Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome in.
Speaker 2: Apologies for some technical difficulties I am. I'm just not
a computer guy, so if something like goes wrong randomly
on my end, I just have have no clue what
to what to do about it. I think we're good.
I think it's maybe my system, so we'll we'll continue
to work on that. I was joking with Rob off Air,
like you know, I just if I do something in
the same way every day and then suddenly something doesn't work,
I can I got nothing, you know when it comes
to electronics. So I think we're here, hop in the chat.
Let us know if we're all right, We're not gonna
it's not gonna cost you any show. We're just gonna
go ten ten to eleven ten today, the uh, the
the hockey folks or whoever come after us, Rob are
gonna have to deal with it because it's Martin Luther
King Day, and you know what that means, basketball morning
until kind of night when they move out of the
way for the college football Playoff championship game, which goes
later tonight. I see the CBS Sports Network is still
going to put one game up against it, though, so
at least we have college basketball in that window as well. Robino,
welcome in. I want to see if I can hear you,
so tell me how your weekend went.
Speaker 3: Weekend was good college basketball wise. Friday good, Saturday, probably
a break.
Speaker 1: In fact, it was a little.
Speaker 3: Less profitable on Saturday. I think we had a minus
I don't know, two points something on Saturday. But bounce
back yesterday with a Houston Cougar's team total over eighty
and a half.
Speaker 1: Something. You don't generally play the Houston.
Speaker 3: Cougar's to score a ton of points just because of
what they're predicated on defense and slow pace.
Speaker 1: But Bobby Hurley's team gives it up and Houston.
Speaker 3: Had I don't know, Trigg, I think they had nineteen
in the first four minutes and it just coasted from there.
So good yesterday, looking forward to today. Obviously this week,
I will say real quick, as long as we're gonna
do semi promo here again. Since December one, it's really been.
Speaker 1: Fantastic here for college basketball.
Speaker 3: Number two at wager Talk posted about plus thirty three
units at a very small basis, so.
Speaker 1: We're hoping to keep this rolling here. I think we
got some stuff today that looks pretty good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of I mean, this is like,
this is my type of slate today, Rob. The entire
MAC is playing at two pm today. Why they didn't
space those games out, I'm not sure, but over seven
thousand tickets already sold for Sienna's game against Fairfield, So
maybe there is something to the two pm day off
MLK Day start. We're going to get into all of it, Rob.
I watched a considerable amount of Big East basketball the
last week. I went to the Seaton Hall Yukon game
on Tuesday. On Saturday night, I was at Villanova St.
John's on Friday. We talked about, you know, Providence and
the Providence game, the DePaul Marquette game. So there was
the Big East. You know, had like two of the
seven games that were on Friday night. And that's where
we're going to start today. Even though by no means
do I think this is the feature game. I can
find about ten more interested than this game. It is
Big East, it is the only power Conference game, it
is national television, and I guess my general thought about
all the Big East basketball I watched is, man, this
might be the worst the conference has ever been. How
do you know all of these teams are bad. In
my opinion, It's got me questioning how good Yukon actually is.
Who continues to let some of these lesser teams hang around.
Providence we talked about on Friday being up against it,
not having Jason Edwards, but yet maybe it was just
a spot where they found a way. You know, it
just felt like one of those games where after they
got killed earlier in the week couple losses, that maybe
they they just somehow found a way to get the win.
Speaker 1: At home.
Speaker 2: You referenced Creighton maybe being in a tough travel spot.
It certainly looked like that was the case. Providence gets
the win. Now they hit the road where they look
like the superior team again, but maybe they aren't.
Speaker 1: That's kind of like the take I have in every
Big East game.
Speaker 2: Well maybe they're the better team, or maybe they're not,
because all of these teams are very average. So Rob Veno,
Providence Marquette five Serve Forum, how do you see this one?
Speaker 3: I will just say that by nature of this spot situationally,
if Marquette's going to get a win, this would be
the type of spot where they could get a win.
You know, there's not many winnable games in this league,
even if it is a down year for Marquette at
this point in time. Saturday, again, Marquette really strong first half,
Shaka Smart pointing out how disappointed he was in the
team in the second half. Their inability to compete on
the defensive end after being really good in the first
half twenty minutes of basketball, really good, twenty minutes of
basketball not so good.
Speaker 1: Leads to another lost for Marquette.
Speaker 3: Providence, as you mentioned, without Jason Edwards for the second
straight game. But it doesn't seem to affect their offense whatsoever, Adam.
Speaker 1: I mean, they just score Providence for what it's worth.
Speaker 3: Guys out there that are just unaware of how high
scoring Providence has been last four games. Two hundred and
one total points scored in an overtime game with Yukon,
one hundred and eighty one against Xavier, one hundred and
seventy against Villanova, a game where we cash the Villanova
team total overticket, and then Saturday one hundred and eighty
one against Creighton, and Providence is right there doing their
share of the scoring.
Speaker 1: They just can't play a look at defense.
Speaker 3: It will see if that win on Saturday represents anything
where Providence is concerned. I have my doubts. I think
they just are who they are at this point in time.
All that being said, last three games Marquette has played
have all gone over the total as well as hard
as Shaka Smart. And I won't say that because yes,
Shakas Smart has had a lot to say, but I
think it's been more in kind of a deflection mode
or in defense of his team, where he is basically
pointing out to the reasoning for the troubles that they're
going through this year is a little bit of non cohesion,
a lot of youth, and that they just have to get.
