last night's big card goes 6-3-1 and, well - whaddaya know - overall record pulls even at 25-25. time to start working on getting that juice back. for tonight:
new orleans -2-: got to play with my homeboy, coach monte towe, tonight. monte was a classmate of mine at nc state and, for those that may not remember, was the 5'6'' point guard that fed the ball to david thompson and tommy burleson during the wolfpack's 27-0 season in '73 and national championship year in '74. monte went on to be a long time asst under norm sloan at florida and, last year, took over a new orleans club with basicly a bare cupboard (save for hector romero, a legitimate all american). after cleaning house and going 5-11 to start the season, towe turned the privateers around and won ten of the season's last twelve games. this year he has all five starters back from last year, nine returning lettermen, and added a solid juco transfer in johnell smith, who is averaging 17ppg through n o's first three wins. monte has also managed to singlehandedly turn this inter-city game into a legitimate rivalry just by talking it up. while the green wave has a veteran team returning, they simply do not have the depth of talent that towe has assembled in a little over one year. the guy is an energy dynamo. better players, better coach, home court - privateers by dd.
butler -8; this play goes against everything in my nature, being a in-state road fav and all, but i can't resist. every thing i can see says butler takes this by dd. butler a veteran team, starting four seniors, best d in the country allowing a miniscule 45 ppg, 36% fg, through their first three games while shooting over 50%. they laid a 26 point pasting at home on a decent ball st team last time out as a seven pt favorite.. indiana st is a very young team, nine frosh and sophs. they are without their starting point guard lamar grimes and have been trying to replace him by committee, without success. they are not shooting well and are averaging less than 60 ppg against very mediocre opposition. this does not bode well for them preparing to face butler's defense. in year's past, sycamore's home court and the in-state rivalry fueled by players who know each other have kept games close when other factors would not tend to indicate such. not the case now; while ind st record in the hullman center is 50-18, last year it was 4-12 (3-9 ats). and now there are only three indiana boys on the team, and none of them start. not going to get carried away here as i've seen stranger things happen in ncaa hoops, but i'm going with one samolean on butler tonight.
sc +8: a little leery without kitchings in the lineup, but i'd take dave odom +8 against any team not in the top ten.
vmi +12: hard for a so-so team like va tech to get a lot of separation against any team with a scorer like conley. keydets also a veteran team with all five returning starters and eight lettermen, and will be the more motivated team tonight. say what you want, va tech never led against coach young's wofford team (enrollment 1100). that says something to me about motivation, or lack thereof.
new orleans -2-: got to play with my homeboy, coach monte towe, tonight. monte was a classmate of mine at nc state and, for those that may not remember, was the 5'6'' point guard that fed the ball to david thompson and tommy burleson during the wolfpack's 27-0 season in '73 and national championship year in '74. monte went on to be a long time asst under norm sloan at florida and, last year, took over a new orleans club with basicly a bare cupboard (save for hector romero, a legitimate all american). after cleaning house and going 5-11 to start the season, towe turned the privateers around and won ten of the season's last twelve games. this year he has all five starters back from last year, nine returning lettermen, and added a solid juco transfer in johnell smith, who is averaging 17ppg through n o's first three wins. monte has also managed to singlehandedly turn this inter-city game into a legitimate rivalry just by talking it up. while the green wave has a veteran team returning, they simply do not have the depth of talent that towe has assembled in a little over one year. the guy is an energy dynamo. better players, better coach, home court - privateers by dd.
butler -8; this play goes against everything in my nature, being a in-state road fav and all, but i can't resist. every thing i can see says butler takes this by dd. butler a veteran team, starting four seniors, best d in the country allowing a miniscule 45 ppg, 36% fg, through their first three games while shooting over 50%. they laid a 26 point pasting at home on a decent ball st team last time out as a seven pt favorite.. indiana st is a very young team, nine frosh and sophs. they are without their starting point guard lamar grimes and have been trying to replace him by committee, without success. they are not shooting well and are averaging less than 60 ppg against very mediocre opposition. this does not bode well for them preparing to face butler's defense. in year's past, sycamore's home court and the in-state rivalry fueled by players who know each other have kept games close when other factors would not tend to indicate such. not the case now; while ind st record in the hullman center is 50-18, last year it was 4-12 (3-9 ats). and now there are only three indiana boys on the team, and none of them start. not going to get carried away here as i've seen stranger things happen in ncaa hoops, but i'm going with one samolean on butler tonight.
sc +8: a little leery without kitchings in the lineup, but i'd take dave odom +8 against any team not in the top ten.
vmi +12: hard for a so-so team like va tech to get a lot of separation against any team with a scorer like conley. keydets also a veteran team with all five returning starters and eight lettermen, and will be the more motivated team tonight. say what you want, va tech never led against coach young's wofford team (enrollment 1100). that says something to me about motivation, or lack thereof.
