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ARKANSAS ST  AT  W. KENTUCKY

Ray Harper was just named the new head coach for WKU. Harper was in the middle of his fourth season as an assistant coach at WKU when he was asked to take over the program 16 games into the 2011-12 campaign. The Hilltoppers were 5-11 at that point, and in Harper’s 11 games as interim head coach the team rebounded and won four games, lost four others by six points or fewer and climbed from last place in the Sun Belt Conference East Division to as high as third in just five games in late January and early February.

With a 75-66 win over South Alabama on February 4, 2012, Harper earned his 250th career victory as an NCAA head coach in just his 300th career game.

Hilltopper Nation responded extremely well after Harper took over on an interim basis. In the nine home games prior to Harper being named head coach WKU was averaging just over 3,000 fans per game at E.A. Diddle Arena, but in four home games under Harper crowds swelled to an average of 5,105 fans per contest. Needless to say this was a very popular hire and the team and fans have been responding in kind. While WKU has still not done that well on the road they have won and covered their last three home games. Now they welcome a Arkansas St. team that has lost six games in a row on the road.
I think this Hilltopper team has bottomed out and is on the way back to being one of the better teams in the conference (not this year). This is a down year for ASU and I like backing a up and coming team with a lot of positive energy at home with such a small number.

3* #728 W. KENTUCKY  -2  -120

E. ILLINOIS  AT  MOREHEAD

What we have here are two of the slower tempo teams in DI, EIU (293) and Morehead (338). Both of these teams have been big under teams this year with EIU going 4-6 on the road and MSU going 2-7 at home. In their first meeting this year MSU won 56-55 with a total of 118 1/2, the same as tonight.

2* #763 E. ILLINOIS/#764 MOREHEAD  U118 1/2  -110