Speaker 1: Used to playing forty minutes of basketball.
Speaker 3: Still, my first inclination here, as usually is, was toward total,
And in this case, it's just hard to play any
Providence game under at this point in time, no matter
where the number is, as long as it's under one
seventy five. You have to look at a Providence total.
Haven't played the game. I do think it likely goes
over again. Providence only knows one way to play. Marquette
has been playing the same type of way. Gave up
just a boatload of points to deepaul In the second
half last game, so I'd probably look over at him.
And as I said earlier, if there is, if somebody
wanted to make the case for Marquette here, I really
wouldn't argue them off just because situationally based, unless they
go winless, they got to win somewhere, and.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is the one. This is one of those winnables.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the the thing I struggled to get
there with rob for for Providence was the number, right, Like,
you know, even though Providence got the win, they they
I think they might match up okay, and and you know,
you take Edwards off the floor, yeah, that that should
hurt the offense. But the defense has been better without
him in my opinion. I don't know if he was.
And that's it's hard, you know that you got to
take that with a grain of salt, because Providence defense
has not really been good at all. But I almost
think they looked a little bit better defensively without him.
So the fact that they have been able to score
still enough, like with him not on the floor to
win that game Friday night is encouraging. That being said,
you know, it brings me back to I wonder if
there was a little. I don't want to call it
addition by subtraction because it's certainly not that from a
personnel standpoint. But my buddy Greg did say he was
kind of one of the guys that like maybe wasn't
getting along with some of the incoming freshmen. I mean, listen,
I'm not here to judge people's character, rob but third
school in three years, like you know, sometimes it's not them, right,
So who knows. Again, that's just a total assumption. Do
I want Providence going on the road here?
Speaker 1: Not really?
Speaker 2: Do I think there may be better than Marquette. Yes,
So it's a tough one for me. I think I
lean Providence on the just the basketball stuff like on
the floor, but off the floor, I'm not sure you
now throw a road trip into Providence after they had
their sort of home like rally win on Friday. Maybe
this is where Marquette does the same thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and real quick on reasons why it's tough to
get to Marquette, you talked about why it's tough for
you to get to Providence.
Speaker 1: Tough to get to Marquete because they're.
Speaker 3: Five and fourteen against the spread, they're two and six
against the spread, and league play.
Speaker 1: They're one in three against the spread in hunting.
Speaker 3: There's nothing good to say about Marquette from a point
spread perspective. This game is either Marquette's like favorite or
pick them, depending upon where you choose to shop. I'll
just close it up, I say, and I might not
get to the over, but it's probably the only way
I could look here.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: That standalone game that I referenced in the open for
college basketball tonight is the game that Garth wants to
talk about.
Speaker 1: So thank you for the donation. Garth very much appreciate that.
We'll put that.
Speaker 2: Two dollars toward whatever is causing my system to, you know,
not work the way it should work, and it's always
worked all this time. But that's nine pm tonight, National TV,
North Carolina A and T hitting the road to take
on the Hampton Pirates. Garth wants to know about the total,
so I'm gonna let Robino kick this one off. I
have an opinion on the side, but Garth is saying
NCAA and T under sixty eight and a half in.
Speaker 1: The team total.
Speaker 2: Robino, this was a team that last year was shaving points,
but they had a couple guys that could fill it up.
I guess when they weren't trying to throw games, those
guys have left. It's a less skilled team, maybe a
little bit more predicated on defense and just slowing the
game down. So does Garth have a good total with
under sixty eight and a half for NCAA and T.
Speaker 3: Well, let's just start where I will generally start once
conference play begins with sort of the bounce back or
negative bounce back theory.
Speaker 1: Just gets caught up in a.
Speaker 3: Ninety seven eighty nine game with William and Mary, one
that goes up and down the floor, one that's more
suited to A and T because they want to play faster.
They don't shoot it real well, but they want to
play faster and play pretty well against William Mary. I
think we cashed that William and Mary team total overticket. Garth,
you may have been the guy that was on that
as well, and maybe that's one of the games you
donated for last week. I feel like it was either
Garth or by you one of those two who wanted
to speak about that game for A and T. Here
a little bit of a different story, right, You're gonna
play Hampton now, not necessarily as fast as William and Mary,
You're not gonna get caught up in that style of game.
The problem becomes for A and T, as we talk
about all the time, are you capable of taking your
fast paced offense against a pretty solid, slow, really methodically
slow paced opponent. And I always say I think that
slow tempo teams, especially those at home, bother teams that
want to go quicker. So if A and T gets
slowed down, which they should probably tonight because Hampton's the
home team. And you add into the equation that A
and T is not a good shooting team to begin with. Hampton,
as I mentioned, pretty good in defensive on the defensive
side of the floor, and seventieth in the nation in
three point percentage defense, which really works out here if
you're trying to play A and T. Total under A
and T not the best three point shooting team, but
they do put it up.
Speaker 1: Quite a bit.
Speaker 3: So from somebody who didn't play the game guard, I
would say, all the elements, all the fundamentals, add up
to being on your side here under sixty eight and
a half the situation. I think the bounce back that
I talked about also ends up being on your side
because you just come off a high scoring game eight
pretty rare decent shooting game for A and T, so
you could only expect that to come back to the norm.
Speaker 1: Here.
