Thursday, 01/11/2018, PL Basketball, You Pick...

Lafayette at Army at noon on a Thursday ?
What could be the reason ?
School kids ?

Army
Bucknell
BU
Loyola
Navy

Army
Bucknell
Boston Univ.
Loyola (had to go with at least one visiting team)
Navy (A close game, but I think in Annapolis the Middies will be a bit too much for HC - I hope I am WRONG, of course)

Army
Bucknell
Boston Univ
Loyola
Navy

Army
Bucknell
BU
Loyola
HC

Army
Bucknell
Boston University
Loyola
Navy

Army
Bucknell
Boston Univ
Loyola
Navy

Lafayette
Bucknell
BU
American
Navy

Army
Bucknell
BU
American
Navy

Lafayette
Bucknell
Boston
Loyola
Navy

Army-- Army has played the same staring lineup in each game, all upper classmen, although two have been playing less than 20 minutes per game of late. Army has #228 offense versus Lafayette's #212 defense. At the pther end it's Laf's #304 offense versus Army's #144 defense. Lafayette is 1-8 when opponents shoot 33% or higher on threes. Army is a great 3 point shooting team, #3 3 PT Pctg in D-1, and with 4 players @ .440 or higher. Lafayette's Zalys (1/21 on threes) and Stafford are really struggling on offense.

Bucknell-- Bison are the better team and today its highly efficient offense comes up against a weak defense. Bucknell does commit a lot of fouls but Bison get to the line a lot (#40 in D-1 for FT/FGA) and have a good FT %. How's this stat: Zach Thomas has made 117 free throws this year to date--compare to 127 for the entire HC team.... Bucknell protects the ball well.

Boston U-- This is a tough one as Colgate could very well get hot and take this. Colgate is a great shooting team and BU has a poor shooting defense. Sean O'Brien has been playing big minutes for Colgate and has been playing very well of late. Colgate has won 5 of last 6 games., including hc and @au, but BU looks tougher. Boston U relies more on 2's than on 3's and I think 2's are not as volatile as 3's. BU beat Lehigh and Army when both of those team had good 3 point shooting games.

Loyola-- Here's a tough one as both teams are low ranked. Loyola has lineup/depth issues. In last 6 games Loy is 3-0 at home and 0-3 on road. Loyola does not shoot well but is 4-2 when it hjits 40% or higher on threes and 0-9 when it is 33% or below. There are no games in between. Loyola is heavily reliant on twos (#12 in D-1 in % of total pts from 2's) and AU's defense is #318 in defending against the two. AU has lost 6 in a row. Eagles fire up a lot of threes but connect on a low percentage. AU is 0-10 when opponents have even a medicore eff fg pctg of 46% or better and Loyola has done so in 11 of 15 games.

Navy-- HC won at the Hart 51-50 last year (PB MVP) then lost at Navy in the regular season and in the playoffs betting outrebounded 27-36 then 23-42. We had our 3rd and 4th worst shooting games of the season in those two. HC is 4-4 when opponents have eff fg pctg of 50% or lower and 0-7 when opponents shoot @55% or better. No games in between. Navy is 6-1 at home. Navy is 11-1 when eff fg pctg is 47% or better (HC defense is 53.9%....) and 0-4 when at 46% or lower. In PL games AB (110 O Rating) and JG (124 O Rating) have come on strong. Here's the big wild card for tonight: Jehyve Floyd. Get this, last year in the 3 games versus Navy JF played 12 minuts with 0 points, then 3 minutes with no points, then 16 minutes with 3 points. Let's hope for 30 minutes and 15 points today.