Coast2Coast wrote:
795/796 Baylor-Colorado UNDER 67, 1st half, 1*
Colorado runs the Princeton offense of sorts and has been successful at playing almost every Big 12 game at their pace. Baylor will certainly try to push the pace, but Colorado has shown it will play its game. Baylor is the fastest-paced team in the Big 12 at 72.6 possessions/game, but for comparison purposes, Missouri, K State, KU and Texas Tech are all running above 69 possessions/game. When Colorado played these four teams, the total number of possessions = have been 132, 122, 122, 122, 122 142 and 110. Only one of these games (the 142 possession game vs. Texas Tech) went over this total of 142, with a few of them staying way under. One of the reasons is that Colorado is not a very good team offensively, even at home. Of course, they aren’t very good defensively either, so I’m relying on them controlling tempo much more than I’m relying on their defensive ability. They might find themselves down in this game and need to play some catchup in the 2nd half. There also is the possibility of a late game foul fest. But for the first half at least, I expect the game to be competitive and for Colorado to chew a fair amount of clock with each possession.
LaSalle +5 @ Fordham, 1*
The Explorers are improving at a significant rate, with their offense and offensive efficiency the main reason. They have had only two A-10 games in which they have failed to reach 100 OE (1 point/possession) and that was their first conference game of the year vs. Richmond and the game against the best team in the conference, X. LaSalle has won five of its last 6, including wins against GW (road), St. Joes (neutral) and Duquesne (road). While LaSalle’s power rating using the full season results would make this a fair number, the question I have is whether we should move LaSalle up a bit more than we ordinarily might do based on their recent form. Conversely, Fordham is a team that has struggled to score against the same opponents that LaSalle has shredded on the offensive end. While LaSalle has exceeded 100 OE in 10 of its 12 A-10 games, Fordham has done that in only 5 of its 12 A-10 games. And Fordham isn’t significantly better than the Explorers defensively either, giving up over 100 OE in 9 of its 12 conference games. LaSalle has given up 100 OE to its opponents in 7 of its 12. Home court advantage is the difference here and the reason for the line, but the Explorers have shown recently they can win on the road. Their power rating is rising. The question is how high will it go. Based on recent form, I think it might even go higher and a few weeks from now if they play each other in the conference tourney on a neutral court, LaSalle might just be favored. I’ll take the hot dog here.
2 more easy winners. Thanks, Coast !