Speaker 3: For what it's worth, they shot sixty seven percent from
two point land in that game Adam the other day,
and forty four percent from three. Those are way above
average for A and T. If that comes back to
earth a little bit and the pace slows down, I'm
not going to argue Garth off of this. Probably in
a good spot here with under team total under sixty eight.
Speaker 1: And a half.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanted you to start with that one because
I have a pretty strong opinion here. It's just not
so much totals related, though it seems like it fits
right because I think Hampton's a really.
Speaker 1: Good option here.
Speaker 2: It was kind of wanted to see what happened with
that number. It's one that I probably would just lay
to five and a half. Rob, You're gonna have to
be my my odds board guy, so if you you know,
I think I think it's right around five and a half,
probably right around where it opened. But the point is,
you know, Hampton defectively as much improveless, and this is
like not the Hampton teams of A couple of years back.
Ivon Thomas came in former Ed Cooley assistant. He he's
from the area, and it's I believe his second year
in charge at Hampton, totally turning this program around. I
mean when I was down there two years ago, it
was the final year of the old region. That team
was just a circus rob. It was just no one
played any defense. You never knew who was going to
play each game. Guys just chucking shots. It was a disaster.
And if On Thomas has come in, he's actually brought
a couple of guys I really like. Well, I gotta
say it does frustrate me as a Sienna guy to
see Michael Ellie as their leading scorer since he was
you know, he was supposed to be like the next
big thing for Sienna a couple of years ago, and
I feel like he faked an injury every game.
Speaker 1: That's neither here nor there. But now he's playing.
Speaker 2: Great for Hampton, leading scorer thirteen point three points per game.
And you want to talk about Hampton de rob, this
team has dug in on the defensive end more than once.
Even since conference players start held unc Wilmington to forty
nine points. That's pretty impressive. Really, just had a brutal
three game stretch where they had to go on the
road and play Wilmington, Campbell, and Charleston. That's a tough
three game road stretch, and all but one of those
games is a close, competitive game. Last time out over
the weekend, they only lost to Charleston by four on
the back end of that road trip, Rob, I know
you don't love and I'm sorry, actually I miss both
because I was gonna say I just saw Charleston play.
They didn't play them this weekend, so that was last weekend,
so I know you don't love backing teams coming home
after like a couple of road games. They've actually had
nine games nine days to prepare for this game. I
think Hampton probably blows them out. NCA and T if
they're not scoring, can absolutely get crushed. And then you
talk about their most recent game, you know William and
Mary is going to let you score some points because
of the way they play. Might be a scenario or
Hampton White drout defensively and it's suddenly up fifteen to
twenty and that's hard to come back from, especially when
you play the way NCA and t play.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I like Hampton quite a bit here. That's
gonna be a parlay candidate for me, I think. But
we'll see how the rest of the show goes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, real quick, you made a key point there, Adam,
coming off of road trip but with nine days to
prepare is totally different than the scenario we talk about
all the time. We're an extended road trip and then playing,
you know, a couple of days later, nine days enough
a long time. Rest versus rust of course always comes in.
But when you're defensive minded, I don't think rest versus
rust is really an issue. It's more shooting and cohesiveness
on the offensive end.
Speaker 2: In that case, all right, let's stay in that league.
One of the early national TV games today. A couple
folks in the chat, I want to talk Drexel and
tows and Rob. I was pleasantly surprised t to Towson
on Thursday. Great little facility. I love the campus, I
love the city, really really enjoyed myself there and was
very nice to see Towson get the win. That sort
of I guess confirmed what everyone thought about this team
going into the season was that they had a real
chance to contend in this league. They brought back two
of the best players in the league, Dylli Williamson.
Speaker 1: Tyler Tahata.
Speaker 2: You know, not many teams in this league brought are
able to bring their best players back. It's just the
reality of what's happening to some of these leagues at
this point. Of course, UNC Wilmington goes and takes the
best players from everyone else's team and puts them on
their team. They're now like a CAAA All Star team.
But Towson was able to keep their two best players.
They played fantastic defense, They're a great rebounding team. Yet
somehow they managed to start zero to FOURIGN Conference play.
They come out, they get the win over Northeastern, they
get a much bigger win on Thursday over College of
Charleston or Charleston as they want to be called. Now, now, Rob,
you know, I know it's you're gonna have to lay
some points and that's terrifying to do with Towson. I
kind of think the Tigers keep it going here. Anything
for you, Drexel Towson in this one.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it could make the same you know,
might not want to step in front of the trap.
This might be a game where you want to play
both teams at him because Drexel, I'll tell you what
I caught about twenty five minutes of that game against
Monmouth on Saturday, which was a complete destruction. Drexel was
in control of that thing from start to finish. Now
that's not to say Monmouth is on tousand's level, but
it was the third consecutive game that's been pretty impressive
about a.
Speaker 1: Zach Spiker's bunch. Beat Stoneybrook by.
Speaker 3: Nineteen, beat William and Mary on their home floor, which
to me, I believe I had the William and Mary
team total over in that game. It was part of
my you know, three game quest to get my money
back with the Bill and Mary team total.
Speaker 1: That one didn't do it, this ubsequent one did.
Speaker 3: But then to come up with a twenty two point
win on the road at Monmouth. They're playing really good
defense at this point in time. As good as thousand
is defensively if you go on season based overall statistics,
Drexel is right there too.
Speaker 1: And Drexel shooting.
