Game Thread: UMASS @ St. Louis (Thursday 1/10/13)

[El Shaqtus]

This is pretty fun actually.

UMass fans are quite entertaining.

[El Shaqtus]

If every game is this much fun, it will be quite the season.

[KwamainInTheMembrane]

Originally Posted by z8-Minutemen

I predict UMass by 10. STL lack of talent will prove to be too much to overcome when facing a UMass team that takes them out of their element. Remekun and Loe are not A-10 quality starters and a surging Esho will eat them up down low.

First and foremost I should say that I respect UMass a lot. I think you're a talented bunch and have a definite chance to make an NCAA push this year.

Y'all were our only double digit loss last year and you took it to us from the opening tip. As such, I expect SLU to come into the game fired up and with a strong game plan. Both teams will probably be very into it from the go.

Perhaps you were just trying to rile us up (I read on your board that SLU is the most hated A-10 school, yikes), but the Santa Clara comment was a bit strange. Ken Pomeroy has Santa Clara rated roughly 50 spots above you guys if I'm correct. Even in RPI you were only 14 spots above them when I looked.

Remekun is shooting 67% from the field and blocking 2 shots a game. Additionally, his highest scoring games have come against Kansas, Texas A&M and New Mexico. If that's not an A-10 quality starter then I guess I should be very worried for the bigs in the league this year.

Admittedly Loe has not had a great season. But he does have the ability to bring opposing big men outside and when he is playing really well we are nearly unbeatable. But as our former coach said "Starting is for High School." That mantra is borne out in Loe's being seventh on our team in minutes.

I take some offense to your comment on our "lack of talent." If we are not that talented, how is it that you would define talent? Number of dunks? Ankle-breaking crossovers? You certainly don't define it in terms of things like shooting ability, assist/to ratio or defensive efficiency, all areas in which SLU kills UMass.

Both teams enter on long winning streaks (SLU-8, Umass-7) and with high expectations for conference season. I expect a close contest. But unless UMass gets very hot from deep or SLU turns the ball over a lot, I think our billikens will pull this one out at home.

[LastMinuteman]

We can beat Saint Louis, but there hasn't been a game this season in which I thought we played well enough to beat a team like Saint Louis. Especially on the road, I think the usual culprits of poor shot selection and shaky rebounding will do us in. Throwing up stupid shots and wasting possessions against a team that slows things down and shortens the game like Saint Louis is going to kill us.

But if the score is close late, god knows UMass knows how to win those games. SLU doesn't do close games. They only have one win decided by less than 7 points. Which, frankly, speaks well of them, especially as a low scoring team. UMass only has two wins decided by more than 7 points. I'm going to pretend that's an advantage for us. What it probably really means is that SLU will always be in this game, but UMass might not.

[jjw23]

Z8, just stop. Your making us UMass fans look bad.

As far as the game is concerned, I'm really excited for it. I think UMass is more than capable of pulling off a win, however it is going to be a very difficult task.

[bdance]

What LastMinutemen said works for me. UMass will have to play their best game of the year just to stay in it.

[Knobby]

Originally Posted by waldo027

Why do you say they will be 6-8 point dogs? Just wondering where you got those numbers from.

Totally a guess...

[slufan13]

I think it's going to be a very very good game. Going into the season I really thought UMass was a tournament team with a chance to do some damage. They haven't had the best start to the season but they've had like 7 straight wins. Not over the best opponents but SLU's current 8 game streak hasn't had the best opponents either outside of New Mexico. In my opinion SLU's most questionable loss is actually Washington and not Santa Clara. Either way, both teams are settling in and starting to play much better. Kwamain Mitchell is still shaking off some rust for SLU, but he's had over 2 weeks now so I think he should be getting closer to being that 1st Team All Conference level player.

Pace will obviously be a big key for the game. If both teams score over 70, UMass would have to be heavy favorites. If both teams score under 60, SLU has a huge advantage. My guess is that it will probably be played in the 60's and that makes it a toss up. I'd give SLU the advantage because they're playing at home.

[bprichard]

I'd be amazed if either team broke 70.

[e-parade]

Originally Posted by bprichard

I'd be amazed if either team broke 70.

If UMass does it'll most likely be from either Riley or Morgan going nuts and hitting like 5/6 threes in only 4 minutes of game time.

[bprichard]

Originally Posted by Knobby

Totally a guess...

Wow. Actual overnight line is . . . St. Louis (-11). Go Billikens!

[ktabz16]

for those unfamiliar with this series, it can be quite intense. when st louis first joined the a10 in, umass and st louis played some terrific games. the first 3 games in a10 play resulted in a 2 point difference over the 3 games including a heartbreaking 3 point loss in ot that ended rashaun freeman and stephane lasme's hopes of playing in the ncaa tournament. umass became the lowest rpi team to not make the tourney that year (2007).

interestingly st louis beat umass in umass' last ncaa tournament game in 1998. if we have hopes of making the ncaa tournament this year, we'll need to exorcise our st louis demons and win there for the first time since the lou roe era. it's doable but st louis is really tough and virtually unbeatable in st louis. a win for umass will open a lot of eyes i think but i'm not sure we can string together 40 minutes of solid shooting and defense to take this one. my gut says st louis by 15 but i can also see umass by single digits. anything outside that range would surprise me.

[xu95]

Originally Posted by bprichard

Wow. Actual overnight line is . . . St. Louis (-11). Go Billikens!

Line is still -11. I have no confidence in a pick one way or the other on this one. I think St. Louis wins, but 11 is a lot of points.

[uz2b-len]

I really don't know how to predict any UMass game because I don't know the opposing players well enough. But last night was a message about how tough it is to win on the road. I know the Billikens won't be taking this game lightly, after what happened last year. I will be curious to see what they do to slow us down, and how the Minutemen, especially Chaz Williams, respond to it.

[Twister]

Originally Posted by bprichard

Wow. Actual overnight line is . . . St. Louis (-11). Go Billikens!

Not surprised by this line we had so many close games this year. If you like to bet then bet on Umass tonight no way they lose. Umass will push the pace all night and run over St. louis