Announcement

**Udog** · 08-31-2019, 08:06 AM

Armadillo: Saturday's six-pack

— Nevada 34, Purdue 31— Wolf Pack rallied back from down 31-14, drilled a 56-yard FG at the gun for a dramatic win.

— Wake Forest 38, Utah State 35— Both teams threw for 400+ yards.

— Nationals 7, Marlins 6— Rendon’s single sent the locals home happy.

— Mets 11, Phillies 5— Wilson Ramos is 11-16 with the bases loaded.

— Dodgers put 2B Max Muncy (broken wrist) on the IL.

— RIP actress Valerie Harper 80, who played Rhoda on the Mary Tyler Moore Show

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Armadillo:Saturday's List of 13: Our first look at college basketball for this season

I don’t go grocery shopping much, because I never cook, but while getting some junk food Friday, guess what was there? The Athlon college basketball magazine for 2019-20, already on newsstands on August 30. Here is what I learned from scanning this fine magazine:

13) Top 4 coaching hires:
— Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska— His grandfather was once Nebraska’s head coach. He might be the only person in America who would turn down the UCLA basketball job for this.
— Eric Musselman, Arkansas— My first instinct was that this is a bad fit, but he was great at Nevada and he coached two NBA teams.
— Buzz Williams, Texas A&M— He got Virginia Tech to the NCAA’s the last three years; they had been there twice in the previous 30 years. Va Tech is a football school, too.
— Nate Oats, Alabama— Went 31-5 in MAC last two years; his job is to entertain the locals until spring football starts.

12) UCLA butchered its coaching search; they wound up with Mick Cronin, who is a solid coach but Bruin fans are going to hate his defense-first style (or lack of style).

Last six years, Cronin’s Cincinnati teams’ national rank in tempo (out of 351 or 353 teams):
328-339-333-330-330-338

From 2006-08, Ben Howland made the Final Four three years in a row; from that point on, AFTER he made the Final Four three years in a row, UCLA went 58-32 in Pac-12 games, but only 2-3 in NCAA tourney games- they told Howland to take a hike. Why?!?!?!?!?

Cincinnati made the NCAA’s the last nine years, but since 2013, they’re 3-4 in 1st round, 0-3 in the 2nd round, and never made an Elite 8 under Cronin. Uh-oh.

11) There are 354 Division I teams this year; Merrimack joins the NEC this year, after Cal Baptist joined the WAC and North Alabama joined the Atlantic Sun.

10) Keep in mind that the 3-point line has been moved back 16.75 inches, to the international distance of 22 feet, 1.75 inches. The NBA arc is 23 feet, 9 inches.

They used the longer international arc in the NIT last spring; teams shot 2.2% lower behind the arc than they did in the regular season.

9) Five coaches on the hot seat:
— Dave Leitao, DePaul— LY’s 19-17 mark was their best in 12 years, but then the NCAA came calling. Last 4 years, Blue Demons are 16-56 in Big East games, and they’re cheating. Oy.
— Danny Manning, Wake Forest- Deacons are 24-66 in ACC games under his watch.
— Matt McCall, UMass— When you finish 13th two years in a row in a league called the Atlantic 10 (they have 14 teams), your job is going to be in jeopardy.

— Shaka Smart, Texas— His Longhorn teams are 31-41 in Big X games, and they don’t play the same fast-paced style his great VCU teams played. Why?
— Patrick Chambers, Penn State— 8 years, 0 NCAA bids; last year, 8 of 14 Big 14 teams made the NCAA’s. PSU is a football school, but Chambers still needs to show progress.

8) Gonzaga is the only team in the country that has made the Sweet 16 the last five years.

7) Athlon Sports top 6 teams for this season:
6— Memphis Tigers
5— Florida Gators
4— Louisville Cardinals
3— Kentucky Wildcats
2— Duke Blue Devils
1— Michigan State Spartans

6) Brad Brownell has been Clemson’s coach for nine years; in four of those years, Clemson finished .500+ in ACC games but didn’t make the NCAA’s. They need to win more games in December, but they were in the Sweet 16 two years ago. Brownell is a good coach whose job is a tough one- they lost five of their top six scorers from last year’s 20-14 team.

5) Five most impactful freshmen this year:
5— Nico Mannion, Arizona- Scoring PG whose dad played in the NBA.
4— Anthony Edwards, Georgia- 5-star recruit from talent-rich Atlanta.
3— James Wiseman, Memphis- 7-1 center who needs work on offense.
2— Isaiah Stewart, Washington- Young man from Rochester, NY is long way from home.
1— Cole Anthony, North Carolina- His dad Greg was UNLV’s PG in the Tark glory days.