Speaker 3: The basketball, and it was funny for me and I
think you've been to Drexel already this year, so you
got a good look at them. But generally speaking under
Zack Spiker, this is not a team that shoots well.
It's a team that crawls up the floor, tries to
play some defense, but they're never really a good shooting team.
So the game against Monmouth, I guess I can't call
it an outlier here at this point in time. But
that being said, at fifteen of twenty seven from beyond
the arc, it's kind of outrageous.
Speaker 1: You just don't duplicate that the following game.
Speaker 3: So thousand defensively probably shuts Drexel down a little little bit.
I would say Drexel defensively is gonna be tough on thousand.
This one came back to the total for me, But
it's so low.
Speaker 1: In modern day.
Speaker 3: College basketball, the opener of one twenty three can be
gotten to by mistake. It's now pushed up to one
twenty five, one twenty six. Of course you have to,
because it's it's so difficult to play under one twenty three.
I guess you just take your shot and say, man,
it's got to at least be a sixty three sixty
one game, a sixty four to sixty game. Both teams
can have the capability to score, so I think.
Speaker 1: I would choose to. I don't know if five and
a half is enough.
Speaker 3: Let's put it that way, because if Drexel does not
can fifteen threes, then five and a half might not
be enough here for me, I think an earlier number
total over was better. Later number now one twenty six, eh,
I don't know.
Speaker 1: Sixty five sixty sounds reasonable. You'd lose an overbit.
Speaker 3: There, So for me, no response in this game. Can't
really play it. But I'm gonna say I'm pretty impressed
by what Drexel's doing inside the league right now. They're
on a roll that I wouldn't want to bet against
right now.
Speaker 2: Oh see, like I have no problem betting against Drexel.
That team has no talent whatsoever. I know, I'm gonna
explain how they won three games in a second. But
I saw Bayu in the chat trying, you know, making
a case for Towson maybe on the money line, saying
it'd be it'd be hard for Drexel to pull away
and they probably won't lose that game. You could go
Towson to Hampton little c AA money line parlay right
there if you wanted to go. I actually think they
will probably cover.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The scary thing with Towson is even in the Charleston
game on Thursday, which they control throughout, they controlled that
game throughout, they still manage to have a scoring drought,
like and it's almost like you're gonna the way Towson
runs offense, it's almost like you're going to get a
drought at some point no matter what. It's like almost unavoidable.
It's shocking to me because, in my opinion, they have
two guys that really should be able to create their
own shot and at least like get a bucket when
the team needs a bucket to avoid the big drought.
But even against Charleston, a game that ended sixty one
to fifty two, like Williamson only had seven points, they
just don't create great shots. Now, the reason this total
is so low is Drexel has just doesn't have a
talented roster. So yeah, like they're gonna have games where
they maybe get hot from three. But look at those
last three games. The William and Mary win is impressive.
But William and mary can be like if they hit a.
Speaker 1: Game where they're just like not in sync offensively, not scoring,
or they run into a style that they don't like.
Because this is Brian Earl.
Speaker 2: He was up at Cornell for years, and it woul
happened to Cornell sometimes where they would look like world beaters,
just running everyone out of the gym, and then they'd
hit a game against a team that wasn't necessarily better
than them, that just had a little.
Speaker 1: Bit different style, and it would really trip them up.
Speaker 2: And that's what I think happened to William and Mary
sixty four to fifty eight final. Those other two games
are against teams that can't shoot. Stonybrook can't score. I mean,
I don't know how a game ends fifty six to
thirty seven in college basketball today, but it did. Month
can't score, like they just they don't have much offense.
So here, even though Towson struggles to score, I think
if you get the normal Towson effort here, you're likely
going to see a final similar to the tows in
Charleston game, where you know, like they just will their
way to like an eight to ten point win. That
that's kind of how I see this one going. As
far as Drexel, you know it is concerned like Zack
Spiker's a tremendous coach, loved him at an Army. I
thought he would do a better job at Drexel, like
I thought he was going to actually win here. But
the reality is like he doesn't get anything from the portal.
He just doesn't have a ton of talent on this team.
So I think you've seen Drexel do the maximum rob
of what they can do the last three games. I
would not want them on the road having to do
it against a Towsand team that likely crushes them on
the glass and is just a better It's like a
better version of a inefficient team is Towson than Drexel.
I prefer the better version which is Tousan and the
fact that they might be able to get some cheap points.
So yeah, bias says Towsand has much more chance to
dig out of a hole to come back rather than Drexel.
Speaker 1: The defensive, rebounding, offensive boards. I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I think I think Towsand is the right side there. Okay,
all right, we're finally off and running. As you can
see that.
Speaker 1: The nothing agitates me more than a ten minute delay.
That wasn't well.
Speaker 2: I don't think it was my fault, and the reason
It's not my fault is I just don't know anything
about electronics, So you know, I can't be I can't
be held accountable for that, Rob, especially when it happens
just out of the blue.
Speaker 1: Fixer.
Speaker 2: Let's go to this game because this this actually tips
off in twenty four minutes. And since we're on the
Colonial or the Coastal Athletic Association kick right now, I mean,
they do have the I feel like they have center
stage today because like all of their games, or at
least a couple of their games, are on national TV.
Let's touch on the one that's going to go off
National TV. First game off the board, Rob eleven am Eastern.
