11/28 12:00 PM CBB (809) IPFW at (810) DARTMOUTH
FREE PICK: (809) IPFW +3.5
I lost track a long time ago at the number of times I’ve read or heard pre-season reports on Dartmouth that always begin the same way. “This is the year the Big Green finally start to show some progress” is the general tone. Then the campaign gets rolling and Dartmouth does what they always do, which is lose way more often than they win.
Same old story heading into this year, with the typical dose of optimism. I guess I kind of get it, as big Gabe Maldunas is healthy again, and there’s a corps of returning starters that often does indicate good things might be about to happen. They’ve got some size and perhaps a little more depth than is usually the case for the Big Green. I’m not going to rule out Dartmouth being better this season. But they’ll have to prove it to me, and until that time, count me as a skeptical observer.
IPFW is off a terrific season, and while the Mastadons probably won’t get to 25 wins again, I think they’ll be just fine. In spite of losing some key contributors from that team as well as the head coach, there’s still ample talent and experience on hand. As for the new coach, Jon Coffman moved up from assistant to head man, so he knows all these players well and chances are he recruited several of them, or at least played a part in doing so. IPFW has been just fine out of the gate, winning three of its first four with only a respectable loss to Georgia Tech.
IPFW was one of the most accurate shooting teams in college basketball last season, and it appears as though they’ve barely skipped a beat as far as that aspect of their game is concerned. The Mastadons are not a big basketball team, but they’ve been good at playing to their strengths snd camouflaging their weaknesses.
Dartmouth does have the height to cause some problems here. The Big Green might have some success on the glass at both ends of the court and IPFW needs to make sure the home team doesn’t do much damage on second chance baskets. But Dartmouth doesn’t have the offense to exploit what could be a shaky IPFW defense, and the Big Green have lots of ball security issues in opening the season 0-2.
The fact the Big Green have only played the two games so far is not a positive. In terms of a potentially negative on the IPFW line, I’m a little concerned that they’re off a win this past Monday against their former coach, and the Mastadons also defeated this opponent with ease last season. But I definitely see the visitors as the better squad and I’ve basically never had a problem trying got beat Dartmouth. I’ll go that way again here, with a call on IPFW plus the small number to collect the cash.
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