Hey guys been a crazy 2 weeks for me put in 65 hr weeks and finally got to relax tonight. I have got to stop betting fckn hockey!!!!
The Rebels come into the tourney opener playing their best basketball of the year according to coach Kruger. The main reason is that Willis the Rebel senior and captain has finally got his swagger back after dealing with adversity for most of the year. He has returned to score 18 pts per game and has hit 65% from 3 in his past 5 games.
The Rebels also re-committed to extra shooting practice, after a horrible shooting slump in Jan and Feb where they were shooting around 30% from the 3 point line!!
The only concern is that Illinois has the length to be disruptive like the Aztecs but at a much less talent level. The Illini have a solid player in McCamey who avgs 14.8 per and 6 assists, along with a glossy 45% from 3 point land. The problem is most games he is the only one who shows up!! The team is only 6-10 over the second half of the season and struggled in the big 10 tourney.
The Rebels will be the quicker team and if they hit open shots I see no problem with them covering the -2. If ILL comes to play and focuses on perimeter defense for which they were 2nd in the Big 10 then I can see an upset. Which team will show up and be hungrier?? The loss last year to N. Iowa in the opener for the Rebels was very painful according to Willis. Look for him to be the difference maker on both ends of the floor, add the fact that Bellfield the floor general has improved on his wrist injury!! UNLV ML
I think that McConnell is a better team player and does not have to hog the ball as much to be effective. Although Jimmer gets the points he is prone to playing out of control and gets caught in the air, only to get bailed out by the refs!! Any thoughts or opinions??
OK we have seen what Jim boy Fredette is capable of and have to admit he has beaten me twice so far this week.......
On to the next Rebel challenge. This is indeed a challenge facing a undefeated 6 ranked San Diego team at home. The Aztecs have beaten the Rebels the last couple of years, 5 out of the last 6 to be exact. There is talk that Aztecs have not really been tested. The 3 teams that they beat with some name value include Gonazga, St, Mary and Wichita St. Here is what the local SD news is saying....
This is the same Runnin' Rebels team -- with perhaps more depth
-- that SDSU defeated in the Mountain West tournament championship
game last March. And it's a squad that has been ranked as high as
20th in the nation this season while eliciting praise from one of
the sport's elite coaches.
"Early in the season, (Louisville coach) Rick Pitino made the
comment that other than Duke, (UNLV) is the best team in the
country," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. "This is a veteran team
with a lot of players, that's deep and well coached and lost a home
game (last week) that they felt they should have won. We'll get
their best shot."
UNLV routed Texas Christian on Saturday, three days after
dropping its conference opener to No. 11 Brigham Young. The Rebels
(13-3, 1-1) opened the season with nine straight victories, beating
No. 20 Wisconsin and Virginia Tech before losing at No. 18
Louisville on Dec. 11. They then dropped a home game against UC
Santa Barbara four days later.
While the Aztecs (17-0, 2-0) could have played better in their
first two conference games, Fisher knows the value of a road
victory in conference play. His team is one of five NCAA Division I
undefeated squads and its 17-game winning streak is second only to
top-ranked Duke.
The Aztecs are led by Leonard, Thomas and White up front which make like a 3 headed beast. They are ferocious on the boards and Leonard is considered NBA cant miss prospect!! DJ Gay does an excellent job running the point. This team is very talented, all Fisher has to do on most days is roll out the balls and let them go.
If the Rebels show up and play their A game, which they are fully capable of, they can keep it close. A close game is not good for Aztecs cause they tend to miss a few free throws and make bone head decisions in close games (Fisher). Rebels have to be able to make shots and hit the boards. It is hard to make shots against SDST because they are so long and agile.
Willis and Stanback along with Jaspar will have to man up in order for Rebels to stay close. Bellfield will have to step up offensively and the Big guys will have to act like they want to stay in the game. This is my play guys, like it or not. I do not trust UNLV enough right now to cover the spread. This will be a defensive game!!!
SDST ML and the Under 132-33 parlay!!!
Hey Covers!!! Where is your NCAAB section there is a lot of great games going on with no Blogs?? WTF!!
I
have been under estimating my Rebels out of habit from previous years of
under achieving. I may have to start giving this team credit.
They
currently rank 3rd in FG offense at 55% and rank fourth in defense at
just under 33%. I see the shooting dropping off, but they should remain
consistent with their pressure defense. They have been able to play
unselfish with lots of players getting involved in the scoring thus far.
That is pretty good considering Willis has not had what we would
consider his game!! I am considering playing the over but have yet to
see a line or total.
Virginia Tech does not do well with
pressure as K State exposed them recently. Malcolm Delaney and Jeff
Allen lead this team and from what I have seen they like to play what
their coach calls "ugly". They like to force teams into up-tempo helter
skelter type game, which Rebels like to do anyways. Look for lots of
points being scored and plenty of turnovers. Here is a quick look at the
V Tech basketball recent notes......
Entering Today’s Game
The Hokies enter today’s game with a 4-1 overall record ... The Rebels are 5-0 on the
season ... This game is for the championship of the 76 Classic.
The Series vs. UNLV
This will be the first meeting between the two schools ... The Hokies are 4-1 all-time
against schools currently in the Mountain West Conference ... Tech has never played a
game against schools from the State of Nevada ... Although the Hokies have never played
UNLV, Tech has played AT UNLV, as they defeated Stanford, 59-52, at the Thomas & Mack
Center on Dec. 18, 2005, part of the Las Vegas Showdown.
Last Time Out: Virginia Tech 56, Oklahoma State 51
The Hokies fought back from a seven-point second half deficit and defeated Oklahoma
State, 56-51, in the semifinals of the 76 Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center on Friday
afternoon ... Tech hit 10-of-12 free throws in the final minutes to secure the win ... Malcolm
Delaney led the Hokies with 16 points and Jeff Allen added 11 points.
Malcolm Enters the Top 10
Malcolm Delaney scored 17 points in the win over Cal State Northridge and with it,
moved past Wally Lancaster into 10th place in career scoring at Virginia Tech, with 1,700
career points ... In the win over Oklahoma State, he passed Ace Custis into ninth place on
the career scoring list ... He now has 1,716 points for his Virginia Tech career ... He scored his
1,600th career point in the loss to Rhode Island to end the 2009-10 season ... In doing so,
he became the first Hokie junior to accomplish that feat since Bimbo Coles in the 1988-89
season ... Coles ended his junior season with 1,699 points ... He scored his 1,000th career
point at Virginia Tech in the win at Campbell on Nov. 23, 2009 and became the 40th player
in school history to do so ... He scored his 1,100th point with a 31-point performance in
the win over Georgia and scored his 1,200th point with his 26 points against #9/9 North
Carolina ... In the overtime win at Virginia, he recorded his 1,300th career point, reached
the 1,400 career point total in the home win over Virginia and the 1,500 career point in the
home loss to Maryland.
I will make my plays later on when I see what I have to work with. I would appreciate any feed back and comments!!! 