Northeastern's gonna head to Monmuth. And this is another very
interesting matchup because Northeastern somehow be Elon, Right, we both
talked about liking Elon. In that most recent game, Northeastern
comes out without Uri Fritz when seven guys eight guys
I think on their bench and they go out and
win the game. That being said, I mean, I don't
know what to think here because Mommuth can't really score. So,
you know, even though it seems like a decent matchup
for mommth I don't know if I want to trust
them laying points when they just have a hard time
putting the ball in the basket.
Speaker 1: How are you seeing Northeastern, mommth.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a complete contrast in styles, right. Monmouth can't score,
Northeastern can't defend. Defensive efficiency rating is worse in this
conference this year by far. You know, it's a team
that's going to try and get their hands on the basketball,
try and get some deflections, get some steals. It's what
they do best. The rest they don't do very well
at all. So can Monmouth make any shots? On the
other side, Northeastern does make shots, second best offensive efficiency
team in the league, but Monmouth plays pretty good defense,
so can they shut Northeastern down?
Speaker 1: Funny, Adam, I remember talking about that.
Speaker 3: Northeastern gym eight hundred and twelve capacity against the other day.
They go in there and when Juri Fritz, when I
saw the number go down from four to three and
a half, I looked real quick just to see if
he will play today. And I can never tell how
true this is because we can't get the report straight
from Northeastern themselves, but it appears like he's going to
play in this game in twenty two minutes. If that happens,
I can understand the line movement down. However, I can't
understand the total going down. If he plays, it would
be advantageous to the number here, if in fact the
total going over, if in fact he was going to play.
So maybe a lot of Monmouth defense and non shooting love.
I don't know, but Monmouth is off of that previously
talked about Drexel blowout loss, which scares me a little bit.
In this game, you return home, you got crushed by
twenty two, you only scored fifty one points. There's a
lot here that you know, it can be the so
called teachable moments here, and now you're back home on
your home floor. In a Martin Luther King day game,
I would imagine that there's a little bit of hype
when you're home for this particular day, for this particular game.
So I don't want to lay points with Monmouth because
of their inability to score. But I don't mind the
line of thinking that says they should give one hundred
percent maximum effort after getting destroyed by twenty two. In
my case, I always tend to lean with the team
that can put the ball in the basket because in basketball,
that's it's simplistic, but that's what it comes down to.
So I think I would lean toward Northeastern here, and
especially if Uri Fritz is going to play. If he
doesn't play, maybe a different story, but if he does play,
I think that Northeastern plus points is probably the right side.
Speaker 1: A rare disagreement for us, and that's good.
Speaker 2: I'm glad that we're like, you know, because that's really,
you know, what this show is about, just trying to
share it, talk out, reason out games. And I guess
for me, I Ury Frits, I don't know that he
especially after watching the Elon game, I'm not sure he
moves the needle a ton here, so like I wouldn't.
I don't think this should move down if he plays.
I think it's you know, it's nice to have your body.
I think that's like the biggest thing. Yes, he sort
of has become their best player by people dropping like flies,
like you know, he wouldn't be he wouldn't be their
top player if dudes weren't just dropping like flies, right like,
So it's it's nice that he might be back here.
But like the Elon matchup, so you know, we talked
about Elon Billy Taylor totally totally.
Speaker 1: Changing that team.
Speaker 2: Last year, they were a team that played a really
aggressive zone. It was very more, very much defensive oriented.
This year they've come more become more offensive oriented and
they really like Northeastern just sat in his zone and
Elon struggled with it.
Speaker 1: Like the problem is, I don't like, mom, that's very good.
Speaker 2: Defensively, so I'm not sure Northeastern is able to do
a ton on offense here. You know, this is a
Northeastern team that gets no second chance points. They're terrible
rebounding team. Yes they're they're okay offensively, but some of
those numbers have been accumulated when they've been more at
full strength. And I actually think, mom, this defense probably
plays here. On the other side, the one thing Monmouth
isn't dreadful at when they have the basketball is shooting
the three. And so if Northeastern goes back to that zone,
I could see maybe Mommouth hitting a couple of threes
and getting some offense that way. The final thing I'll
note rob the total like this game, and this game
feels lower scoring the Tows and Drexel game feels lower scoring,
but this is like a considerably higher total. I think
the other one was in the one twenties. This is
like low one forties. So maybe you look toward it
under there too, but I think I lean Mommouth here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, under could be a look at him the one
and you know me, I'm always looking for these comp
games comp to Mommouth defense and probably better because they're
just a better overall team.
Speaker 1: Is NC Wilmington.
Speaker 3: That game, of course, was played at home by Northeastern,
but they got this seventy eight against NC Wilmington, which
is kind of scary. They gave up eighty seven because
NC Wilmington can score, mom myth can't. But when you
can put seventy eight on that type of defense, it's
a little bit scary for me to think that they
couldn't do it against Monmouth. However, to me, the great
equalizer is just the twenty two point loss to Drexel. Again,
maybe I'm just overreacting because I saw a great portion
of that game. They did nothing right, and to me,
again is a bounce back guy. I know that in
Monmouths case that King Rice will have a lot to
say about that fifty to one point effort, and you
would expect a much better effort in this game out
of Monmouth. So it's kind of contradictory both sides of
the defense speaking to me, and hard to come to
a true conclusion.
Speaker 2: Listen, I've I think I've now had I've made a
case for all three CAA home.
Speaker 1: Teams that we talked about on this show.
