GDT: SLU vs. SFA

[Bay Area Billiken]

CBS Sports line is SLU -3, o145.

[dlarry]

Gimme the Bills and the Over.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Caesar’s Sportsbook has SLU -3.5.

ESPN.com Matchup Predictor has SLU with 75.8% chance to win.

[brianstl]

For all the talk about the trouble we had against the zone, we were pretty good offensively last night averaging 1.1 points per possession.  We have to play better defensively tonight.  

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, brianstl said:

For all the talk about the trouble we had against the zone, we were pretty good offensively last night averaging 1.1 points per possession.  We have to play better defensively tonight.  

agreed.  Was almost like we were so focused on how to beat the zone, we lapsed on D

[Old guy]

Disagree, I think the hustle put out by IL State threw off our ball handling and caused an excess of turn overs that we had trouble controlling. As Taj mentioned the refs sucked.

[3star_recruit]

With that big three of Reeves, Chatman and Freeman, Illinois State will make a lot of defenses look bad this year.

[someoneelse]

18 minutes ago, Old guy said:

Disagree, I think the hustle put out by IL State threw off our ball handling and caused an excess of turn overs that we had trouble controlling. As Taj mentioned the refs sucked.

Do we know who the refs are tonight?  I understand if that information is kept secret, but how many refs are in Cancun right now?

[billikenbill]

19 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

With that big three of Reeves, Chatman and Freeman, Illinois State will make a lot of defenses look bad this year.

Agree, pretty solid club.

[HoosierPal]

Collins needs to simply lock down Kachelries.  He got way too many easy looks, open pathway to the rim, against SFA. 

Then our tandem of Linssen and Okoro need to neutralize Kensmil.  And can Hargroves handle Solomon?  Thatch may see more minutes as needed.

[RUBillsFan]

41 minutes ago, someoneelse said:

Do we know who the refs are tonight?  I understand if that information is kept secret, but how many refs are in Cancun right now?

It’s gotta be the same crew that reffed the game yesterday, right?  Why would they fly multiple officiating crews to Cancun.

[SLU_Nick]

What is the @The Wizline? 

For some reason I have a feeling it is going to be north of 3 points.  Might have to throw a little cash on the billies.  I bet Ill St +13 at -150 last night and that was easy.  Tonight the bills roll baby.  

[billikenfan05]

54 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

It’s gotta be the same crew that reffed the game yesterday, right?  Why would they fly multiple officiating crews to Cancun.

I'm pretty sure they've had 4 games per day. So they would have at least have 2 crews.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Sagarin has SLU by 6.3, rounded off to 6.

Ratings:  SLU- NET 52, Sagarin 53, ESPN BPI 57, Pomeroy 94, RPI 119;

                SFA- NET 142, Sagarin 121, ESPN BPI 184, Pomeroy 135, RPI 40.

While it should be a tough game, if SLU plays well, better than last night vs. ISU, SLU should win.

[HoosierPal]

What could possibly have ended up as a Q2 game v Buffalo is now likely to end up a Q3 game with SFA.  Oh well.

[Bay Area Billiken]

4 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

What could possibly have ended up as a Q2 game v Buffalo is now likely to end up a Q3 game with SFA.  Oh well.

That is a tough break for SLU, a slightly unanticipated one.  Buffalo's NET is 86.

[Compton]

This should be merged with the existing GDT

[NH]

15 minutes ago, Bay Area Billiken said:

That is a tough break for SLU, a slightly unanticipated one.  Buffalo's NET is 86.

The truth is that we don't know either team's NET because the NET rankings haven't been released yet. Also, it doesn't really matter what the NET is at the time you play a team, only what it is at the end of the season. For all we know Stephen F. Austin could easily pass Buffalo in the computer rankings (including NET) as the year goes on.

It seems to me that college basketball fans these days are way too quick to cite rankings such as KenPom or T-Rank this early in the season. Two years ago we started as KenPom 142 in the nation and finished the season 62. In 2014-2015 we started the season as KenPom 82 so a win against us on a neutral site in November would've looked like a solid win. We finished that year ranked 289th in the nation on KenPom.

Stephen F Austin is a good team with a lot of veterans who have won big games before (they won at Duke just two years ago). They have transfers from Texas A&M and Kansas coming off the bench. I don't feel confident about saying Buffalo would be a better win than SFA when it's all said and done.

[Bay Area Billiken]

7 minutes ago, NH said:

The truth is that we don't know either team's NET because the NET rankings haven't been released yet. Also, it doesn't really matter what the NET is at the time you play a team, only what it is at the end of the season. For all we know Stephen F. Austin could easily pass Buffalo in the computer rankings (including NET) as the year goes on.

 

An unofficial NET is out there, at cbssports.com, just like facsimiles of the RPI were out there. 

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/net/

[pierrelaclede]

Is this game being broadcast on television tonight? Can’t find that info anywhere. 

[billikenfan05]

8 minutes ago, pierrelaclede said:

Is this game being broadcast on television tonight? Can’t find that info anywhere. 

CBSSportsNet. All TV information is always available here https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule

[rgbilliken]

6 minutes ago, pierrelaclede said:

Is this game being broadcast on television tonight? Can’t find that info anywhere. 

The SLU athletics site posts it. Suggest bookmarking this: 2021-22 Men's Basketball Schedule - Saint Louis University (slubillikens.com)

Tonight's on CBSSports.

[billiken_roy]

2 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

With that big three of Reeves, Chatman and Freeman, Illinois State will make a lot of defenses look bad this year.

i was tremendously impressed with those three.

[3star_recruit]

20 minutes ago, NH said:

The truth is that we don't know either team's NET because the NET rankings haven't been released yet. Also, it doesn't really matter what the NET is at the time you play a team, only what it is at the end of the season. For all we know Stephen F. Austin could easily pass Buffalo in the computer rankings (including NET) as the year goes on.

It seems to me that college basketball fans these days are way too quick to cite rankings such as KenPom or T-Rank this early in the season. Two years ago we started as KenPom 142 in the nation and finished the season 62. In 2014-2015 we started the season as KenPom 82 so a win against us on a neutral site in November would've looked like a solid win. We finished that year ranked 289th in the nation on KenPom.

Stephen F Austin is a good team with a lot of veterans who have won big games before (they won at Duke just two years ago). They have transfers from Texas A&M and Kansas coming off the bench. I don't feel confident about saying Buffalo would be a better win than SFA when it's all said and done.

For the reasons you've cited, I think fans are better off using the eye test the first month of the season.  If a team consistently outperforms their early season ranking, it's obvious their early season ranking is wrong. There are teams who are ranked low because they lost their leading scorer only to have someone else unexpectedly emerge as a dominant scorer.

[wgstl]

SFA is 22nd in the nation in offensive rebounding, but also one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the nation at 272nd. Also they rank 33rd in steals per game