cliche but true.... when it seems too good to be true, it most likely is.
I see and hear alot of people salivating over the Uconn +7 (opened at +7.5) today. Because Uconn has beat some superior opponents, and doesn't have an ugly loss ( that gets uglier by the day) to a schizo Tenn team
when capping college sports, you have to pay alot more attention to situations, and the psychological mindset of the players. We are dealing with 18 year old kids often times here.
don't just look at stats and previous games and rely on that, when putting your money on the table.
first of all, in general think of this.... the calender.
its two days after Christmas.... these predominately 18-19 year olds had to travel from school, to home (most of them in their first 4 months away from home ever) back to school RIGHT after Christmas.
there was no time for the great Jim Calhoun to get his young team ready for this game. And the travel couldn't have been easy... or won't be...considering the weather conditions.
This is the first True road game of the year for Uconn.... all other games have been at home or on a neutral court, in places like Hawaii.
The Oakland Zoo, will be rocking in the Peterson Events Center (the pete). This is maybe the most hotly contested Rivalry in big east hoops over the past 10 years. The game has been sold out for many days, but they just released another 200+ standing room only seats yesterday.
The Pete, is one of the toughest places to get in a win in the big east, if not all of college basketball.
NOW FOR THE BIGGEST FACTOR.
These Uconn team is relying on a freshmen heavy lineup. We all know about Jr. Gaurd Kemba Walker, but after that, the rotation relies exclusively on freshmen and sophmores. For the freshmen this is the first ever road game.
and more importantly their first ever BIG EAST game. the Big East play, with Big East officials is just a whole 'nother world compared to what these kids have experience so far. Its baptism by fire.
Basically Pitt only needed to scheme for Kemba Walker for this game, and keep him to a solid 20-25 points, and the other contributors should be peeing in their shorts during most of this game.
Pitt does not have the athletes or 1 man scoring punch to compare to Uconn's. But what Pitt does have is a "program" run by a top 10 Coach in the nation, who takes decent basketball players, and turns them into complete Team players that by into the Philosophy.
There is a reason Pitt has been so consistent this decade.
There is a reason that this team leads the Nation in Assists
There is a reason that this team is a top 5 rebounding team.
There is a reason that year after year, Pitt takes inferior athletes and beats superior athletes.
Pitt players have been, being prepared for this game for 2,3,4,5 years in some cases (Gilbert Brown)
Uconn Players have been, being prepared for this game with a practice or two, a couple walk throughs, and some chalk talk....
I see and hear alot of people salivating over the Uconn +7 (opened at +7.5) today. Because Uconn has beat some superior opponents, and doesn't have an ugly loss ( that gets uglier by the day) to a schizo Tenn team
when capping college sports, you have to pay alot more attention to situations, and the psychological mindset of the players. We are dealing with 18 year old kids often times here.
don't just look at stats and previous games and rely on that, when putting your money on the table.
first of all, in general think of this.... the calender.
its two days after Christmas.... these predominately 18-19 year olds had to travel from school, to home (most of them in their first 4 months away from home ever) back to school RIGHT after Christmas.
there was no time for the great Jim Calhoun to get his young team ready for this game. And the travel couldn't have been easy... or won't be...considering the weather conditions.
This is the first True road game of the year for Uconn.... all other games have been at home or on a neutral court, in places like Hawaii.
The Oakland Zoo, will be rocking in the Peterson Events Center (the pete). This is maybe the most hotly contested Rivalry in big east hoops over the past 10 years. The game has been sold out for many days, but they just released another 200+ standing room only seats yesterday.
The Pete, is one of the toughest places to get in a win in the big east, if not all of college basketball.
NOW FOR THE BIGGEST FACTOR.
These Uconn team is relying on a freshmen heavy lineup. We all know about Jr. Gaurd Kemba Walker, but after that, the rotation relies exclusively on freshmen and sophmores. For the freshmen this is the first ever road game.
and more importantly their first ever BIG EAST game. the Big East play, with Big East officials is just a whole 'nother world compared to what these kids have experience so far. Its baptism by fire.
Basically Pitt only needed to scheme for Kemba Walker for this game, and keep him to a solid 20-25 points, and the other contributors should be peeing in their shorts during most of this game.
Pitt does not have the athletes or 1 man scoring punch to compare to Uconn's. But what Pitt does have is a "program" run by a top 10 Coach in the nation, who takes decent basketball players, and turns them into complete Team players that by into the Philosophy.
There is a reason Pitt has been so consistent this decade.
There is a reason that this team leads the Nation in Assists
There is a reason that this team is a top 5 rebounding team.
There is a reason that year after year, Pitt takes inferior athletes and beats superior athletes.
Pitt players have been, being prepared for this game for 2,3,4,5 years in some cases (Gilbert Brown)
Uconn Players have been, being prepared for this game with a practice or two, a couple walk throughs, and some chalk talk....
, I know you mentioned the sell-out crowd just wondering how many no-shows there will be with weather & students on break,