Speaker 2: Listen, there might be something too the afternoon Martin Luther
King Day game being favorable for some of these teams
that aren't getting big crowds on a regular basis, because
I think that's why a lot of them wanted to
play today. I talked about, you know, kind of thun
my nose at the mac rob wanting to play all
of their games today at two pm. Then I talked
to someone I know over at Siena, which where I
went to school, and I obviously keep very close tabs
on them, still talk to people close to the program
all the time.
Speaker 1: They told me they got seven thousand tickets sold for.
Speaker 2: This game already at two pm today at MVP Arena
in all the New New York. So maybe there's something
to wanting to play this Like early tip, everyone's got
the day off, maybe you get a nice bump here
in the atmosphere for some of these teams that you know,
Like I was at Tawson on Thursday. You know, I
felt like there could have been more people there. But
something you mentioned to me this weekend that makes a
lot of sense is most of the kids at these
like smaller private schools, we always used to come back
when I was at SI MLK Day weekend. Some of
the state schools come back earlier, but we always came
back Martin Luther King Day weekend, and it was a
great weekend because we roll in whenever, hang out rink
all weekend, and we'd have Monday off, like right off
the bat to start, no homework because you know, the
semesters just started. So I always remember having a lot
of fun that weekend. But the kids being back two
pm start, I have a feeling Sianna is gonna have
like seventy five hundred people at the MVP Arena today
for a Fairfield team that I just this team's just bad.
I don't know how else to say. If they play
hard at times, Chris Casey has to go. He's not
the right option to coach that team. The money in
the facilities they have, they should they should be getting,
they should be out niling, out recruiting the rest of
the MAC.
Speaker 1: They just have it.
Speaker 2: I think it's because the coach and some of the
leadership in place, Rob. You know, I kind of think
Sianna runs them out of the gym. The only way
you beat Piano's with a tough zone defense, the ability
to force in the shoot, kind of like Merrimack did,
kind of like Colgate did.
Speaker 1: I'm just not sure Fairfield can do that. And if
they can't, I don't see how this game is close. Well.
Speaker 3: I mean, again, this is gonna sound same, but Fairfield
can't defend.
Speaker 1: End of story. I go back to not much else
to it, Rob, There really.
Speaker 3: Isn't, honestly, And I'll go back to I think I've
said this before, but in fact, I know I've said
it before because you were like, if you want to go.
I was in Connecticut at Thanksgiving time and you're like,
if you want to go, I get you into that building,
which brand new in my home, Stomping Grounds right, Fairfield
is about fifteen minutes from my home. As a kid,
I didn't go, but I watched that game. I've talked
about it before against Columbia. They give up one hundred
and six points in that game, and ever since then,
I've kept a slight eye on Fairfield and if they
could improve defensively, and it just hasn't happened.
Speaker 1: They just don't defend.
Speaker 3: And so you have to be a really poor offensive
team for Fairfield to have the slightest chance to hold
you to seventy or less. Sienna is not a poor
offensive team by any stretch. The pace not beat might
not be there, but the inability to score isn't there.
So I would think that Sienna's probably you know, they
come off a thrashing of Manhattan, could be a good sign.
Speaker 1: Here for Jerry McNamara's team.
Speaker 3: Fairfield hasn't gotten any traction whatsoever this year. Give up
eighty two to Merist the other day.
Speaker 1: Not many give up eighty two to Merist.
Speaker 3: I just, you know, second of a road trip here,
not that Merris and Sienna are you know, a three
hour flight away, but don't I just don't see Fairfield
competing on the defensive side of the basketball of the
floor this year, So I would lean Sienna that way.
But I am going to just segue in so that
we can get one half of this parlay out of
the way, and I'll stay right where we are in
the Metro Atlantic, and I'll stay about ten minutes away
from where Fairfield You is and where I spent one
year of my college career at Sacred Heart over there
on Park Avenue in on the Bridgeport Trumbull line, and
I'm im gonna play the Sacred Heart team.
Speaker 1: Total here over seventy two and a half at them.
Speaker 3: Ryder, you were there for the joyous occasion, right, Ryder wins,
Rter wins right.
Speaker 1: How they won, I'll never know.
Speaker 3: But since An Kwon Hill has come back, he's produced
points in all three games, and Sacred Heart, which was
a pretty good offensive team to begin with, just looks
a little bit better. I think it's you know, this
is extremely close. I'm not staring at my notes right now,
but I think it's like nineteen twenty one and twenty
two points or twenty one, twenty two and twenty three
points scored by him in the three games since he's returned.
Rider to me, just not capable of defending this team
to the point where they hold him under seventy three,
which is what I need to win here. Now, it
doesn't mean I think you know, I play these team
totals a lot of times, Adam, because I fear the
point spread. I fear laying big points, so I'll take
the favorite to score over their team total. I fear
taking two few points, so I'll take the other dogs
team total, et cetera, et cetera. Here is the same way.
I'm almost positive Fairfield's going to get to their number,
whether or not they defend good enough against Rider, whether
or not Rider has an uprising like they had the night.
Speaker 1: You were there.
