JoePa's College Hoops - 3/8

[joepa66]

JOEPA'S UPDATED YTD: 455 - 379 - 26
UNITS: +21.00
MAC: 86 - 51 - 8
Halfs: 27 - 19 - 1
3/7: 4 - 1
SCRF: 50 - 52 - 2

Ah, me loves The Madness with games throughout the day! FYI, the MAC tournament first round games are played on the higher seeds home court.

PRINCETON -2 vs. Pennsylvania W
CONNECTICUT -14 vs. DePaul W
SETON HALL -3.5 vs. Rutgers L
LASALLE +5 vs. St. Bonaventure W.....SU
AKRON -12 vs. Eastern Michigan W
BUFFALO -12.5 vs. Central Michigan W
BOWLING GREEN -8 vs. Northern Illinois W
OAKLAND -4.5 vs. Oral Roberts W
NORTH TEXAS -3.5 vs. Arkansas Little Rock L
ST. JOE'S +8.5 vs. George Washington W......SU


OVEN MITT YTD: 42 - 43
3/7: 0 - 1

"DEFINITELY"
VILLANOVA -9.5 vs. South Florida L



GL to ya!

[joepa66]

Heads up on Northern Illinois player Xavier Silas!

Huskies will be without leading scorer in MAC tourney
By RYAN WOOD - rwood@daily-chronicle.com

DeKALB – Only an hour before, Bowling Green men’s basketball coach Louis Orr confirmed what everyone was thinking the past three weeks.

He didn’t just expect Northern Illinois senior Xavier Silas to play in today’s Mid-American Conference first-round game against the Falcons at Anderson Arena, he expected Silas to play well. He expected him to play like the leading scorer in the MAC, like one of the conference’s premier players, the way he has all season.

“This is his senior year. This is his last MAC tournament,” Orr said. “You’ve got to expect him to play.”

Then an hour passed.

When it was his turn on Monday’s MAC basketball teleconference, NIU coach Ricardo Patton said Silas’ high and low left-ankle sprain will keep the Huskies’ star out of today’s 6 p.m. game. Silas didn’t even make the trip to Bowling Green.

“It’s been a tremendous loss,” said Patton, who was told Silas’ ankle wasn’t ready Sunday. “Any time you take the leading scorer off any team, it puts more pressure on someone else to step up. Most of us, particularly at this level, just don’t have a second guy who can handle the load.”

Silas was injured Feb. 15 during the second half of a home loss to Western Michigan. He tried to re-enter the game after a couple possessions but was immediately subbed out again. He’s rested since then, missing the past three games, and the plan was for him to be healthy this week.

Instead, Silas’ injury is the lowlight in what has become a disastrous problem for the Huskies. They also will be without point guard Bryan Hall when they tipoff against the Falcons, and freshman Nate Rucker is questionable after rolling his ankle at Ball State on Saturday. Michael Patton is likely to play despite some lingering Achilles tendon issues.

Add it all up and it seems clear the bulk of the pressure will fall on senior Jeremy Landers and junior Tim Toler, the Huskies’ two best remaining players. Neither played when NIU lost at home to Bowling Green, 73-70, in overtime Feb. 2.

Toler had perhaps his best game this season with 17 points, 10 rebounds and three assists at Ball State. Landers tied a career high with 17 points, grabbed six rebounds and had three blocks in a senior-night win against Eastern Michigan on Wednesday.

“It’s important for me to be aggressive on the offensive end, but I’m not Xavier. I can’t be,” Landers said. “I can’t fill his shoes. What I can do is, if my teammates keep getting me open, I can make shots.

“I’m not blessed with (Silas’) ability, but what I can do I will do to the best of my abilities.”

Even before he knew Silas was unavailable, Orr said he was concerned about more than NIU’s top player. When asked if his game plan focused on stopping Silas, Orr said his goal was to prevent any NIU player from getting open shots.

“They’re team is more than just Xavier Silas,” Orr said. “We have to guard everybody. ... They’re a better team with (Silas), but you can’t disrespect the other players on that team.”

It’s a stretch, but the silver lining for the Huskies is they’re 2-1 without Silas the past three games. Those wins came against the two worst teams in the MAC West, Toledo and Eastern Michigan, but they were still wins.

And at this point, Patton could take anything.

“It gives the players confidence that they’re capable,” Patton said. “A lot of things have to go well for you.”

[joepa66]

Added Akron & LaSalle at the top!

[Nicky Santoro]

With ya on LaSalle, let's get 'em coach!!:beerbang:

[Woody12]

Thansk for the info on BG-NIU...I was going big on NIU actually until I knew this.

[joepa66]

Woody....no problem, that's what makes this forum so great!

[joepa66]

Added MAC plays and Oven Mitt's play at the top of this thread!

[joepa66]

It's March Madness and I can't help myself.....added two more plays at the top.....St. Joe's and North Tejas!

[NoOfense]

What do you think about Dayton JoePa, seems to be a popular play today... the line does seem a little fishy though


Also Joe, Do you know of anywhere I can get the up to the second stats of the MAC tourny games....The MAC Tourny website is being a little weird, and the links aren't working...

[joepa66]

Sorry, didn't see your post NoO.......I use the Espn link for scores and you can watch the box scores or game plan!

[joepa66]

JOEPA'S UPDATED YTD: 463 - 381 - 26
UNITS: +26.00
MAC: 89 - 51 - 8
Halfs: 27 - 19 - 1
3/8: 8 - 2
SCRF: 50 - 52 - 2




OVEN MITT YTD: 42 - 44
3/8: 0 - 1



GL to ya!