Happy Valley Hoops » Big Ten Teams

BTN studio crew previews 08-09 season

UncleLar — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:01:46 +0000

More troubles at Indiana

UncleLar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:54:33 +0000

In addition to Sampson’s firing, the self imposed scholarship sanctions, the dismissal of two players for undisclosed reasons, the LOI release of a couple of recruits, the departure of Eric Gordon to the NBA, there’s now an academic concern, at least according to HoosierNation.com.

Tom Crean blew out of San Antonio early, reportedly because of the academic issues. His only comments:

“I can’t elaborate, but it’s not good,” Crean said Monday. “We have a lot of work to do. It’s a situation that has to be addressed immediately.”

Jim Jackson previews the NBA draft

UncleLar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:05:42 +0000

DownloadJackson gives his assessment of Eric Gordon et al.

Final Four Predictions

UncleLar — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:32:40 +0000

My prediction juggernaut rolled on with a perfect Elite eight:

16-0 on the first day
10-6 on day two
14-2 in the Round of 32
7-1 for the Sweet Sixteen
4-0 for the Elite Eight
51-9 overall

Memphis has improved their power rankings to almost draw dead even with UCLA. I have the Bruins as a slight favorite over Memphis.

Game Predictions

Kansas 77 North Carolina 73 – win
UCLA 65.8 Memphis 65.5 – loss

Elite Eight Game Predictions

UncleLar — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:12:30 +0000

I’ve continued on my hot streak:

16-0 on the first day
10-6 on day two
14-2 in the Round of 32
7-1 for the Sweet Sixteen
47-9 overall

My predictions for the rest of the weekend:

Elite Eight
North Carolina	72	Louisville	70	W
Kansas	76	Davidson	65	W
Memphis	71	Texas	68	W
UCLA	68	Xavier	63	W

Sweet Sixteen Game Predictions

UncleLar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:06:22 +0000

I’m absolutely thrilled the way the predictions have gone so far.

16-0 on the first day
10-6 on day two
14-2 in the Round of 32
40-8 overall

I’m looking forward to seeing how the Sweet Sixteen play out.

Here are the picks:

Sweet Sixteen
North Carolina	71	Washington St.	69	W
Louisville	69	Tennessee	67	W
Kansas	77	Villanova	62	W
Wisconsin	68	Davidson	59	L
Memphis	68	Michigan St.	64	W
Stanford	66.7	Texas	67.0	W
UCLA	73	Western Kentucky	59	W
Xavier	67.0	West Virginia	66.6	W

BTN: Michigan State/Memphis preview

UncleLar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:38:14 +0000

Download BTN previews Michigan State vs Memphis

Against the Odds (Round of 32)

UncleLar — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:26:17 +0000

My opening round picks against the odds finished at 8-4. Best of all, my top four picks, i.e. those with the biggest delta vs Vegas, were all winners. If I were a betting man that would be nice money in my pocket.

Here’s the picks for the round of 32 using the same criteria, my predicted spread must be at least three points greater than Vegas line. The number in parens represents my delta from the Vegas prediction.

North Carolina over Arkansas by 12 – pick Arkansas (3.9) – loss
UCLA over Texas A&M by 10.5 – pick A&M (3.8) – loss
Pitt over Michigan St by 2.5 – pick Michigan St (3.6) – win
Kansas over UNLV by 13.0 – pick Kansas (3.2) – win

Round of 32 Updated Predictions

UncleLar — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:40:27 +0000

The first round saw me finish a highly respectable 26-6 (and atop my pool). Here are the latest predictions for the second round.

The power ranking adjustments do call for one change from my previous predictions. I now have Stanford defeating Marquette.

Round of 32
North Carolina	78	Arkansas	70	W
Notre Dame	66	Washington St.	69	W
Oklahoma	59	Louisville	65	W
Butler	68	Tennessee	71	W
Kansas	76	Nevada Las Vegas	60	W
Villanova	71	Siena	65	W
Kansas St.	62	Wisconsin	66	W
Davidson	62	Georgetown	68	L
Memphis	69	Mississippi St.	60	W
Michigan St.	69	Pittsburgh	68	W
Marquette	64	Stanford	65	W
Miami FL	66	Texas	74	W
UCLA	66	Texas A&M	59	W
Western Kentucky	67	San Diego St.	64	W
Purdue	65	Xavier	66	W
West Virginia	68	Duke	71	L

Against the Odds (Opening Round)

UncleLar — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:05:06 +0000

Now that Penn State’s season is over and the NCAA’s are hear, I thought I’d have a little fun with my power rankings (or maybe I should say Ken Pomeroy’s since my ratings are lock step in sync with his).

I’ve been predicting game scores all year long but have never actually compared them to the Vegas odds. I’m going to try a little experiment with the tournament. I’m going to compare my predicted spread with the Vegas spread. If my number differs from the Vegas number by three or more points, I’ll list the game. Anything less than three I’ll just stay away from.

Here are the games that fit that bill for the first round (in declining order of confidence). I list the game with the Vegas line, then my pick with the difference between my line and the Vegas line in parenthesis so you get a feel for the level of confidence.

Wisconsin over Cal St-Fullerton by 11.5 – pick Wisconsin (8.5) – win
Texas over Austin Peay by 16.5 – pick Texas (4.7) – win
Louisville over Boise St by 13.5 – pick Louisville (4.7) – win
Southern Cal over Kansas St by 2.0 – pick Kansas St (4.5) – win
Duke over Belmont by 19.5 – pick Duke (4.4) – loss
UCLA over Miss Valley St by 32 – pick UCLA (3.9) – win
Xavier over Georgia by 7.5 – pick Xavier (3.8) – win
Pitt over Oral Roberts by 10.0 – pick Oral Roberts (3.6) – loss
Davidson over Gonzaga by 2.0 – pick Gonzaga (3.4) – loss
Kent St over UNLV by 2.0 – pick UNLV (3.2) – win
Kentucky over Marquette by 4.5 – pick Kentucky (3.1) – loss
Washington St over Winthrop by 8.5 – pick Wash St (3.1) – win

This should give me a little more incentive to pay attention as I watch the games.