Speaker 3: All that goes to the side if you're just isolating
team totals here. But I think all the elements are there,
the recent uptick with Hill. Sacred Heart has been a
good team at scoring all season long. Anyway they play
with pace. I know I'm going to get my chances
here against the Rider team that doesn't defend. So that's
gonna be my end of this parlay today. Sacred Heart
team total, and it goes early, which is why we're
getting it out there really quick here or now. As
you mentioned, it's a two o'clock start, but Sacred Heart
over seventy two and a half just seems like a
fairly easy play to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, I talked to I talked to some folks
that went to the Sacred Heart Siana game, and I
just said, you know, yeah, like it's not the best
loss for Sienna, but you have to acknowledge that sair
Hart is getting is getting healthier, and this team at
full strength. In my opinion, Rob was always going to
contend in this league this year. So you know, they
went through the hill hill missing some time, and you
know they had some other guys I think battling illness.
I think Ralph Bayer missed a game, Giddins might have
missed a game, some some other guys maybe missed a
game or two here and there. The point is, I
think we're realizing that that team doesn't really function without
an Kwan Hill because Anquan Hill's kind of the one
big that can can do something other than shoot a three,
and they don't play great defense. So they like they
needed to win that Sianna game eighty six to eighty.
That's how they're going to win a lot of these games.
And I think, so you think you make a really
good point. With him being back, they're going to score
more points. Recency. You look at some of the point
totals they've scored. When he was out lost to Niagara
on scored sixty one. Like, I just don't think that's
happening now that he's back.
Speaker 1: So I'm very much with you. What was that number again?
Speaker 2: Also not to mention Ron, since he came back nineteen
against Maris, twenty one against Quinnipiac, twenty two against Sienna,
he's clearly helping that point total. H.
Speaker 3: No, there's no doubt the number here today, Adam is
seventy two and a half. You know, if you want
to take it a step further, two of the last three,
four of the last six, seven of the last nine
are Rider games allowing more than seventy two and a half.
So again, Ryder can slow it down as much as
they want, the other side will speed it up, and
you're gonna get enough opportunities here in my estimation, to
get to seventy three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and two things. Then we'll move on to a
different game.
Speaker 2: I'll wrap up both of these Mac games we just
talked about with just a couple extra ten bits.
Speaker 1: One.
Speaker 2: Ryder's playing better basketball right now, so I don't just
think that this this is going to be sacred.
Speaker 1: Heart blowing them out in their own gym. That probably
helps your team.
Speaker 2: Total over the fact that it may it may actually
be close at the end of this game, that the
spread is only three and a half. Rider played great
against Iona. I felt like they deserve to cover the eleven.
On Saturday against Saint Peter's, they just kind of faded
at home. So you know the fact that it might
not be a blowout, it's actually probably a good thing
for your team totally might get a little extension at
the end. Finally, the Sienna game will just go back
to that for one second. Jerry McNamara when he got hired,
he was in town and he attended the game with
Caitlin Clark playing for Iowa at Sianna's arena. There was
fifty thirteen or fourteen thousand. Of course, they had the
whole thing open for the NCAA tournament, and I remember
in his press conference he pleaded with fans like come
to the games, get a friend, bring someone of the games.
He's been begging for crowds like the one he's going
to get this afternoon. If they are not, like I
will be absolutely shocked if they're not ready to run
through a wall, just wipe the floor with Fairfield in
that game. So again, I I don't know what I
want to put in the parlor. Yeah, I think we'll
talk one more game and then I'll lock something in.
But I've got some options which we've gone over on
this show. So Garth is going to decide where we're
gonna go with this next game here, so appreciate the
donation he wants to.
Speaker 1: And I actually saw.
Speaker 2: Some folks asking for some anec so Rob Bino as
a former alum of New Haven, those are your new
Haven Chargers in action today against Chicago State seven pm.
Speaker 1: You know, I.
Speaker 2: Gotta be honest, I don't have I don't have a
ton on this game. I don't particularly like either of
these teams. However, I guess maybe one of the notable
things new Haven having to make the Chicago trip. This
is the farthest you have to go into NEC because
they just kind of arbitrarily threw Chicago into the NEC.
So after back to back wins at home, Rolbino, new
Haven getting back to back home wins, which is is
pretty big for the program, I believe, though they're now
three and two in conference.
Speaker 1: Way, maybe a letdown spot going on the road to
Chicago State.
Speaker 3: Well, certainly, and we talk about it in major conferences, Adam,
if you're not used to doing it, it becomes something
that's unique, that's different than may be problematic, and it
could be problematic for New Haven. Here, I'm trying to
look at Gar's question as I look up just basic thoughts. Okay,
so he's not pointing towards side or total in this one.
Let me just pull up the team total numbers here
really quick, because that's where my opinion would lean in
this game.
Speaker 1: Chicago State, Where the heck are you guys? Well? I
should have had this one right in front of me,
but here it is right here, Okay, so.
Speaker 3: Obviously close to pick them game close to team. Team
totals are very very close. Sixty three and a half
one side for UNH sixty four and a half on
the other side for Chicago State. My initial reaction here
would be more situational than fundamental. Chicago States obviously a
bad basketball team. But again, Adam, I'm gonna go back
to something we said earlier, which I think applies to
better than half of the games here today. And maybe
I don't want to get outrageous and say seventy five percent,
but I'm going to say better than fifty percent of
the games is the fact that it's a holiday game
with a special meaning that should have home teams fired up.
And in this case, as we mentioned earlier in New Haven,
is the traveler something I haven't really done into Chicago
State's place. Not a very good team. Three and two
maybe overlooking this squad, sixty four and a half to
me seems a little bit low on the Chicago State side.
