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NCAAB Play of the Day: Gonzaga Bulldogs at Pacific Tigers

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Sometimes the obvious is boring or misleading.  You see a line that is too good to be true and think, no I should stay away.  Fight the urge to be different on Thursday night when the #1 team in the nation the Gonzaga Bulldogs go on the road to face off against the Pacific Tigers.  The Zag’s put a beating on Pacific in their first matchup winning by 46 points in their first matchup of the year. We should see something similar in their second meeting.  

The Zags have won 5 of 6 by 22 points most recently beating and covering versus Pepperdine.  The Zags have so much depth that even if this game gets out of hand early the bench is still strong enough to dominate a terrible Pacific team.  The only chance Pacific has is to slow down the pace and force Gonzaga to defend and not run their offense.  The Tigers are slow ranking 272nd the nation in tempo, the problem is they don’t take advantage of their slow pace with an effective field goal percentage of 44.3%.  They don’t score nearly enough to truly compete. 

Laying 23 points on the road in a conference game is always a scary situation but Mark Few will have his guys ready to go and they will jump out early.  Pacific has no answer for Corey Kispert, Drew Timme or Jalen Suggs.  At each position there is a matchup nightmare.  Take the first half and the game spread.  I am playing the game spread for my play of the day because Pacific can’t score and the Zags can score at an insane rate.  

Play of the day: Gonzaga Bulldogs -23.5 

NCAAB Play of the Day: Seton Hall Pirates at Providence Friars

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A matchup between two of the most confusing teams in college basketball will take place on Wednesday night with the Seton Hall Pirates face off against the Providence Friars.  This Big East showdown could be a potential eliminator for a shot at a birth in the NCAA tournament.  

Seton Hall is coming off of one of the toughest stretches of any team in the country.  Playing Villanova, Creighton and Villanova over their current three game losing streak.  The Pirates have been a predictable team when it comes to SU wins and losses.  They have beaten the teams they should and lost to the teams they should.  With no marquee wins on their resume they cannot afford another let down to a mid-tier Big East foe.  They have done most of their damage offensively this season by penetrating the paint and making things happen.  Currently they rank in the top 25 in offensive efficiency and effective shooting percentage.  They get to the foul line a lot and shoot at a high percentage.  

Providence is coming off of a loss to Georgetown, where they blew a ten point second half lead.  The Friars lean on the two man show of guard David Duke and center Nat Watson, both average double digits and take over a large amount of the usage rate on the offense.  In the first matchup with Seton Hall they were able to combine for 41 points and 21 rebounds.  The Friars are a strange statistical team, they rank 199th in effective field goal percentage, yet they rank top 50 in adjusted offense according to Kenpom.  They have the ability to put the ball in the hoop but they will be without a key component in point guard Jerad Bynum who sliced up the Seton Hall defense last time they played scoring 9 points and adding 8 assists. 

Providence was able to defeat Seton Hall in their first matchup of the year because they shot 9-18 from three and the Friars had Jerad Bynum.  Seton Hall has issues defending the three but without Bynum the Friars won’t be able to penetrate the defense as easiliy which should allow the Pirates guards to stay home on the shooters.  Seton Hall is in need of a win and they will lean on their star Sandro Mamukelishvli.  This game has a -1.5 spread,  I would lean going with the spread but I figure why not just go ML to be safe.  

Play of the day: Seton Hall ML (-130)