-American and F/C Antione Frisby who will help with bulk on the inside. Frisby was suspended for the final exhibition game but will be available today. Odom is very high on Trice and he could start at some point this year.
Western Carolina is picked to finish last in the Southern Conference. The Catamounts went 6-10 in the league last year but their superstar Kevin Martin (two time league scoring leader) left early for the NBA draft and was actually selected in the first round by Sacramento. They ended with a 236 RPI ranking last year. This year they are already 0-4. They played in the BCA classic hosted by Marquette and were progressively worse in each outing losing by 11, 15, and 16 to Marquette, Penn State, and Jacksonville State respectively. After playing three games in three days in Milwaukee, they had two days off before playing at Alabama on Friday where they were down 21 at halftime, by as many as 39 in the second half, and lost by a final margin of 31. They had one day off to travel to South Carolina and now will play their 5th straight road game in 8 days with an early afternoon start time no less.
South Carolina only had one exhibition game but also had a closed door scrimmage with an opponent I cannot recall, but I do remember reading that the opposing coach was very impressed with the team and said that South Carolina is much better than they were last year. The Gamecocks definitely have enough depth and talent to win big here. Playing an opponent who has been on the road and has played a lot of games in short time period is a definite plus. South Carolina last year had five early season home wins by 29 or more vs lesser opposition. Expect a similar result today.
South Carolina -21 1 UNIT
Good luck!
Cordially,
Edward