UNH obviously at three and two in league, has done
pretty well first time I'm in, but they're no great shakes,
to say the least.
Speaker 1: That the thing that they can't give up sixty.
Speaker 3: Five to Chicago State here I think would be my
primary look. Now, again, I always preface these things by
saying whether I've played the game or not. But Chicago State,
I mean last three games sixty three against Fairleigh Dickinson,
eighty two in overtime against Stonehill, fifty seven against Leamoyn.
And Leamoyne's a far better defensive team, far better overall
team than you and H in my opinion, So those
point totals of recency are pretty close. To what you're
asked to get to here. I would say, Garth, my
best shot at this one would be Chicago State to
get the sixty six in this game. No real opinion
on who wins it or loses it, but that's the
way I would lean.
Speaker 2: Listen, we were on the show on Friday. I said,
you know what, I actually ended up playing this. This
ended up being my only client play for Friday.
Speaker 1: It was a winner with ball.
Speaker 2: State, and I said, you know what, I feel like
this is where ball State gets their first conference win,
and they did. They actually kind of dominated that game
against Ohio held on at the end. I think this
is where Chicago State gets their first conference win. They're
zero to five in the neec rob. The game they
lost against stone Hill was one of the most inexcusable
things you will ever see on a college basketball court,
maybe even on a high school court, maybe even on
a modified middle school. I don't know if they still
call it that, but the point is they should have.
Speaker 1: One conference win.
Speaker 2: They had a win at stone Hill. I'm not even
going to get into it because I don't want to
like go totally off topic. Because we only have four
minutes left. I've totally have to be off by eleven.
Apparently they do play hockey. I'm Martin Luther King Day.
So point is, if you want to just just see
something so mind blowing, go watch the end of the
Chicago State stone Hill game, a game they just should
have straight up won. So they're own five, but they
played good enough to win on the road at stone Hill. Here,
I'm just straight up trusting my power ratings. I still
think Chicago State is just slightly.
Speaker 1: Better than New Haven. I have them rated higher. They're
getting the home game.
Speaker 2: New Haven off back to back home wins, this sort
of outlier trip in the NEC. I think it's a
tough spot for them, So I leaned toward Chicago State
and Rob, I'll tell you what because because we probably
would have done like ten minutes on another game, but
we're not going to have the chance to do it.
I'm gonna get so my parlay leg will be the
next game that we were going to talk about. It
is gonna be Prairie View A and n Now, I
was not going to give this out on the show
because this is a three percent client play for me,
but because I was the one that apparently caused us
to be ten minutes late. Taking some accountability here for
my system, even though I feel like it wasn't my fault. Robbino,
I am going to give out one of my client
plays that you know, I'm gonna have a couple of them,
so we'll give it out. So I played this earlier
prairie View minus two.
Speaker 1: I do think it's moved a little bit.
Speaker 2: So what I'm gonna do here for the parlay Robino
is put the Prairie View money line in because it's
not gonna you know, it's not gonna make it's not
gonna really hurt the parlay. It's still gonna be plus
money and it's minus one fifty five, So it's moved
up to minus three.
Speaker 1: So prayer View A and M. And here's my reasoning.
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna write this up so again I'm gonna
give you more of a reasoning. It's gonna be on
the free picks page a wager Talk. So if you
haven't seen the free picks page, go to wager Talk.
There's a tab that says free picks. Every Handicap or
Robert you are you put a free pick up every
once in a while.
Speaker 1: Right, I do? I do and generally so client. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I try to put client plays when I can as well.
I wasn't gonna do it today, but now I am,
and like so for me, Alcorn State's the worst team
in this league by margin, aside from Mississippi Valley State,
who's the worst arguably the worst team in the country. Yeah,
I feel like the books priced them similar for some reason,
and I disagree with that. I think Alcorn is a
lot closer to Mississippi Valley than they are to like
any other team in this league, and I just don't
agree with how the books have had them price. The
last couple games, Prairieview really impressive win on the road
at Southern, the team I thought was gonna win this
league coming into the year. I thought they played really
good against Arkansas Pine Bluff the other day. So again
I saw the minus two, I felt like that was
way off. So for our parlay, rob It's gonna be
Prairie View moneyline minus one fifty five, and then the
other leg of our parlay will be the Sacred Heart
team total over seventy two and a half while I
run a price on that. Is there anything you'd like
to promo for today?
Speaker 3: Well, let's obviously promo our package, double the CBB Firepower,
that includes three days of all of mine and Adams selections,
all clients selections for three day period. You can purchase
that on either Adams page my page. Just go to
wager talk dot com. You can purchase it fifty nine
dollars US for three days. As I mentioned on this
Saturday show when we were round with Kelly on Last
Call for wager Talk Saturday version of Last Call, there's
really no bad three day period to purchase. Because of
the way college basketball is dispersed nowadays, you're going to
get a lot of plays. I'm a little less as
far as bank roll, but more volume. I don't even
know if I'm more volume because Adam you have your
share of plays too, but a little stronger on your
percentage play. So for whatever, guys, whatever your needs are,
you can get the two of us. You see that
I like more totals, Adam likes more sides. It's a
real good combination package in that respect to double the
CBB Firepower three days, all of our selections including five percenters,
just fifty nine dollars.
Speaker 1: All right for you.
Speaker 2: Money Line, Sacred Heart Team total over seventy two and
a half plus two fourteen odds. Hopefully we get this
one today and we'll see you guys tomorrow