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| HOOPS UPSETS ON THE WAY THIS WEEK - AGAIN
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January 11, 2011
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Daniel, SCS.com Staff Writer
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Contact Daniel
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 Conference play is underway, but I’m not going to lie: it’s not a great week of college hoops. That’s a shame, considering college football season ended last night. Still, after watching Upset Saturday this weekend, it appears there are some more on the way. It’s a cop-out to pick a good-but-not-great home team to beat a visiting ranked team, but I’ll do it anyway this week—several times. I have no shame, and nobody to answer to if I’m wrong.
GAMES OF INTEREST
Syracuse at St. John’s
Wednesday 6 p.m.
The Orange put their undefeated record on the line at the Garden against Steve Lavin’s surprising St. John’s team, which lost its first Big East game at Notre Dame last week. The Red Storm is in the middle of a brutal Big East schedule; if they survive the stretch without a complete collapse, they’ll be NCAA tournament-bound.
Prediction: Syracuse 73, St. John’s 66
Georgia at Vanderbilt
Wednesday 7 p.m.
Georgia was everyone’s favorite sleeper during the pre-season, but a mediocre performance at the Old Spice Classic and a lack of marquee wins has kept them under the radar. Until Saturday, that is. UGA knocked off Kentucky in a game that surprised just about nobody, and now the Bulldogs are ranked. They’ll take that ranking on the road against Vanderbilt, a team that fell out of the polls after blowing a second-half lead at South Carolina.
Prediction: Vanderbilt 62, Georgia 60
UNLV at San Diego State
Wednesday 9 p.m.
For about 15 minutes last week, UNLV had BYU flustered at the Thomas and Mack Center. Jimmer Fredette was turning the ball over left and right and missed fix of his first six shots, and it appeared the Runnin’ Rebels may be on their way to the upset. Then, their maddening inconsistency took over, and the Cougars ran away with the game behind another stellar performance from Fredette. Lon Kruger’s still got a heck of a basketball team, which is why San Diego State can’t take it lightly, even at home. If UNLV can become disruptive defensively again, it’ll have a shot at the upset.
Prediction: San Diego State 72, UNLV 60
Missouri at Texas A&M
Saturday 12 p.m.
Mike Anderson has never defeated Texas A&M as Missouri’s head coach, and his team didn’t respond well to a conference road opener in an uncompetitive loss at Colorado this weekend. The Aggies’ methodical style of offense has been MU’s kryptonite, so this game is all about pace. If A&M makes it a halfcourt grinder, Mark Turgeon’s got a chance to drop Anderson’s career record against the Aggies to 0-5.
Prediction: Missouri 76, Texas A&M 75
Illinois at Wisconsin
Saturday 3 p.m.
In an interesting schedule move, Illinois and Wisconsin will meet just more than a week after playing in Champaign. The first contest saw a comfortable Illinois win, as Bruce Weber’s team shot lights out against a normally stout Badgers’ defense. Things are obviously different at the Kohl Center, though, and I’m not about to pick against Bo Ryan in that place.
Prediction: Wisconsin 56, Illinois 52
UCF at Southern Miss
Saturday 4 p.m
I hate to rain on UCF’s parade, but I’ve never seen a team with wins over Miami and Florida become so popular. I think Donnie Jones has a nice squad in his first season at Central Florida, but it’s not top-25 material. It proved that at Houston this weekend in a humbling loss. Southern Miss, a trendy team to finish in the top-3 of the C-USA this season, looked dreadful in a loss at Marshall this weekend but has an athletic, high-flying team that defends well under Larry Eustachy. Another “upset” is on the way this weekend.
Prediction: Southern Mississippi 80, UCF 60
Last week’s prediction record: 4-4
Overall prediction record: 48-26
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