Wednesday Hoops

[xerri]

record 18-18

East Tennessee St. +9
ETSU is the favorite to win the Southern Conference and has several quality players back. Wadood and Fields are good frontcourt players and should be effective against Vandy who doesn't have any size and not much athleticism up front. Vandy also doesn't have the 3 pt shooting that they have had in the past which was their huge advantage. ETSU forced almost 20 TO's per game last year and were 1st in the conference in TO margin which could be a problem for Vandy who is avg. almost 20 per game this season in 4 games. Vandy doesn't have the size and athletes that usually give mid major teams problems. ETSU stayed close with S. Carolina losing by only 5 and lost by just 9 at Vandy last season. Think they keep this one close and possibly win.

Texas A&M +2
Don't think the Vols should be favored here. They barely got by Gardner Webb at home and don't have much talent returning besides Slay after losing Yarborough and Haislip to the NBA. Aggies nearly won at Miami and beat LSU at home on Saturday. They have their leading scorer King back and have a very good freshman in Wright who is avg. 19 ppg and 7 rebounds so far. Aggies have more depth and experience which should lead to a win at home.

 

[Ronnie]

Totally agree on Texas A&M. Wrong team favored here. The two points is a gift. Good Luck with your ETSU play!

 

[xerri]

Thanks Ronnie. Hope A&M cashes for us.

adding
Nevada -2
Nevada was 10-4 at home last year winning 7 of their last 8. UNLV was 5-8 on the road last season and this will be their 1st road game. UNLV is 3-0 but have played some mediocre opponents all at home and this is Nevada's first home game. Nevada has some good players back in Hill-Thomas and Green in the backcourt. They have outrebounded their 1st 3 opponents in each game and avg. only 10.7 turnovers per game. I expect Nevada to shoot much better at home and get the win here.

Wichita St. +19
Shockers basketball program is improving. They had a very young team last season and return their top 2 scorers in Howard and Burns. Burns was the conference's freshman of the year last year while Howard was on the all-freshman and all defense teams. Juco transfers Hogg and Holman are also making contributions as Hogg is avg. 9.3 points and Holman is dishing out 9 assists per game. I watched Tulsa play Arkansas this weekend and they were not impressive. Arkansas is a very poor team with no experience and no talent in the frontcourt yet they outrebounded Tulsa 34-23. Tulsa is not very good on the glass as they haven't gotten over 6 offensive boards in any of their 3 games and they don't have a strong bench. Looks like way too many points.