texas tech +3: this play is a little off the wall and against most of the the free world, but i thought i'd post it up for just that reason so it could be weighed against most of the writeups on smu.
think that smu has the better talent and the home court but see a lot of intangibles that i believe favor tech (that's what i love about college ball - a chance occasionally to depart from numbers). lots of hype in dallas, this being their first sellout since march of 2000. thing is, the sellout is not because of the mustangs' team, its because of the visiting coach. just get the feeling that this is not necessarily in the home team's favor.
tech off two wins in their tournament one over no-account bill and mary, the other a pretty good win for the red raiders over steve fisher's san diego state.. saw interesting comments from both losing coaches that said they were surprised at the intense aggressive defense put on them by tech. don't know why they should be surprised, that's been knight's hallmark for years. after the game knight says he's not displeased with the defensive effort but down on his team's failure to grasp the motion offense. so he has his college teammate john havlichek, who's in atttendance in lubbock for bobby's debut, speak to the team in the locker room after game 2 about the importance of moving without the ball. sunday and monday practice is spent focusing on the offense.
smu also 2-0, bowling over cupcakes savannah state and navy. interesting quotes from the mustang camp about how the team was pretty "beat up" after the two openers, but everyone ok to play. beat up? if they think they felt beat up after playing those two, red raiders got a little something for them.
what pushes me onto this play is the fact that, while mustangs have solid 3 man rotation at guard, they rely heavily on four freshamn in the frontcourt rotation. just have a feeling that the hyped-up atmosphere coupled with tech's defensive intensity will throw the rookies off their game. tech hangs tough all the way and last basket decides.
miami -7-: tigers' stockman hurt his knee last night and is out for week or two. this is huge as stockman a stud, all-acc frosh last year, and big component in the clemson offense. miami solid, no lasalle, shorthanded tigers no match.
cleveland state -3: i embrace the free world in this one. bonnies have been pretty sorry on the road of late and rollie's homecourt a rough place to kick off.
james madison +17: that's right - going against the wolfpack to cover this number. don't get me wrong, think state wins this one but just think the pack a litle overvalued after three easy ones. jmu has a deep veteran squad that should prove a little harder for the young pack to shake.
think that smu has the better talent and the home court but see a lot of intangibles that i believe favor tech (that's what i love about college ball - a chance occasionally to depart from numbers). lots of hype in dallas, this being their first sellout since march of 2000. thing is, the sellout is not because of the mustangs' team, its because of the visiting coach. just get the feeling that this is not necessarily in the home team's favor.
tech off two wins in their tournament one over no-account bill and mary, the other a pretty good win for the red raiders over steve fisher's san diego state.. saw interesting comments from both losing coaches that said they were surprised at the intense aggressive defense put on them by tech. don't know why they should be surprised, that's been knight's hallmark for years. after the game knight says he's not displeased with the defensive effort but down on his team's failure to grasp the motion offense. so he has his college teammate john havlichek, who's in atttendance in lubbock for bobby's debut, speak to the team in the locker room after game 2 about the importance of moving without the ball. sunday and monday practice is spent focusing on the offense.
smu also 2-0, bowling over cupcakes savannah state and navy. interesting quotes from the mustang camp about how the team was pretty "beat up" after the two openers, but everyone ok to play. beat up? if they think they felt beat up after playing those two, red raiders got a little something for them.
what pushes me onto this play is the fact that, while mustangs have solid 3 man rotation at guard, they rely heavily on four freshamn in the frontcourt rotation. just have a feeling that the hyped-up atmosphere coupled with tech's defensive intensity will throw the rookies off their game. tech hangs tough all the way and last basket decides.
miami -7-: tigers' stockman hurt his knee last night and is out for week or two. this is huge as stockman a stud, all-acc frosh last year, and big component in the clemson offense. miami solid, no lasalle, shorthanded tigers no match.
cleveland state -3: i embrace the free world in this one. bonnies have been pretty sorry on the road of late and rollie's homecourt a rough place to kick off.
james madison +17: that's right - going against the wolfpack to cover this number. don't get me wrong, think state wins this one but just think the pack a litle overvalued after three easy ones. jmu has a deep veteran squad that should prove a little harder for the young pack to shake.
