Marquette at South Florida tips weekend action
Marquette at South Florida tips weekend action
Buzz Williams and the Golden Eagles look to move to 10-0 in Big East play Friday night when Marquette travels to Tampa to meet the South Florida Bulls. If early market trends continue, we could see the line move from the current 9-point favoring of Marquette into double digits. Then again, maybe not. As we've seen recently, anything and everything is possible in college hoops action this season.
The Big East Conference was born in 1979 with seven teams. You call that Big?
Over the past 30 years, the Big East has ballooned more quickly than Pamela Anderson. They’ve got 16 teams now; we’ll see two of the latest arrivals on Friday (at 7:00 p.m. Eastern) when the University of South Florida Bulls (7-14 SU, 11-9 ATS, No. 109 Pomeroy) host the Marquette Golden Eagles (20-2 SU, 10-6-1 ATS, No. 22 Pomeroy) in college hoops action.
The early betting odds had USF getting nine points – and they’ll need them. The school has only been involved in basketball since 1971, joining the Big East along with Marquette and three other programs in 2005. This is a conference where 10 teams could receive March Madness bids, and the Bulls are definitely not one of them. They’ve never reached the Big East tournament (although that’ll change this year, with all 16 clubs qualifying), and they’ve lost two of their key players for the season to the dreaded torn ACL: forward Mobolaji Ajayi and point guard Mike Mercer.
Problem No. 1 in South Florida is shooting. No matter where they are on the floor, the Bulls have trouble finding the bottom of the net: 3-pointers (32.2 percent, or No. 244 in Division I), 2-pointers (44.9 percent, No. 271) and especially the free-throw line (58.7 percent, No. 340). The bulk of the offense goes through Dominique Jones, the brilliant sophomore guard who leads USF in almost every major category, starting with 18.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Things aren’t going much better on the defensive end. Jones and the Bulls are decent on the perimeter, holding opponents to 31.7 percent (No. 54) from beyond the 3-point line. But South Florida falls to No. 102 overall against 2-point shots at 46.1 percent allowed, and the Bulls don’t grab enough rebounds, block enough shots or generate enough turnovers to compensate for this deficiency.
Despite these flaws, USF was making a mint in the first half of the season at 11-6 ATS. That’s when Ajayi (3.7 points, 4.7 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game) tore up his right knee during a practice session on Jan. 22, robbing the Bulls of one of their top reserves. They’ve gone 0-3 SU and ATS since. Thanks to the dwindling bench, Jones has had to play 36.5 minutes per game this year, including the full 40 minutes in three straight appearances last month.
All of those headaches are magnified in the Big East. USF has played the fourth-toughest schedule in Division I thus far, facing the No. 1-ranked collection of defenses in terms of efficiency. Fortunately for the Bulls, Marquette’s forte is at the other end of the court. The undersized Golden Eagles are No. 53 in defensive efficiency, and they’re helped in that department by the poor free-throw shooting of their opponents (68.3 percent, No. 150).
The Eagles sure can score, though. They’ve cut a swath through the Big East with the No. 6-ranked offense in the nation, protecting the ball at all times and getting to the charity stripe on a regular basis. The terrific trio of Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Dominic James is responsible for 57.1 points per game, with McNeal (20.0 points, 3.8 assists per game) on the verge of passing George Thompson for the team’s all-time scoring record.
Marquette has swept the past seven meetings with USF dating back to 2000; however, the Bulls covered each of the last three since 2005, nearly pulling off the upset in their previous encounter in Tampa two seasons ago before losing 70-68 as 6-point puppies. Their chances of doing so again without Ajayi and Mercer (who has been dismissed from the team for marijuana use) appear slim.
Early market surveys had a massive 95 percent of bettors on the Eagles in this matchup. Strong trends for the Over can be found for both clubs; Friday’s total is currently 130½.
Buzz Williams and the Golden Eagles look to move to 10-0 in Big East play Friday night when Marquette travels to Tampa to meet the South Florida Bulls. If early market trends continue, we could see the line move from the current 9-point favoring of Marquette into double digits. Then again, maybe not. As we've seen recently, anything and everything is possible in college hoops action this season.
The Big East Conference was born in 1979 with seven teams. You call that Big?
Over the past 30 years, the Big East has ballooned more quickly than Pamela Anderson. They’ve got 16 teams now; we’ll see two of the latest arrivals on Friday (at 7:00 p.m. Eastern) when the University of South Florida Bulls (7-14 SU, 11-9 ATS, No. 109 Pomeroy) host the Marquette Golden Eagles (20-2 SU, 10-6-1 ATS, No. 22 Pomeroy) in college hoops action.
The early betting odds had USF getting nine points – and they’ll need them. The school has only been involved in basketball since 1971, joining the Big East along with Marquette and three other programs in 2005. This is a conference where 10 teams could receive March Madness bids, and the Bulls are definitely not one of them. They’ve never reached the Big East tournament (although that’ll change this year, with all 16 clubs qualifying), and they’ve lost two of their key players for the season to the dreaded torn ACL: forward Mobolaji Ajayi and point guard Mike Mercer.
Problem No. 1 in South Florida is shooting. No matter where they are on the floor, the Bulls have trouble finding the bottom of the net: 3-pointers (32.2 percent, or No. 244 in Division I), 2-pointers (44.9 percent, No. 271) and especially the free-throw line (58.7 percent, No. 340). The bulk of the offense goes through Dominique Jones, the brilliant sophomore guard who leads USF in almost every major category, starting with 18.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Things aren’t going much better on the defensive end. Jones and the Bulls are decent on the perimeter, holding opponents to 31.7 percent (No. 54) from beyond the 3-point line. But South Florida falls to No. 102 overall against 2-point shots at 46.1 percent allowed, and the Bulls don’t grab enough rebounds, block enough shots or generate enough turnovers to compensate for this deficiency.
Despite these flaws, USF was making a mint in the first half of the season at 11-6 ATS. That’s when Ajayi (3.7 points, 4.7 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game) tore up his right knee during a practice session on Jan. 22, robbing the Bulls of one of their top reserves. They’ve gone 0-3 SU and ATS since. Thanks to the dwindling bench, Jones has had to play 36.5 minutes per game this year, including the full 40 minutes in three straight appearances last month.
All of those headaches are magnified in the Big East. USF has played the fourth-toughest schedule in Division I thus far, facing the No. 1-ranked collection of defenses in terms of efficiency. Fortunately for the Bulls, Marquette’s forte is at the other end of the court. The undersized Golden Eagles are No. 53 in defensive efficiency, and they’re helped in that department by the poor free-throw shooting of their opponents (68.3 percent, No. 150).
The Eagles sure can score, though. They’ve cut a swath through the Big East with the No. 6-ranked offense in the nation, protecting the ball at all times and getting to the charity stripe on a regular basis. The terrific trio of Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Dominic James is responsible for 57.1 points per game, with McNeal (20.0 points, 3.8 assists per game) on the verge of passing George Thompson for the team’s all-time scoring record.
Marquette has swept the past seven meetings with USF dating back to 2000; however, the Bulls covered each of the last three since 2005, nearly pulling off the upset in their previous encounter in Tampa two seasons ago before losing 70-68 as 6-point puppies. Their chances of doing so again without Ajayi and Mercer (who has been dismissed from the team for marijuana use) appear slim.
Early market surveys had a massive 95 percent of bettors on the Eagles in this matchup. Strong trends for the Over can be found for both clubs; Friday’s total is currently 130½.
