Providence at Syracuse
2/2/10
For today we head up to Syracuse where the Orangemen take on Providence. This Game has the potential to be an obliteration. Yes, the number is high at -15.5, but perhaps not high enough. Syracuse is arguably the best team in the country. They are certainly one of about 5 teams that should be the frontrunners come Tourney time.
Providence on the other hand, well, they aren’t very good. Their claim to fame is knocking of UCONN last week at home. That win seemed bigger at the time. But now UCONN looks to be fading fast. It looks as though Providence caught the Huskies at the right time. No such luck tonight for the Friars.
As mentioned before on these pages, we play hoops primarily by the numbers. If Our numbers is off significantly from the line, we play. We use a fairly complex method of arriving at a predicted Scorefor every Game on the board. This method takes into account many variables, one of which is Schedule strength and a teams performance against opponents similar to the opponent they are playing in their current Game.
However, you really don’t need complex formulas to handicap a Game such as this one tonight. You can learn plenty by just taking a look at what each team has done up to this point in the season. When you do that with these two teams you can help but notice the difference. Take a look at Providence on the road against “good teams”. They lost by 30 points at Marquette on Jan 17th. They lost by 22 points at Louisville on Jan 6th. They lost by 15 at Notre Dame prior to that.
This is another Game where the favored team can pretty much name their score. They talent gap is that wide here. It all comes down to the focus and attention that Syracuse give Providence. Will they overlook them? Will they get caught sleeping? That’s doubtful. Syracuse just escaped a trip to 8-13 Depaul with a narrow 59-57 win. They were down 18 points in the first half and scored 16 straight to cut the margin to 2 points and then went on another run of 16-2 in the 2nd half. That’s a 32-2 run if you combine the two!
Syracuse shot just 42% in that Game. The last time they shot 42% was their lone loss to Pitt. Next Game they came out and shot 54% and buried Memphis by 17. Talent and a hall of fame coach makes the margin wide here. Very unlikely you’ll see anything less than a 100% fully focused effort tonight from the Orange. Jim Boeheim will see to it, that much you can count on.
We’re going to call for a total wipe out tonight as Syracuse gives 100% from start to finish.. Syracuse 97-70. Syracuse -16
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