(6) Vanderbilt -3.5 vs. (11) George Washington (O/U: 140)
It was an uninspiring season for both these squads, but they're here, so get used to it. The Commodores had their typical type of season, difficult to beat at home, difficult to get anything done right on the road. The difference this year, was their easy-as-pie non-conference schedule and a very mediocre SEC level of competition. Thus, despite their SEC quarterfinal flame-out, their strong RPI lifted them to a 6-seed. So what's good about Vanderbilt? They have upperclassmen leadership (they start two seniors and three juniors), they're a terrific perimeter shooting team and they can spread the floor pretty effectively and wear out a team's defense. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt's own defense has struggled at times this year, including in back-to-back losses to Arkansas to finish the season (the second coming in the SEC quarterfinals).
George Washington, as usual, was led by some strong guard play, Maureece Rice and Carl Elliott are a formidable duo, who fill in each other's strengths and weaknesses quite well in all aspects on the court. Unfortunately for the Colonials, they lack any real size: the biggest man in their rotation is their 6-9, 220 pound center, Dokun Akingbade. Karl Hobbs has built a decent team in D.C., this is their third straight trip to the big dance. But this is probably the weakest of the three teams, GW snuck through the A-10 tournament thanks to top seeds Xavier and Massachusetts getting upset before the Colonials had to face them.
The play to make: Vanderbilt might be the weakest 6-seed on the board, but luckily for them, they drew arguably the weakest 11-seed. George Washington strikes fear in the heart of nobody in this tournament. Vanderbilt -3.5 is a good play, but not a great one. If you expect Vanderbilt to win, then you expect them to have no trouble slowing down the pace of this game and cutting off GW's transition offense. Therefore, instead of laying the 3.5 points, I recommend sticking to the Under.
Who to take based on which mascot would win in a fight: This is probably the gayest mascot battle of the entire first round. Commodores vs. Colonials? Let's just move on. Edge: even
Who Suzy from accounting is taking: Ladies love guys with power, especially executive power, even if they've been dead for 200 years. Edge: George Washington
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1 comment:
Great work.
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