4) Some programs win no matter who the coach is.. Check out VCU’s record:
1999-2002— Mack McCarthy, 65-55, 35-32 in CAA
2002-06— Jeff Capel, 79-41, 50-22 in CAA
2006-09— Anthony Grant, 76-25, 45-9 in CAA
2009-15— Shaka Smart, 163-56, 38-16 in CAA, 36-14 in A-14
2015-17— Will Wade, 51-20, 28-8 in A-14
2017-19— Mike Rhoades, 43-23, 25-11 in A-14

3) Five of this year’s better transfers:
— Omer Yurtseven, NC State to Georgetown- Scored 13.5 ppg for the Wolfpack.
— Quade Green, Kentucky to Washington- Will be Huskies’ PG after the 1st semester.
— Malachi Flynn, Washington St to San Diego St— Scored 15.8 ppg for the Coogs.
— Koby McEwen, Utah State to Marquette— Bolted Logan after they fired the coach.
— Jalen Harris, Louisiana Tech to Nevada— Wolf Pack literally wouldn’t have been able to field a team the day they hired Steve Alford. Harris scored 15.3 ppg his last year at Tech.

2) Under Chris Beard, Texas Tech is 8-2 in NCAA tourney games; before Beard became Tech’s coach, Tech was 8-16 all-time in NCAA tourney games.

1) Georgetown played the fastest tempo games of any Big East team last year, playing the 25th-fastest tempo in the whole country. I wonder what John Thompson thinks of that?

Patrick Ewing has changed the Hoyas’ program into one that plays fast, which helps recruiting— Hoyas are 34-29 under Ewing, 14-22 in Big East games, but they were 19-14, 9-9 LY. They’ll be an interesting team to watch this winter.

**Udog** · 08-31-2019, 08:16 AM

WNBA

Saturday, August 31

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Trend Report
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Dallas Wings
Dallas is 5-11 SU in its last 16 games
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Dallas's last 7 games
Dallas is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Dallas's last 5 games when playing Washington
Dallas is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games when playing at home against Washington
Dallas is 1-7 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Dallas's last 15 games when playing at home against Washington
Washington Mystics
Washington is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games
Washington is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Washington's last 11 games
Washington is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games on the road
Washington is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Washington's last 5 games when playing Dallas
Washington is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games when playing on the road against Dallas
Washington is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing on the road against Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Washington's last 15 games when playing on the road against Dallas

Las Vegas Aces
Las Vegas is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games
Las Vegas is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Las Vegas's last 8 games
Las Vegas is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games at home
Las Vegas is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Las Vegas's last 5 games at home
Las Vegas is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Los Angeles
Las Vegas is 2-14 SU in its last 16 games when playing Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Las Vegas's last 14 games when playing Los Angeles
Las Vegas is 14-7 ATS in its last 21 games when playing at home against Los Angeles
Las Vegas is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Los Angeles
The total has gone OVER in 14 of Las Vegas's last 21 games when playing at home against Los Angeles
Los Angeles Sparks
Los Angeles is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Los Angeles's last 10 games
Los Angeles is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Los Angeles is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Los Angeles's last 6 games on the road
Los Angeles is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Las Vegas
Los Angeles is 14-2 SU in its last 16 games when playing Las Vegas
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Los Angeles's last 14 games when playing Las Vegas
Los Angeles is 7-14 ATS in its last 21 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
Los Angeles is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 14 of Los Angeles's last 21 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas

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**Udog** · 08-31-2019, 11:33 AM

WNBA
Long Sheet

Saturday, August 31

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WASHINGTON (21 - 8) at DALLAS (10 - 20) - 8/31/2019, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WASHINGTON is 14-5 ATS (+8.5 Units) in road games after a non-conference game over the last 2 seasons.
WASHINGTON is 35-24 ATS (+8.6 Units) after scoring 75 points or more over the last 2 seasons.
WASHINGTON is 25-13 ATS (+10.7 Units) when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 3 seasons.
WASHINGTON is 15-6 ATS (+8.4 Units) when playing against a team with a losing record after 15+ games after 15+ games over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
DALLAS is 4-4 against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
WASHINGTON is 5-3 straight up against DALLAS over the last 3 seasons
7 of 8 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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LOS ANGELES (19 - 11) at LAS VEGAS (19 - 11) - 8/31/2019, 10:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
LOS ANGELES is 10-19 ATS (-10.9 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 77+ points/game after 15+ games over the last 2 seasons.
LOS ANGELES is 114-149 ATS (-49.9 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 77+ points/game since 1997.
LAS VEGAS is 11-19 ATS (-9.9 Units) in all games this season.
LAS VEGAS is 25-46 ATS (-25.6 Units) as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points since 1997.
LAS VEGAS is 5-13 ATS (-9.3 Units) in August or September games over the last 2 seasons.
LAS VEGAS is 7-17 ATS (-11.7 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
LOS ANGELES is 6-3 against the spread versus LAS VEGAS over the last 3 seasons
LOS ANGELES is 7-2 straight up against LAS VEGAS over the last 3 seasons
4 of 8 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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**Udog** · 08-31-2019, 11:57 AM

WNBA
Dunkel

Saturday, August 31

Washington @ Dallas

Game 637-638
August 31, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Washington
124.377
Dallas
106.858
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Washington
by 17 1/2
167
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Washington
by 11
158 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Washington
(-11); Over

Los Angeles @ Las Vegas

Game 639-640
August 31, 2019 @ 10:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Los Angeles
112.497
Las Vegas
117.689
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Las Vegas
by 5
168
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Las Vegas
by 3 1/2
163 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Las Vegas
(-3 1/2); Over

Announcement

Saturday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 8/31

Saturday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 8/31

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