Predictions for Feb 8th

Record: 81 - 25 ( 9-4 GOTD )


Games of the day

Notre Dame at DePaul
The Blue Demons have been quite competitive at home while Notre Dame continues to struggle mightily on the road, minus their win over disappointing Syracuse on Jan 30th. Since that win though, they've dropped two winnable games at St. John's and South Florida. Notre Dame doesn't match up well with athletic teams that play tight man to man so common sense would tell you they'd drop another road game to a team like DePaul. However, DePaul is one of the worst teams in the country guarding against the 3 ( and the 14th worst in the Big East ). I think Notre Dame shoots themselves to a win like in their aforementioned game against the Orange in the Carrier Dome.

Notre Dame 74 DePaul 69

Drexel at Hofstra
A game that features two very different teams. Which will win out? Drexel's inside game represented by 6'9 220 C Frank Elegar ( 14.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg ) and 6'10 235 F Chaz Crawford ( 6.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 3.7 bpg ) or Hofstra's three headed guard trio in Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio, and Carlos Rivera ( combined 52 ppg, 10.7 rpg, and 9.4 apg )?

Hofstra's undefeated at home with a couple of nice in-conference wins over VCU and Old Dominion. Drexel has been struggling as of late having lost three out of their last five home games. Both teams need wins to try to get into the tournament as an at large team. Hofstra's guard play will be too much in a well played, close game.

Hofstra 75 Drexel 68

Stanford at Washington State
These two teams are on fire lately - particularly Stanford, who has seemed to secure a tournament bid for themselves as of now. Wazzu is incredibly tough to beat at home with blowout wins over Washington and Gonzaga along with an OT win over Arizona. The Cardinal had an exciting win in overtime over the Cougars last time they met this year at Stanford.

I expect the same back and forth game tonight, but you've got to go with the home team in this one. However, all bets are off if Washington State has another second half like they did against Arizona State this past Saturday. Seriously, 12 points.

Washington State 76 Stanford 72

Western Kentucky at South Alabama
Western Kentucky, who the media picked to have preseason POY Courtney Lee and to finish first in the Sun Belt , have been dropping a lot of road games recently. That includes losses to middle of the road SBC teams like UA-Little Rock ( without Lee ), Arkansas State, and North Texas. On the other side of things, South Alabama is headed in a different direction, having won 10 in a row. They've also taken over possession of first place in the process which is a huge surprise considering they lost 7 key players off their tournament team from a year ago. The Jaguars are a much different team since their 22 point loss at WKU earlier this season and I can't see them dropping this game.

South Alabama 74 Western Kentucky 63

AEC
Hartford 68 New Hampshire 65
Boston U. 59 Binghamton 53
Vermont 84 UM-BC 61

A-10
Massachusetts 81 Rhode Island 74

A-Sun
East Tennessee State 71 Jacksonville 68
Stetson 75 Campbell 70
Mercer 64 Gardner-Webb 55
Kennesaw State 78 North Florida 64

Big Sky
Montana State 79 Sacramento State 72
Idaho State 66 Northern Colorado 57
Portland State 74 Weber State 68

Big West
Long Beach State 79 Cal Poly 77
Cal State Fullerton 78 Pacific 72
UC Santa Barbara 73 UC Irvine 68
Cal State Northridge 74 UC Riverside 63

CAA
Virginia Commonwealth 73 George Mason 62

C-USA
Memphis 82 UAB 65

Independents
North Dakota State 80 IPFW 66
N.J.I.T. 58 South Dakota State 55

Horizon
Butler 74 Cleveland State 57
Wisconsin-Green Bay 71 Youngstown State 65

MAAC
Marist 78 Fairfield 69

Mid-Continent
Valparaiso 69 IUPUI 66
Oakland 83 Western Illinois 59
Southern Utah 65 Centenary 57
Oral Roberts 79 UMKC 65

MVC
Northern Iowa 70 Drake 60
Wichita State 73 Indiana State 64

NEC
Mt. Saint Mary's 79 St. Francis ( PA ) 64
Quinnipiac 81 Sacred Heart 75
Monmouth 78 Wagner 76

OVC
Tennessee Tech 81 Jacksonville State 64
Murray State 69 Eastern Kentucky 65
Austin Peay 80 Eastern Illinois 62
SE Missouri State 66 Morehead State 59

Pac-10
Oregon 76 Arizona State 55
Arizona 77 Oregon State 63
Washington 82 California 72

Southland
Northwestern State 82 Sam Houston State 79
UT-Arlington 76 Lamar 70
McNeese State 72 Texas State 65
SE Louisiana 69 UT-San Antonio 61
Texas A&M CC 81 Nicholls State 66

Sun Belt
FIU 68 Troy 62
North Texas 85 New Orleans 83
Louisiana Monroe 77 Middle Tennessee State 68
Arkansas State 75 UL-Lafayette 69
Denver 70 UA-Little Rock 66

WAC
San Jose State 74 Louisiana Tech 70
Nevada 80 Fresno State 72